Timeless Rome

Story and photography by
Eric Anderson & Nancy Allen 

 

Americans on European vacations tend to favor classic cities like London, Paris, Athens and, of course, Rome. Rome scores well as a tourist attraction because not only does it have all the architectural triumphs of the Roman Empire but all the art of the Renaissance and whatever preceded that by two centuries.

Rome is unique.

But it sure isn’t perfect. In the last 50 years we've seen it turn into a busy, noisy city, with cluttered traffic and reckless drivers who would wipe out in minutes those Americans used to pedestrians' rights on street crossings. Yet Rome is Rome, the Eternal City and the eternal attraction. Where else can you see enter a nineteen hundred years-old monument like the Pantheon to pay homage to Raphael -- and marvel how Roman marble, brick and concrete could last that long? Where else could you stand on the very spot where Marc Anthony paid his famous tribute to Caesar? Where else, except the Vatican Museum, could you look up and see art so magnificent that the vault of the Sistine Chapel is actually only a small part? And where else can you find cobbled streets near the Arch of Titus marked by the passage of Roman chariots and in the Roman Forum wisteria vines still cascading over the ruins.

Rome is timeless. A guide book from a previous century would even now be relevant. Still worth finding are the Colosseum, inaugurated in 80 AD and contemporary even today because of movies like Gladiator; the Spanish Steps, once home to French artists and English poets; the Fountain of Trevi, built in 1732 to become everyone's favorite extravaganza; and the Piazza Navona, created originally in AD 86 as the Emperor Domitian's stadium and now visited to see Bernini's magnificent marble sculptures and taste Tre Scalini's less splendid ice cream. And across the Tiber are the Vatican Museum – any one room would be worth the visit to Rome -- and south of that, the medieval city called Trastevere still within Rome's walls. And in this old place, as locals promenade in their best clothes on a Saturday night, we understand why Romans say, "In Italy, the city squares are our living rooms."

You'll find your own favorite restaurants and discover the dollar isn’t quite as strong in Italy. But for lunch consider the Vatican museum café or, around the Spanish Steps, try Caffe Greco at 86 Via Condotti; it’s been there since 1760, or Babington's Tea Rooms at the foot of the Steps themselves. Both will be somewhat over-priced, crowded and offering slow, harassed service but you're sitting in Roman institutions – and when in Rome…. For dinner, splurge and try for a reservation in the Hassler Rooftop restaurant where you can look out on the romantic moonlit rooftops of the city.

Accommodations vary from simple rooms in convents like Casa San Giuseppe one mile south of the Vatican to the latest luxury hotel, half a mile north of the Spanish Steps, Hotel de Russie, created from the former Russian embassy. And from expensive classics like the Hassler just above the Steps to the reasonably-priced Hotel Mediterraneo, a mile northeast of the Colosseum and close to Termini, the main railway station. The Mediterraneo has several advantages. It has been owned and run by the Bettoja family www.bettojahotels.it/ with four other adjacent hotels for five generations. By now they've got it right. Although the staff speaks fluent English, the style and clientele is more Italian than American, so there is more a sense of the exotic.

Summer rates in Rome may be less; it’s so hot the natives clear out in August. We’ve had great online prices for the Hotel Barocco http://www.hotelbarocco.com, a jewel of a boutique hotel with a helpful staff, great breakfasts and a perfect location. It’s only 50 feet from the Barberini fountain and the Metro. And – it’s a five-minute walk to the Spanish Steps, ten minutes at the most to the Fountain of Trevi, a slow dawdle of 12-15 minutes to the Pantheon, and so on.

Regarding getting around: we’ve mentioned the traffic. The problems are common to all major European cities and Rome’s difficulties are not new. Julius Caesar was so irritated by the traffic he banned all vehicular traffic during daylight hours! Today’s drivers and motor cyclists show disregard for pedestrians; they have something called “the alternate consideration” or other which allows them to use their discretion as to whether they will stop or not. It used to be said, “Cross when a priest is crossing” but that doesn’t work now nor does, “Eat where the good fathers eat.” You will still be charged half as much again if you eat at a table rather than at the counter and twice the counter rate if you want an outside table to watch the mass of humanity go past that is part of the fun of a Rome visit.