Rome Pictures
Roma Photos, Italy

Rome
antics on the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II.
Rome Weather | Main Attractions | Downsides | Rome Map | Rome Travel Guide
Photos of Main Attractions | Museums | Churches | The Vatican
Central
Rome is a brilliant city for any traveller with an interest
in culture, art or ancient history and is arguably the most
fascinating city in all of Europe. The range of famous, spectacular
sights within easy walking distance is staggering, the quality
and quantity of art on display is massive, every building tells
stories, every statue demands pictures and every cobbled street
evokes historical scenes.

Rome is - and has been for 3,000 years - a magnet for the barbarian hordes, with troops of French sipping gee-up
machiattos in one café, red-faced British squaddies poring
over maps in another, platoons of Germans attacking the sights
by numbers, waves of chattering Japanese disembarking from buses
armed with bad hats and the latest digital weaponry, fashionable
Chinese units in avant-garde UV face shades and American tank
crews discussing strategies and sweating off the sky-highs on
rye of LA's finest diners.

Rome's Attractions
•
the endless variety of staggering structures that you've heard
about for years - the Colosseum, the Forum, the Trevi Fountain,
the Vatican...as well as thousands more you've never heard about.
•
the little churches you stumble inside to cool off in and find
a Michelangelo Moses in front of you or a kaleidoscopic heaven on the ceiling or a perfect marble skeleton at your feet.
•
the
drinking fountains ranging from simple taps to spitting gargoyles
and leaking ships (Spanish Steps) where you can refill your
bottles and wet your overheated head.
•
the tiny alleys suddenly
blossoming into magical piazzas.
•
the incredible paintings you
see that are painted on walls (especially the Vatican
Museums) not hung on them.
•
the stunning sculptures, good and
mad.
•
the wonderful coffees, ice-creams, pizzas and pastas.
•
the
freedom to bend the rules the Italian way; the way Rome traffic flows like water - dive in and it'll part around you.
•
the sunshine.
•
the sensational museums (and this from museophobes), especially
the Vatican Museums, the Capitoline Museums and the Galleria
Borghese.
•
the funny fountains and caricatures in Piazza Navona.

Rome's Downsides
•
the disappointingly
unromantic Spanish Steps (well, the fountain's excellent, it's
the steps that ain't).
•
the impatient traffic.
•
the untidy and
unworked archeological digs.
•
the pickpockets.
•
the surly ticket
collectors or security guards who prefer to pass the time chatting
to each other or photographing themselves with their mobile
phones than helping tourists.
•
the open-top tourist buses that
have 'pay as you enter' painted by the doors but send you off
to queue at an office after you've lined up by the bus for an
hour.
•
the same old, same old menus, pizza, pasta, pizza, pasta.
•
the dull, dirty suburbs.
•
the lack of clear, logical, sequential
signposting.
•
slippery, wet cobblestones
•
leaving Rome - but
you'll be back if you threw a coin into the Trevi fountain

Rome Weather
Best months to visit Rome are May, June, September, January-March.
The climate is, of course, Mediterranean, which means that winters tend to be mild but damp and summers hot and dry.
Statistically the wettest months are October and November, followed by December and April.
Mid summer of July and August gets very crowded and hot
with average highs reaching 30C (86F) and lows around 18C (54F). Mid winter average highs hover around 12C (54F) and lows about 3C (37F).
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