OUT FROM THE CITY

You may find there’s quite enough of interest in Rome to keep you occupied during your stay. But Rome can be a hot, oppressive city, its surfeit of churches and museums intensely wearying, and if you’re around long enough you really shouldn’t feel any guilt about freeing yourself from its weighty history to see something of the countryside around. Two of the main attractions visitable on a day-trip are, it’s true, Roman sites, but just the process of getting to them can be energizing. 

Tivoli , about an hour by bus east of Rome, is a small provincial town famous for the travertine quarries nearby and its fine ancient Roman villa, complete with landscaped gardens and parks. Ostia , in the opposite direction from the city near the sea, and similarly easy to reach on public transport, is the city’s main seaside resort (though one worth avoiding), but was also the site of the port of Rome in classical times, the ruins of which - Ostia Antica - are well preserved and worth seeing.

Tivoli , about an hour by bus east of Rome, is a small provincial town famous for the travertine quarries nearby and its fine ancient Roman villa, complete with landscaped gardens and parks. Ostia , in the opposite direction from the city near the sea, and similarly easy to reach on public transport, is the city’s main seaside resort (though one worth avoiding), but was also the site of the port of Rome in classical times, the ruins of which - Ostia Antica - are well preserved and worth seeing.

Posted on August 10th, 2008 by freddy  |  No Comments »

EAST OF VIA DEL CORSO

The triangular area on the eastern side of Via del Corso , bound by Piazza del Popolo, the Corso, the edge of the Villa Borghese and Piazza di Spagna, is travellers’ Rome, historically the artistic quarter of the city, for which eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Grand Tourists would make in search of the colourful, exotic city. Keats and Giorgio de Chirico are just two of those who used to live on Piazza di Spagna; Goethe had lodgings along Via del Corso; and institutions like Caffè Greco and Babington’s Tea Rooms were the meeting-places of a local artistic and expat community for close on a couple of centuries. Today these institutions have given ground to more latter-day traps for the tourist dollar: American Express and McDonald’s have settled into the area, while Via Condotti and around is these days strictly international designer territory, with some of Rome’s fanciest stores; the local residents are more likely to be investment bankers than artists or poets. But the air of a Rome being discovered, even colonized, by foreigners persists, even if most of them hanging out on the Spanish Steps are mostly flying-visit InterRailers.

Posted on August 10th, 2008 by freddy  |  No Comments »

COLOSSEUM, CELIAN HILL AND BEYOND

On the far side of the Forum, heading south , are some of Rome’s most ancient sights, remnants of the time when this area was mostly green, bucolic countryside. A lake lay where the Colosseum stands now, drained by a small stream that wove between the Palatine and Celian hills, curving to empty into the Tiber close by the Circo Massimo. The slopes of the Palatine and Celian hills were inhabited by people living in shanties and huts, until the great fire of 64 AD, when Nero incorporated the area into his grand design for the city, building a gigantic Nymphaeum to support his planned gardens on the Celian Hill, part of his Domus Aurea, and cleaning up the slopes of the two hills. Eventually a temple to the deified Claudius was built on the Celian Hill, and the Palatine became the residence of the emperors, fed by water brought by the arched span of the Aqua Claudia. 

Nowadays, this part of Rome has some of the city’s most atmospheric and compelling Christan and ancient sights, in the Colosseum , and, beyond, the churches of San Clemente and San Giovanni in Laterano , among others. It also has some of its most pleasant corners, in particular up on the still green and peaceful Celian Hill .

Posted on August 10th, 2008 by freddy  |  No Comments »

CENTRO STORICO

The real city centre of Rome is the centro storico , or historic centre, which makes up the greater part of the roughly triangular knob of land that bulges into a bend in the Tiber, above and below Corso Vittorio Emanuele, to the west of Via del Corso, Rome’s main street. This area, known in Roman times as the Campus Martius, was outside the ancient city centre, a low-lying area that was mostly given over to barracks and sporting arenas, together with several temples, including the Pantheon. Later it became the heart of the Renaissance city, and nowadays it’s the part of the town that is densest in interest, an unruly knot of narrow streets and alleys that holds some of the best of Rome’s classical and Baroque heritage and its most vivacious street- and nightlife. 

The main square and transport hub of Piazza Venezia is a good orientation point: to its north lies the main body of the old centre of Rome, with the graceful oval of Piazza Navona and the great dome of the Pantheon at the heart of its tangle of streets and churches; to its west is more of the same, focusing on the busy squares of Campo de’ Fiori and Largo Argentina , and fading as you move towards the river into Rome’s ancient Jewish Ghetto . To the south is the Capitoline Hill and its museums, on the edge of Rome’s ancient centre.

Posted on August 10th, 2008 by freddy  |  No Comments »

ANCIENT ROME

From Piazza Venezia Via dei Fori Imperiali, a soulless boulevard imposed on the area by Mussolini in 1932, cuts south through the heart of Rome’s ancient sites. Before then this was a warren of medieval streets that wound around the ruins of the ancient city centre, but as with the Via della Conciliazione up to St Peter’s the Duce preferred to build something to his own glory rather than preserve that of another era. There has been a long-standing plan to make the entire ancient part of the city into a huge archeological park which would stretch right down to the catacombs on the Via Appia Antica. Although excavations have been undertaken in recent years, they are continuing slowly. It’s a dilemma for the city-planners: Via dei Fori Imperiali is a major traffic artery with a function which must be preserved. One way around this is to dig a tunnel under the road - an expensive option but an option that is apparently being considered. For the moment, if you want tranquil sightseeing, you’ll have to settle for coming on Sunday, when a long stretch from Piazza Venezia to Via Appia Antica is closed to traffic and pedestrians take to the streets to stroll past the ruins of the ancient city.

Posted on August 10th, 2008 by freddy  |  No Comments »

Rome on the Web

www.capitolium.org

The official Web site of the Roman forums, with pictorial reconstructions of how the ruins would have looked in their day, as well as how they look now; material on life in ancient Rome; and even a live Web view of the forum.

www.catacombe.roma.it

Official site of Rome’s Christian catacombs, with visuals, historical descriptions, and explanations of ancient symbols - a good supplement to our own accounts if you’re extra keen.

www.comune.roma.it

Italian-language Web site of the Rome city authorities.

www.enjoyrome.com

Helpful site of the helpful Rome tourist organization, with information on accommodation and tours - and links to other popular Rome Web sites.

www.gamberorosse.it/e/romausa

Nice site in English, detailing walks around Rome that take in Gambero Rosso’s speciality - restaurants and bars.

www.initaly.com/regions/latium

A quirky site that gives links, and subjective rundowns, on everything Italian - and in this case Roman.

www.roma2000.it

Everything about Rome in the Millennium, with comprehensive, if irregularly updated, information on all aspects of the city.

www.romeguide.it

The place to go whether you’re after a bus or walking tour of the city centre, a guide to a particular monument or gallery, even the chance to go on a “ghost tour” of Rome.

www.vatican.va

Slick, multilingual Web site of the Holy See, with material - some still under construction - on the Vatican Museums, the institutions of the city state, its newspaper online, and a calendar of the whole of the Holy Year’s events.

www.venere.it/home/lazio/roma

Probably the best site for accessing the Web pages of those hotels that have them - and booking rooms online

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by admin  |  No Comments »

Information kiosk locations

Spanish Steps , Largo Goldoni (tel 06.6813.6061)

San Giovani , Piazza San Giovani in Laterno (tel 06.7720.3535)

Via Nazionale , Palazzo delle Esposizioni (tel 06.4782.4525)

Piazza Navona , Piazza delle Cinque Lune (tel 06.6880.9240)

Castel Sant’Angelo , Piazza Pia (tel 06.6880.9707)

Forum , Piazza del Tempio della Pace (tel 06.6992.4307)

Trastevere , Piazza Sonnino (tel 06.5833.3457)

Santa Maria Maggiore , Via del’Olmata (tel 06.4788.0294)

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General Information

There are tourist information booths on arrival at Fiumicino (daily 8.15am-7.15pm; tel 06.6595.6074), and at Termini (daily 8.15am-7.15pm; tel 06.487.1270 or tel 06.482.5078), although the long queues that often develop at both of these mean you’re usually better off heading straight for the main tourist office at Via Parigi 5 (Mon-Fri 8.15am-7.15pm, Sat 8.15am-1.45pm; tel 06.4889.9253 or tel 06.4889.9255), ten minutes’ walk from Termini. They have free maps that should - together with our own - be ample for finding your way around, although the rest of their information can be uneven and out of date. There are also information kiosks in key locations around the city centre (daily 9am-6pm). They too often have outdated general information but the staff usually speak English, and they are useful for free maps, directions and new information (opening times, for example) about nearby sights.

You might be better off bypassing the official tourist offices altogether and going to Enjoy Rome , Via Varese 39 (Mon-Fri 8.30am-2pm & 3.30-6pm, Sat 8.30am-2pm; tel 06.445.1843), whose friendly, English-speaking staff run a free room-finding service; they also organize tours, and have a left-luggage service for those who take them. Their information is often more up to date and reliable than that handed out by the various tourist offices, and they will also advise on where to eat, drink, and party, if you so wish.

For what’s-on information, the city’s best source of listings is perhaps Romac’è (L2000, Thursdays), which has a helpful section in English giving information on tours, clubs, restaurants, services and weekly events. The ex-pat bi-weekly, Wanted in Rome (L1500, every other Wednesday), which is entirely in English, is also a useful source of information, especially if you’re looking for an apartment or work. If you understand a bit of Italian, there’s Time Out Roma (L2000, Thursdays), a weekly review full of listings as well as articles on the trendiest everything in Rome, and the daily arts pages of the Rome newspaper , Il Messaggero, which can be found in most bars for the customers to read, and lists movies, plays and major musical events. The newspaper La Repubblica also includes the ” Trova Roma ” section in its Thursday edition, another handy guide to current offerings.

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by admin  |  No Comments »

Accommodation

Scalinata di Spagna Hotel

Piazza Trinità dei Monti 17 tel 06.679.3006, fax 06.6994.0598. Metro A Spagna.

Gays and lesbians are welcome at this centrally located hotel, just up from the Spanish Steps. Doubles for L450,000-500,000, singles L350,000-380,000. Everything you would expect at this price, plus a terrace for breakfast.

Seiler Hotel

Via Firenze 48 tel 06.485.550 or 06.488.0204, fax 06.488.0688. Metro A Repubblica.

Another gay-friendly accommodation option, a little cheaper than the Scalinata di Spagna, just down from Piazza della Repubblica, across Via Nazionale from the Teatro del’Opera. Singles here go for L180,000, doubles for L250,000, triples for L300,000. Breakfast included.

Michela Leone Rooms

Lesbian-friendly accommodation, both in Rome and at the seaside, for L40,000 per person. Contact Michela on tel 06.718.5288, or write to Via Lucciano 30, 00178 Rome. Strictly women only

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by admin  |  No Comments »

Saunas

Europa Multiclub

Via Aureliana 40 tel 06.482.3650. Metro Termini. Sun 1pm-midnight, Mon-Thurs 3pm-midnight, Fri & Sat 1pm-6am.

Near Termini, this has pleasant, clean facilities, and a snack bar. L20,000 per visit, plus L20,000 for ARCI-Gay annual membership (good for discounts at gay venues throughout Italy).

Mediterraneo

Via Pasquale Villari 3 tel 06.7720.5934. Metro A Vittorio. Daily 2pm-midnight.

Also in the Termini area, near Piazza Vittorio, this is a sauna on three levels, with all the usual choices, including a snack bar. L20,000 per visit, plus ARCI-Gay yearly membership of L20,000

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by admin  |  No Comments »

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