Viva Roma!

A brief guide to one of the world's great cities, Rome, written for my brother, who is over there for the month.

INTRO

Yo! How's Roma?! Isn't it like LA with D-Squareds instead of Canadians?! Ha! Has anyone called you out for being Sicilian yet? Sorry this has taken me forever to get together. I've been spending many hours at the golf course, sans Internet as you are aware.

I don't know how much they told you in orientation, so I'll pretend like you know none of this, to leave no stone unturned.


THE TRAIN

Go to Google Maps and search for "Loyola Rome Center." Zoom to the fifth bar from the top. Rome Center sits upon on Monte Mario, which is directly NNW of St. Peter's. They probably told you how to get over to the bus stop on Trionfale to the east of campus. Well, forget the stupid bus.

The closest train station from school is at Via Balduina. Know how you walk away from campus with school to your back and over your left shoulder, and you take a left so that school is to your immediate left, and that's how you head to the bus? Instead of taking that left up Via Massimi, just take a right down Massimi, so you're going in the opposite direction of the bus-goers. You walk down Massimi, and it will eventually run into Via Alfredo Serranati. Take a right on Serranati, which looks like it's going to stop, but it actually just turns down the hill to the left and changes names to Via Alfredo Fusco. (When you reach the point where those two streets meet, you are about 50 feet from the tracks, as Fusco runs parallel to the train line.) Head down Fusco for 4 or 5 blocks. Take a right at the light at Via Damiano Chiesa, and the Balduina station is right there on your right. How easy is that?!

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I can't find the map on the Metro Roma website. I know that it's on the FM3 line; you'll have to stop by and see if they have any schedules, or if there even is a schedule. (Roman transportation is notoriously unreliable.) At any rate, from Balduina, you can be anywhere in a hurry. When you're standing there with the station to your right, you're going to want to take the train that goes to your left. I wish I could tell you how the lines are labled, but again, the website sucks. Here's the map of the entire system. You can see you're in the center-left of the map, just north of the A-Line (Orange) Metro. I think the line might be called "Termini" but I wouldn't swear to it.

From the FM3 line, you transfer directly to the Orange-A subway line.


THE METRO

The Orange-A Line

Get off the FM3 at Valle Aurelia Anastasio II, which is the third stop after Balduina. At Aurelia, you can free transfer to the Orange Line a.k.a. the A-Line; ask a local if you're confused, but it's right there. The Orange Line stops go like this:

• Cipro-Vatican Museum: A few hundred feet from the northwest entrances to Vatican City, the Museum, and the Gardens. This is the easiest way to get to St. Peter's.

• Ottaviano-San Pietro: 4 blocks north of St. Peter's Square and the northeastern Vatican wall.

• Lepanto: 5 blocks north of Castel Sant'Angelo.

• Flaminio-Piazza del Popolo: This is the large square at the top of Via del Corso, which is the long street (the old chariot racing "corso") that runs more or less due south, all the way to the Big Birthday Cake, a.k.a. the Vittorio Emannuele II Mounument. Via del Corso is the Michigan Avenue of Rome. We stayed on the Via del Corso on our vacation in '98, though I can't remember which hotel. Also, just north of Popolo is the entrace to the Villa Borghese, which has spectacular grounds and is itself spectacular.
  

• Spagna: The entrance/exit is a few feet to the west of the Spanish Steps.
  

• Barberini-Fontana di Trevi: Another stop full of important tourist locations.

• Repubblica-Teatro dell'Opera: Government buildings, theaters, the Hard Rock, big hotels, etc. Also, most of the airlines have their offices near Piazza Repubblica, in case anyone needs to change tickets.

• Termini: The big, central, main train station. From here you can take pretty much every train line that runs through Rome, including the big national and continental lines.

• Vittorio Emannuele: The Big Birthday Cake itself, as well as museums and a short walk to the Forum. Also, the closest stop to the Capitoline Museum, which is my favorite museum in Rome.
  

The Blue B-Line

Switch to the Blue B-Line at Termini. There are a few stops on the Blue Line that are of interest, all to the south of the Forum:

• Cavour: A very cool little medieval square.

• Colosseo: Exits very close to the Coliseum and the Forum.

• Circo Massimo: The Circus Maximus was once a venue for medium-length Roman chariot races, and is now a big, long park that's great for chilling and reading.

• Pyramide: To commemorate the conquest of Egypt, ancient Romans built a large pyramid in the middle of the old Roman town wall. Very impressive and quirky!

That's it for the train. You'll just have to bust out the Streetwise map for directions from the stops to various places, but the train should cut your travel times in half compared to the stupid bus.


BARS AND EATS

You found Piazza Nuvoa the first night; I bet you thought it was beautiful but kind of boring. I'm sure by this point you discovered The Drunken Ship and the rest of the joints in Campo dei Fiori. None of those places really feel like American bars, but at least they're trying, they're open relatively late, and they have few rules of conduct.

Someone will invariably make the call for a run to the bars in the Meatpacking District. I'd say: Don't even go. They simply converted a row of small, crappy, old mercantile buildings into small, crappy, loud Eurotrash bars. They're just terrible.

The most authentic places to eat and drink are in Trastevere. Trastevere is the large neighborhood to the south of the Vittorio Emanuele Monument, across the Tiber from the Forum. (Trastevere literally means "across the Tiber.") There's a street car that runs down the main street, so it's really easy to get deep into the neighborhood, away from the tourist throngs. Trastevere is like a big Taylor Street. There are a ton of cool bars on the sidestreets, and when you meet other foreigners away from the tourist trap setting, you feel like you're in some sort of exclusive club. Also, I ate in four different restaurants there, and they were all absolutely superb. It's a great place to party, and I also went there a few times to find a quiet restaurant/cafe to study in.

There are two specific restaurants you will seek out and love.

• Gioia Mia Piscipiano, 34 Via degli Avignonesi: The name of this restaurant translates to (I'm not kidding), "Happiness from a little bit of my piss." You can see from the logo on the website that this is a joke, in reference to a couple of angels spiking a glass of wine with a little something extra. It's a fantastic restaurant, reasonably priced, and well worth whatever the wait is. You will positively stuff yourself and love it, and the house wine is spectacular! The easiest way to get there: Get off at the Barberini-Fontana de Trevi Orange-A stop. Exit the train station and cross Piazza Barberini. Via Avignonesi runs parallel and to the south of the Via del Tritone, the main street that runs into the piazza. Ask a local how to find to the street -- it's a short little street, so you'll find the restaurant very quickly.
  

• The Pasta Nazi: I cannot for the life of me remember where this is, but if you print out the hyper-linked article, someone from school can point you in the right direction. It's not too far from school, though. I'm telling you: It is a surreal dining experience!

One quick word about eating and dining in Rome: Always order the house wine and the specials. When confronting a server who doesn't speak English, there is little point in trying to navigate the menu, and they take their jobs so seriously that they'd never stick you with crappy goods. Trust the staff; they're real professionals.


TRAVEL

I won't go on and on about where to go, but here are some basics.

• You can do Florence in an afternoon -- don't even bother wasting a full weekend on it. Best restaurant in Florence, hands down, as you'll remember: Acqua Al 2.
  

• If they're planning a trip, go to the Amalfi Coast! The Island of Capri might be the most gorgeous place on earth. One of the coolest bars in the world is in Sorrento: Matilda Club. (You'll find it if you go there.) Naples itself is a dump, but the Bay of Naples is gorgeous. Pompeii is cool but do-able in about four hours. Drink limoncello and be happy!
  

• Venice is very touristy but worth the long train ride. Try to find Harry's Bar, which is on the far end of Piazza San Marco. Harry was an American ex-pat who invented the bellini, a combination of peach juice and champagne. The bellinis are overpriced and small, but it's a pretty cool little bar. Venice is an impossible tangle of small streets, so I couldn't begin to tell you where to stay or where to eat -- you'll just have to figure it out yourself.

Milan is supposed to be a waste of time; Sicily is hard to get to; the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia requires a plane flight. I've never been to Cinque Terra, but it's supposed to be pretty cool. We did a couple of day trips out to the Lazio countryside, but there's truthfully not too much going on out there in the sticks.


OUTTRO

That's what I would have told you if we hadn't crossed paths before you left. There is a lot more I'd like to tell you, but I think this is enough to get you started. Have the best time in Rome, and call me soon!


Love,
Paddy