#idk what the worlds fucking coming to when going to a local restaurant is cheaper than any other options save maybe gas stations

[parme-san]

today i will brave my social anxiety to order at my favorite local restaurant

[janiedean]

Hi Lavi :) I need your help! cause I'm moving to Roma soon for 2 months and I don't really know anything about the city :/// First, I would need advice for the place I'll stay in, I have 3 options basically : Trastevere, Aventino, or near the basilica santa maria maggiore. Knowing that I would need to be in the city center (next to the palazzo colonna) every day?? And general advices about living in Roma would be awesome too! Grazie

hey!

okay so first thing I REALLY HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME HERE rn the administration is... terrible but hopefully it won’t deter you from enjoying it. in order:

palazzo colonna is right in the city center but in theory all three options are good because aventino is behind the coliseum which is within walking distance, santa maria maggiore is near the main station but it’s also within walking distance and trastevere is a bit farther but you can get to piazza venezia quickly with the tram which is like the one public transport that works. in theory aventino is more quiet and has a lot of green and it’s not that filled with tourists but it should be less cheap (if you’re renting) but like if you can afford it maybe it’s the best choice, but it also has the least choice of like, shops and restaurants and so on. trastevere has all the typical restaurants and is a lot more lively and is full of nice shops, but it’s also stock-full of tourists and unless you find a secluded place good luck sleeping during the weekends. santa maria maggiore depends on where you are because in between the church and the station it’s cheaper but it’s basically the multicultural area which is not as well kept as the others - sadly - and on the other side instead there’s monti which is a very nice and actually not too touristy neighborhood which has also good public transportation so it depends on what are your specific needs, but all three are good picks also because you can get to piazza venezia by foot anyway if everything else fails. I’d say weigh your specific needs (if you want to party in your free time trastevere or s. maria maggiore is better, if you want quiet and calm aventino would be better) and see but all those choices are good;

as far as general advice goes, in order, PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND SHIT and then WHAT YOU CAN DO:

know it from the get-go - public transport is shitty. if you can walk, WALK. if you can’t, get an app on your phone - the best are probus, citymapper and muoviroma - which tells you when the bus is coming if it’s coming - sometimes they fuck up but it’s better that you do. really, GET AN APP, because otherwise waiting for the bus will be hell. the metro is more reliable but taken in the morning or at 5-7 PM it’s hell - you’ll get people in your face and pressed up to you like sardines most of the time. the only good public transport is the tram and it’s not everywhere. do not expect it to work properly. there’s a strike about every other friday (I KNOW) so be prepared to walk. if you’re here for two months you can get the monthly card - at least it’s cheap, even if the service is shitty. 80% of the time the bus driver won’t speak very good english. anyway, do not expect good public transport. ever;

don't use taxis or try not to. the prices are some of the highest in the country and they'll rob you in any case. clearly if you need to get someplace at 3 AM then you don't have much choice, but the number for calling one is just in Italian I think, so you'd have to stop one unless you learn enough italian or you know it well enough to navigate it. especially, try don't take one from the airport because it'll cost you around 70 euros tops unless you want to spend them, of course. or you can try the private taxi companies - the one everyone recommends me is samarcanda, they also accept credit cards while regular taxis might not; (in case, go on ONLY THE WHITE ONES)

if you need directions, beware that a good 50% of the people here either speak English pretty badly. So in case you do need to ask, I'd suggest asking at a newsstand or bar or shop - at the center there's probably more of a chance that they actually do speak English. If you learn the basic Italian for directions it might help a lot, but if you ask random people they might be crap at communication;

if you need to buy food, we have a few supermarket chains. todis has the best price/quality ratio, conad is okay, carrefour is good but pricey, coop is good if you find one, the rest can be good or not but those are the most popular supermarket chains;

alf of the people who drive around here should have their license removed. (personal experience.) pay extra attention while crossing any road and try to mind noisy traffic. that might seem kind of stupid, but there's a bunch of people passing with red lights or starting the car as soon as it's green and stuff like that which never happens when I go outside Italy (most times). oh, and pay attention to motorcycles because 75% of people driving one should have their license removed instead of just half and they tend to break rules more than car drivers do;

if you want to rent a car or try to get one while you’re here you can but I would advise strongly against it because parking is a bitch and *I* hate driving in this city I can’t imagine someone not adjusted to it;

now, since it’s long, under the cut you get food/tourism advice/tourist traps and stuff. :)

Tourist traps and stuff that is advisable to avoid

There aren't many tourist traps in the strict sense since pretty much everything is worth visiting, but here are the ones I'm aware of, plus a few tips.

- Don't get on the top of St. Peter's. I don't know why it's apparently a great thing to do but it's totally not worth it. They charge you, there's always a line that can go from mid-long to long as fuck and the view isn't anything that special either. You can get a better one for free if you take a walk up the Gianicolo hill or the Pincio gardens just to say two. Or you can take the elevator on the Altare della patria.

When you go to the Coliseum/Roman forum, avoid fake gladiators before they throw an arm around your shoulder and take a picture with you because then they'll want to get paid for it even if you didn't ask. Unless you want one but it’s like ROBBERY. XD

When eating, avoid restaurants in the center offering you tourist menus or pasta/pizza menus. They'll tell you that you can have any pasta or pizza you want and stuff to drink for seven euros, but then looking at the menu since most pastas cost more than that, they'll mostly give you just one or two choices for either. Also 99% of the times it's frozen and re-heated, and at that point you can spend ten euros and go to a proper cheap pizza place. Also beware generally of places that offer pasta and pizza at the same time anyway - most proper pizza restaurants have a pasta/meat/vegetables/etc. choice anyway even if they don't advertise it, and whatever offers stuff like pasta/pizza/Italian typical food at once is usually not a good choice. If they sport an Italian flag or the Coliseum or St. Peter's on the menu outside then it's probably not a good place. XD

Generally eating cheap

Since I scared you off the cheap kind of restaurant, some eating cheaply advice. Now, unless you go to very fancy places and/or renomated restaurants and/or smack in the center, it's easy-ish enough to eat with no more than 12 euros per person in regular restaurants/pizza places. Also most Chinese restaurants are pretty cheap. But if you just want something quick for lunch or anything, there are a lot of places that sell pizza by the weight. You can just go in and say that you want three euros of that kind of pizza and that's all you'll pay, and they also sell appetizers to go with it (like, idk, arancini or supplìs, google them XD) and you'll get out of there having spent five euros at most. Most ice cream places are good by default so that's a good option as well. Or most bars have a kitchen and offer pasta/meat/vegetables at lunch and you pay less than what you'd get in a restaurant. Also if you want to try typical local stuff (though if you're vegetarian Roman food might not be your cup of tea) you can just go to Trastevere and there virtually each restaurant is good. Actually if you want to try pizza there, this is my favorite place; the pizza is excellent, everything else is, prices are reasonable and you don't pay for the service, just for the food. (Anyway, check for pizzas. There's Neapolitan and Roman - most places do it the Roman way but if you check they might do it the Roman way as well. The difference is that the former is the real pizza, the second is very thin rather than tall. They usually specify it, if it's Neapolitan. /end rant)

If you're into Jewish food then you could go to the ghetto, which is the second-oldest ghetto in the world (nothing to be proud but it's info) and where they have a bunch of great places to eat typical Jewish/Roman stuff, but I can't guarantee about the cheapness. TRY THE ARTICHOKES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD;

Other random tips before the to-see list

From what I gathered, if you need euros it's better to get them at a bank/ATM rather than at any change shop or at airports. They don't rob you that much on it, but it's still more convenient not to get money in there.

Use tap water. Rome is full of fountains and all the water is good to drink. It's actually very good water objectively XD and rather than getting charged two euros for half a liter you can just buy a bottle once and fill it in at your hotel or at the first random fountain you see in the street. It's all safe.

Any place that charges you more than one euro for one coffee that isn't strictly in the center or in Via Veneto (except for my favorite place in the center - Sant’Eustachio - which is totally worth every penny) is best left alone. Today a lot of places offer American coffee too but I’d advise trying the espresso ;)

- Don't try to rent a bicycle. High chance is that someone will hit you.

Or: come with jackets or a huge scarf with you even if it's nice hot weather because otherwise they won't let you inside churches. especially at St. Peter's they're strict like hell -- they won't let you in with one-quarter sleeves, you need to have at least half of your arms covered. And once I brought a friend to a crypt which I'll list in the to-see things which isn't inside the church, it's under it, and the guardian was looking in obvious disapproval at a bunch of Germans going inside in shorts and tank tops, so anyway if you want to get inside churches don't do it with your shoulders uncovered.

The shiny list of things you absolutely need to see, or try to if you don't have time

1. Coliseum + Roman Forum. Or, well, come on, we were awesome before popes re-built this city. Okay, with all seriousness, I'm not going to play tourist guide here because that'd be redundant, but you really should go see them.

Aaand advice in order to go quicker: usually lines at the Coliseum are huge. Depends on day/time, but unless you're going very early or very late it'll take you a while. So, either you can book your ticket (with at least one day of advance, they won't let you otherwise) or you go the sneaky way. Which is: you can get a ticket for Coliseum & Roman forum together as well, at both Coliseum and the forum. Since the forum usually has like 1/10 of the line, you go to the forum first, visit there and then go to the Coliseum, be like 'I HAVE MY TICKET ALREADY' and skip the line.

2. The center! Which means like twenty things together, but they're all close-ish to each other so in theory if you spend one day walking (or two half days walking) you can totes manage it. What you should go see in the center, not including the churches because I'll make a list out of those in another point:

a) The Pantheon;

b) Piazza di Spagna (where, if you're English lit nerds, you can go visit Keats' house - they say it's the Keats/Shelley museum but just Keats lived in there. Anyway, it's at the right of the stairs and apparently 90% of the visiting people are English and the people there go like 'OMGWHUT' when Italians go in, but however, it's a little cool museum and if you have some time it could be worth a visit);

c) Fontana di Trevi;

d) Via del Corso (where you go buy stuff if you're cool and have a lot of money);

e) Piazza Venezia ---> the Campidoglio hill (where there's a square and a palace by Michelangelo and the Capitolini museums - more on those later) --> the Trajan column;

f) Piazza Barberini (Bernini fountains!);

g) Piazza Navona (Bernini fountain + Borromini church + the square was actually a stadium in Roman times);

h) Campo dei fiori aka my favorite place and one of the best places to eat so YOU NEED TO GO SEE IT AND THAT'S THE END OF IT;

i) Piazza del popolo;

l) Porta Pia + imperial walls surrounding it;

m) all the roads in between that + the churches that I'll list in a short while.

n) ETA BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON I FORGOT: Piazza Argentina, where there's a colony of 300 cats in the Roman ruins there and you can pet them for free. Well obv not 300 at a time but yeah they totally want to be petted and there's a volunteer association taking care of them so they're clean and everything and so basically it's just a huge free petting zoo.

3. The churches!

Okay, telling you to go to all the churches in Rome would be insane as there's one every three buildings, so I'll give you a run down of the places that are worth checking out because of a) the architects, b) the paintings inside, c) other stuff of importance.

a) Basilicas first, obviously:

a1 -> St. Paul's. (No, I didn't list St. Peter's first. *cough*) it’s my favorite of the basilicas, especially because it's way older than St. Peter's and still has some Byzantine mosaics as well. Disadvantage: since it was built outside the Roman walls back then (VERY MUCH outside) it's smack down in the middle of suburbs, so you need to go there with the subway and there's nothing else around to see UNLESS YOU GO TO THE NOT-CATHOLIC CEMETERY to visit keats and shelley, it’s the previous metro stop;

a2 -> St. Peter's obviously. If only because Michelangelo's Pietà is in there and you -have- to see that, no discussions. XD No well obviously you have to go. I'm probably just sick of it because I've been there so many times that I barely notice anything else anymore

a3 -> St. John's, which is also quite worth visiting, and it's next to San Giovanni which is a pretty lively zone where you can totally go to have a drink or something to eat

a4 -> santa maria maggiore ;) 

There are three others as well but those four are the most important ones. Now, other churches:

b) San Luigi dei Francesi, Sant'Agostino and Santa Maria del popolo

have a considerable advantage that makes them VERY much worthy to be visited: all of them have Caravaggio paintings inside. Actually, the first has three, the second one, the third two, and they're all masterpieces, so those are totally worth visiting.

c) Sant'Andrea al Quirinale and San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane

are two churches near the Quirinale (where the President of the Republic lives -- NOT the PM, thanks XD), the first was designed by Bernini and the second by Borromini, which are both pretty much encompassing what you want to see about Baroque in Rome. They're both absolutely wonderful though I like Borromini's better. Regarding Borromini, it's his also the one in Piazza Navona.

d) Bernini speaking, in Santa Maria della Vittoria you will find the Ecstasy of St. Theresa sculpture - it's kind of fun that when I bring people there without telling them what's inside everyone is like 'OMG IS THAT IN HERE' because it's not the kind of church you notice.

e) Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata a Via Veneto  or where the crypt I was talking to you before is. Major point of interest: said crypt is made of human bones. Warning: since human bones/skeletons creep me out like nothing else I've never set foot inside or I'd have ended up with a major case of WANTING TO GET THE SHIT OUT OF THERE, but people with less problems with it assure me that it's amazing. Your pick. xD

f) San Clemente aka a minor basilica which is also one of our oldest churches and is definitely worth a visit, if only because you can sort of see how it's two churches one built over the other. It also has some catacombs (thankfully skeletons-free) which are pretty much worth a visit as I think they're the only ones that remained here in pretty good condition.

Obviously there's a bunch of other churches but those are the ones I wouldn't miss.

4. Museums:

4a: Vatican museums. Or, if you need to pick ONE then I'd go here even if clearly it's the most pricey and it'll take you half a day to see it. BUT, it has the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's chambers and pretty much some of the best things you can see here so yeah, totally recommending it. Other recommendation: either book tickets online (you'll pay like 3 euros more) or go there at lunch time around 12.30/1 PM because otherwise high chances are that you'll queue for hours. Also if you're a student and have a card or a document from your school bring it along because you can pay 8 euros instead of 14 to get in.

4b: Galleria Barberini: they have a lot of Reinassance/Baroque paintings, Caravaggio included, and they're much cheaper.

4c: Galleria Borghese: probably the besty out of said public museums. It has sculptures/paintings/everything from a lot of artists and also contains famous things as well but a) you have to book, b) they'll kick you out after two hours regardless of the point you reached, so while being there try to go as quick as possible. If you finish you can always go back.

4d: Musei Capitolini: or, the oldest public museums in the world! (Really.) They have a lot of ancient Roman statues/ruins/etc along with the Marcus Aurelius statue which is the only original Roman bronze around, so it's totally worth a visit. Their paintings are great as well.

4e: if you're into it, next to Galleria Borghese there's a pretty good modern art gallery, but I haven't been there in ages and I'm not that much into very modern art anyway so you should probably check before listening to me.

5. I’d also go to Trastevere/the isola tiberina if you don’t go LIVE there of course XD

6. Also if you have time take a train at ostiense and go to the ruins at Ostia Antica. then take a train from any regular station and go see Villa Adriana in Tivoli ;)

feel free to ask for any other advice!