Travel ROME! tips - questions - advice

^^ I bow to you, this is the first time I read "gelato" spelled correctly by a non Italian!
(If you are Italian too, don't tell me and ruin this moment :upsidedown:)

To the OP: although I agree with persian11 about Pompeii being beautiful and absolutely worthwhile, I would not recommend the day trip while you are on Rome for 4 days only. It is hardly enough time to scratch the surface.

If you need any specific tip or if you have any curiosity about my beloved hometown Roma, feel free to PM me!
 
God, I loved Rome. :heart:

For casual dining, do try Filetti di Baccala (Largo dei Librari 88, tel. 06-686-4018, near Campo de' Fiori).

We we were staying around the corner from this place when we stumbled upon it. A hidden gem IMO. Eat outside in front of the little church.

They serve deep friend fillets of cod wrapped in paper - very simple, but delicious! Eat it with the puntarelle salad (chicory and anchovies) and cold beer. This meal made me so happy at the end of a long day of walking and sightseeing!

The batter was really light and the fish moist - the best "fish n chips" (without the chips) I've had.

My other favourite thing to do was to start each morning with an espresso at Bar Sant'Eustachio....great espresso and you stand at the bar with the locals. And only 80 euro cents when we visited - bargain!

http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/italy/rome/entity_52717.html
http://www.santeustachioilcaffe.it/

Have a wonderful time!
 
^^^ Have fun! Rome is such an incredible city...I've been twice and still haven't seen "everything".

Don't forget to get some gelato at Giolitti's http://www.giolitti.it/english/home.html. It's on a side street at the back of Piazza Montecitorio (where Parliament is located). When I was there in 2006, our hotel was around the corner, so every night we had gelato after dinner...YUM!
 
WHERE GIOLITTI'S IS LOCATED:
Building on the left, facing you: Hotel Nazionale
Building on right: Parliament

At the right of the hotel, see the street where the two buildings "meet"? That is Via Uffici del Vicario...walk down halfway and Giolitti is on the left. :tup:
photo1.jpg
 
^^ I bow to you, this is the first time I read "gelato" spelled correctly by a non Italian!
(If you are Italian too, don't tell me and ruin this moment :upsidedown:)
Ciao, Velouria, non sono italiano, ma, sono a Italia spesso - ho un agenzia viaggi, faccio giri dell'italia (e ho una ragazzo italiano - io preferisco uomini italiani!). :smile:

I hope I wrote that right, my Italian is horrible!
 
Ciao, Velouria, non sono italiano, ma, sono a Italia spesso - ho un agenzia viaggi, faccio giri dell'italia (e ho una ragazzo italiano - io preferisco uomini italiani!). :smile:

I hope I wrote that right, my Italian is horrible!


Great italian!!!! :okay:
Instead of A ITALIA is IN ITALIA and UN AGENZIA is UN'AGENZIA. I think that apostrofo is something hard to learn for foreigns! :yes:
 
WHERE GIOLITTI'S IS LOCATED:
Building on the left, facing you: Hotel Nazionale
Building on right: Parliament

At the right of the hotel, see the street where the two buildings "meet"? That is Via Uffici del Vicario...walk down halfway and Giolitti is on the left. :tup:
photo1.jpg

THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING GELATO PLACE EVER! And cheap, too! Three heaping scoops for 3 euro!
 
Just came back from Rome. Hope the weather holds up for you -- it only rained two little showers while we were there but April/May are the rain-iest months. Our hotel was fabulous and perfectly located next to the Spanish steps. Go to the Vatican *not* in the early morning -- that's when everyone goes because they think it will be less busy. It's actually least busy after 1:00 p.m.

You MUST see Galleria Borghese but remember that you should make reservations in advance and you MUST bring your reservation print-out with you or else they won't look you up or let you in. Arrive 30 minutes before the start time of your group's entrance.

Tipping is not necessary in Italy as it is not customary but I actually found that the majority of waiters will HASSLE you for a tip. As in, they quite literally will stand there with their hand out while you're trying to pay the bill. Very annoying.

Gypsies were more harmless than most people told me -- from what I heard, it seemed like one would run out from every street block trying to snatch my purse. I had no problems with any of that.
 
The Galleria Borghese is well worth the advance reservations. They limit the number of people in at a time and the collection is fantastic. I would recommend and audio tour and starting at the back of a room or upstairs to beat the crowd when you get in.

My favorite restaurant in Rome was Gabrielo's which is in the Spanish Steps area, by far the best food we had. Rick Steve's has the address and a review in his book. Ask for the "extravaganza" and the chef will bring you a selection of food. I especially love the little clams and pasta dish, its a white wine sauce, a Roma specialty. Linguini vongle? I believe is the dish. After dinner make sure to try limoncella if you haven't had it before. Its a lemon flavored disgestif.

Also, my favorite shopping was probably in duty free! They have the best, Gucci, Hermes, Loro Piana, others, all little boutiques.

I haven't been to Pompay but we decided to pass because we were only in Rome for a week.

Also it is 100% worth it to pay to be part of a tour group into the Vatican, otherwise the lines are insane. And someone will then explain things to you. FYI there are no rest rooms for a long part of the tour, a consideration if you have children with you.

We had gelato in several places. Some more touristy. One was by Trevi fountain which is very romantic at night.

Have a lovely trip!!
 
Gipsy are less noticeable in these days because there were some bad facts (a girl was raped in Rome) and probably they prefer to stay away for a while to avoid bad reactions of people. The mood of people is very angry in this period.
Please notice that I am only reporting what I can see around me and what it seems it's going on, without any personal comments by myself.
 
^^^^^
Interesting, Alice. Thanks for sharing. I was beginning to believe all my friends were enormous exaggerators because I really didn't see so many of them and they didn't pull the stunts I'd heard about... like throwing a baby at you so you're forced to catch it and while you're holding the baby they grab your purse... I don't know if this all actually happened but from what I had heard, I thought the gypsy issue would be much bigger than it actually appeared in reality.
 
^^^ My husband was set upon by the gypsies, and his reaction was priceless. They surrounded him with their signs and children, and he panicked. So he immediately ran and stood on a bench and started flailing his arms about hysterically and shouting in a high-pitched voice, "NO! NO! NO!"

Oh my goodness it was funny!!! :biggrin:
 
^^^^
LOL Your description totally made me actually laugh out loud... hilarious.

One common prank that I did witness is to offer roses "for free" to ladies, then come back demanding money for the roses... I'm shocked to see how many people drudged up some money rather than just giving the stupid roses back.

Everytime I think "Why in the world are they out here, this is ridiculous, nobody is going to put up with them" I see another American buying whatever $1 toy they're selling (and annoyingly, they're usually loud noise-makers like plastic guns with sound effects).

To the OP, don't worry about crime or anything -- I felt very safe, even late at night. I don't want to make you paranoid (or make it sound as if I'm dissing an ethnic population)...

One observation: the only people I saw wearing open-toed shoes or flip-flops were other Americans. The Italian girls all seemed to closed heels or ballet flats.