Indeed, there has perhaps never been a better time to visit the city, whose once notorious infrastructure is looking and functioning better than it has done for some time. But its atmosphere is like no other city – a monumental, busy capital and yet an appealingly relaxed place, with a centre that has yet to be taken over by chain stores and big multinational hotels. Rome doesn’t have the nightlife of, say, Paris or London, or even of its Italian counterparts to the north – culturally it’s relatively provincial – and its food, while delicious, is earthy rather than refined.
On foot, it’s easy to lose a sense of direction winding about in the twisting old streets, but you’re so likely to come upon something interesting it hardly makes any difference. Despite regular pledges to ban motor vehicles from the city centre, the congestion can be awful. In any case, it’s hard to get anywhere very fast.
Most of the sights can be approached from a variety of directions, and part of the city’s allure is stumbling across things by accident, gradually piecing together the whole, rather than marching around to a timetable on a predetermined route. All of which means the capital is not an easy place to absorb on one visit, and you need to take things slowly, even if you have only a few days here. All these various eras crowd in on one another to an almost overwhelming degree: there are medieval churches atop ancientīasilicas above Roman palaces houses and apartment blocks incorporate fragments of eroded Roman columns, carvings and inscriptions roads and piazzas follow the lines of ancient amphitheatres and stadiums. There is the modern epoch too, with the ponderous Neoclassical architecture of the post-Unification period and the self-aggrandizing edifices of the Mussolini years. Beginning with the city’s celebrated classical features, most visibly the Colosseum, and the Forum and Palatine Hill, Rome boasts an almost uninterrupted sequence of spectacular monuments – from early Christian basilicas, Romanesque churches, Renaissance palaces, right up to the fountains and churches of the Baroque period, which perhaps more than any other era has determined the look of the city today. For the traveller, all of this is much less evident than the sheer weight of history that the city supports. Romans, the thinking seems to go, are a lazy lot, not to be trusted and living very nicely off the fat of the rest of the land. Once the seat of the most powerful empire in history, and still the home of the papacy within the Vatican city state, Rome is seen as a place somewhat apart from the rest of the country, spending money made elsewhere on the bloated government machine. As a historic place, it is special enough, but as a contemporary European capital, it is utterly unique.Įvenly placed between Italy’s North and South, Rome is perhaps the ideal capital for a country only fully united in 1870 and possessing no shortage of rival cities. Yet it is so much more than an open-air museum: its culture, its food and its people make up a modern, vibrant city that would be worthy of a visit irrespective of its history. An ancient place, packed with the relics of well over two thousand years of inhabitation, you could spend a month here and still only scratch the surface. Rome Rome is the most fascinating city in Italy, which arguably makes it the most fascinating city in the world. Scooting through the city Fontana del Nettuno, Piazza Navona 231įood and drink colour section following p.160 Small print & Index 339–352 Colour maps following p.352īaroque Rome colour section following p.64
327 Glossary of artistic and architectural terms. 139 9 The Villa Borghese and north central Rome. 105 7 The Quirinale and east central Rome. 89 6 The Celian and Aventine Hills and south central Rome. 52 3 Campo de’ Fiori, the Ghetto and around. 33ġ Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill. 7Xekjj^_iXeea Hek]^=k_ZZWdd`^hY^k^YZY^cidi]ZdjaYWZVWaZidÒcYl]ViZkZgndjcZZY^cdcZdZb# I]ZYebekhiZcid\dVcYl]Vicdiidb^hh!VcY^cXajYZhVZc XdbZhWVh^Xh!ZgegVXi^XVa^i^Zh# I]ZY_joX]VeiZghXdkZgZVX]VgZVd!\^k^c\XdbegZ]Zch^kZ VXXdjcihdZViigVXi^dcheajhZmXjgh^dchZgVÒZaY!l]^aZi]Zb_ij_d]i hZXi^dc\^kZhndji]ZadlYdlcdcVXXdbbdYVi^dc!ZVi^c\!h]dee^c\VcYbdgZ# 9edj^hidgnVcYWdd`h!l]^aZ^cY^k^YjVaYebekh_dikW]>iVa^Vcid\ZiWn# CZmiXdbZhi]ZicWbbfh_dj!^cXajY^c\YZiV^ahddlidhZcY ^cjeYViZhVcYXdggZXi^dch!VcYVXdbegZ]Zch^kZ_dZZX^inXVcWZZWVX` The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and currency of all the information in The Rough Guide to Rome, however, they can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury, or inconvenience sustained by any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in the guide.
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