Sundays are no traffic days for a number of areas in Rome. The area around the Colosseum, and the Fori Imperiali as well as the Appia Antica are closed to traffic. Not all traffic, mind you, taxis and buses can still whizz past pedestrians and cyclists. Even better, the first Sunday of every month most museums are free. Sundays are the best days to go for long strolls in the parks or among the ancient streets and appreciate the fact that Rome is one of the greenest capital cities in the world.
These birds are all over the city. In the autumn great flocks of starlings swarm over the city in preparation for their migration to warmer climes. Their guano has caused tracts of the Lungotevere (the road that runs alongside the Tiber) to be closed down for a quick clean up. The seagulls though no longer so near to the sea, roost on some of Rome's largest monuments such as the Vittorio Emmanuele monument on Piazza Venezia or they nest on the ruins of Caracalla and punctuate the summer performances with their high pitched cries. They thrive in the city on a diet of waste overflowing from the too infrequently emptied dumpsters, as do the pigeons often sharing the fight for a morsel of discarded pizza with large cawing crows or stealthy rats as smaller birds swoop in and out. In recent years noisy green parrots have colonised the parks. Their large communal nests hang down from the branches of the umbrella pines, impressive efforts of avian engineering. An urban myth would have us believe that these hordes of parrots are the descendants of caged parrots that escaped or were released by their owners. Far more likely is that they are the consequence of global warming. Indeed large swarms of parrots have been sighted now in some of London's great parks.
Food is readily available, of high quality and reasonably priced throughout the city as long as you avoid the more obvious tourist spots. If it has dishes of plastic food on display or large over bright pictures of the food on offer as well as beckoning waiters it's best avoided. Likewise if food is being served round the clock rather than at more appropriate mealtimes it's not a good eatery.
Just sneaking a few metres off piste can reveal a trattoria of home cooked delights. Does the menu have a few offally surprises typical of la cucina povera Romana alongside pasta classics such as cacio pepe, 'matriciana and carbonara, then you may be onto something good and genuine. Are there elderly people carving off splinters of pecorino from a milky white wheel of cheese while popping fresh fava beans out of their pods? - then you're onto something worthwhile. Attractive as it may seem to dine on a main piazza, you will be paying for the location rather than the food. Think about it.
The centre of Rome has some incomparable works of Baroque sculpture and architecture. Walk the streets, Via Urbana and Via Sistina are the two most renowned Baroque streets, visit the piazzas, nothing can out do Piazza Navona for Baroque decadence and go into the Museo di Roma behind Piazza Navona. Enjoy the excess along with some cracking good yarns of Baroque artists' rivalries. Whatever you do don't forget to stop by the Fontana di Trevi, Rome's largest Baroque fountain.
4) An incomparable past
Whatever Rome may have become today its busy streets tell tales. Rubbish collection must always have been an issue as ancient plaques affixed to the facades on Via Giulia and via del Governo Vecchio attest. The Tiber once flooded the city in days before the high embankments were created. The Vatican shaped the streets.Via Giulia was created by Pope Giuliano della Rovere to facilitate transit between the Vatican and Rome's port on Lungotevere Ripa. Mussolini demolished streets for his great pompous avenues and his processions. Baroque, Renaissance and ancient, all styles jostle for attention in the historic centre. But way before all that were the ancient Roman settlements from the little huts on the Palatine, to grand Imperial palaces such as Nero's golden house above the bustling roads and temples of the Roman Fori or the vast bath houses such as Caracalla's. They have all helped to shape the modern city. Indeed one of the oft repeated excuses for not extending Rome's pitifully lacking metropolitan tube lines is the presence underground of priceless relics and statues as well as mosaics which would be irremediably damaged if such work got underway.
If the city gets to be too much, the sea is but a train ride away, albeit at Ostia, a town of little charm, often referred to as Rome-by-the-sea. It is infamous for the murder of the Roman poet, Pasolini, and for the local mafia squabbles which have marred its reputation for years. In recent years it has been tidied up and gentrified but the large bathing establishments remain overpriced and overrated. As for the polluted waters not much can be done as it lies downstream from the mouth of the Tiber at Fiumicino.
However, a little way up the coast is the quiet suburban town of Santa Marinella while down the coast towards Naples are the towns of Anzio and Nettuno, and for a frisson of a Greek style seaside enclave, there's the hilltop town of Sperlonga.
But if the sea ain't your cuppa, turn your gaze inland towards the Abruzzo, towards the Appenines, mountains that'll thrill any mountain lovers' hearts. A day trip to climb the Gran Sasso is said to be worth it. Or you can explore some of the attractive towns on the border between the Abruzzo and Lazio such as Subiaco with its stunning monastery.
2) Il gelato
Cold and silky smoothness issues forth from multi-flavoured metal wells. There are hundreds of gelaterie throughout the city from the more famous such as Giolitti's to more hidden away gems such as Quinto gelateria off Piazza Navona. There are thousands of flavours from traditional favourites such as chocolate or panna to more adventurous or unusual flavours such as zabaione or pomodori (tomatoes). To have panna (freshly whipped cream) on top, or not, now that is the question. However, beware the plastic tubs, the product they contain is commercially produced and of inferior quality. Indeed why do some bars choose to sell them when there are so many good artisanal ice-cream producers throughout the city?
1) The ghetto
There is a quiet dignity among its cobbled streets. It is a wedge of land beside the Tiber running up to the foot of the Campidoglio. Come here for a reminder of a terrible past and resiliance - the buildings and streets bear witness. Come here for the carciofi alla giudea, for the baccala, for the alleyways and sour cherry pies. Come here for the gracious beauty of the Fontana delle Tartarughe…
