Roam as the Romans would

Last autumn, I asked myself where I really wanted to be. I had just returned to Los Angeles after four months in China and, before that, three years in Paris.

I was living temporarily in a furnished studio apartment near the beach in Santa Monica, California. Road-weary, feeling like flotsam and with most of my belongings scattered in storage units around the world, I was finally ready to settle down. I knew without deliberating where I should be — Rome.

Easily distracted

So here I am — in an apartment overlooking the Roman Forum, next to an early-Christian-era church.

I awake every morning to the sound of pigeons scratching against the skylight over my bed. I make espresso on the stove and try to concentrate on what needs to be done.

But I cannot go out to buy a newspaper without getting waylaid, and it's worse on Sunday mornings, when the doors of every church in Rome stand open.

On a recent Sunday, on the way to the Santa Susanna lending library near the Piazza Repubblica, I peeked into the elliptically shaped San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (affectionately known as San Carlino), a Baroque jewel more like a pincushion than a church.

I am overcome by the warmth of the Romans. It took me months to defrost the shopkeepers in the Paris neighbourhood where I lived, but here, the wedding photographer who has a storefront office next to my front door accepted two suitcases delivered to me when I wasn't at home.

It would take volumes to say what I love about this city, beginning with the old-fashioned Nancy Drew keys to my apartment, the big windows in the living room overlooking a neighbour's terrace and the clothesline on the roof where sheets dry in no time under the hot Roman sun.

I love to drink café macchiato — espresso with a touch of foamed milk — at the Antico Caffe del Brasile on the Via dei Serpenti.

I love the slightly rancid taste of fresh pecorino cheese, the local bag lady with her hair in curlers and, of course, the Roman Forum just outside my door.

One recent morning, I was the first person to enter the Forum from the Via dei Fori Imperiali and had the place to myself.

My goal was the House of Augustus, a modest residence purchased by Julius Caesar's grandnephew Octavian, who ruled the empire as Augustus Caesar from 27BC to AD14.

After years of restoration, four exquisitely frescoed rooms were opened for viewing.

Owing to the fragility of the wall paintings, only five people are allowed at a time. Augustus's second-floor study can be viewed only through Plexiglas.

Down at the Colosseum, costumed gladiators were getting off motor scooters for another day of posing for pictures with tourists.

I went in with a tour led by a guide who claimed to have watched the film Gladiator 19 times but peeled off from the group to check out Time Machine, a new way of touring the Colosseum.

It uses handheld video monitors that show digitalised images of what the place looked like when the Romans were watching those blood-filled games.

I've often wondered why travellers respond to certain places and not to others.

Rome has filled me with passion and joy from the outset. But there are practical problems too.

I am going broke living here, given the weakness of the dollar. Rome is a nesting ground for mosquitoes, and my windows lack screens.

A few hiccups

I'm still waiting for an internet hookup and a telephone in my apartment, though my cellphone works if I stand on the tiny piazza outside my front door.

Anyway, it's nice out there. I can see the ruins of Augustus Caesar's Forum while I try to make calls.

I wonder if I'll ever get to know Rome. Probably not, because every time an archaeologist digs a hole in the Forum, something new is unearthed.

That's the kind of development I like. I'm happier in sun-struck Rome. It's all right with me if I never get to the bottom of it. For now, at long last, it feels like home.

— Los Angeles Times-Washington Post
News Service

Rome's seven wonders — in descending order

I seldom see people on bicycles in Rome. This is probably because of the traffic and uneven pavements.

And the Eternal City is full of hills, too, seven of which are the most famous:

Aventine

Many Rome aficionados know this hill south of the Forum because of the moderately priced Hotel Aventino (www.aventinohotels.com) and its nearby sister hotels, the San Anselmo and the San Pio, which occupy 19th-century villas in a lovely, quiet residential neighbourhood.

But the Aventine has its own attractions, including a promenade on top that looks across the Tiber River to Trastevere, the early Christian Basilica of Santa Sabina and the Circus Maximus.

It's within walking distance of the Porta Portese Sunday-morning flea market in Trastevere and Testaccio, a neighbourhood known for butcher shops and, more recently, nightclubs.

Caelian

The Caelian is the Aventine's neighbour, between the Colosseum and the Baths of Caracalla.

As quiet as the Aventine and even more off the beaten track, it has the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, built on Roman ruins, the Villa Mattei, home of the Italian Geographic Society, and three beautiful chapels attached to the church of San Gregorio Magno.

Capitoline

In Rome, where it's called the Campidoglio, this hill is ground zero, the religious centre of the ancient empire, a government enclave in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and now the seat of the city's mayor.

Its views over the Forum are unparalleled and its central square, created by Michelangelo, remains one of the greatest spaces in Rome despite the looming presence of the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

On top is the Capitoline Museum, with its priceless collection of ancient art, including an Etruscan bronze statue of the mythological wolf that suckled Rome's founders, Romulus and Remus.

Esquiline

The Esquiline is the highest of Rome's seven hills, with four summits.

One of these, the Oppian Hill, is veined by the subterranean ruins of Nero's 300-room Golden House and crowned by the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, with Michelangelo's statue of Moses.

Another summit serves as a plinth for the huge Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

However, legend has it that on August 5, AD352, the Virgin appeared to Pope Liberius in a dream, commanding him to build a church in a place marked by a miraculous snowfall.

The next morning, there was snow in summer on the Esquiline.

Palatine

Near the low-lying Tiber River port area where Rome came up, the Palatine was an enclave for the rich and the powerful of the expanding Roman Empire.

Augustus Caesar built a home there. Its ruins, including four exquisitely frescoed rooms, are open to Forum visitors, as is the whole garden-like summit of the Palatine.

Quirinale

This fine promontory at the centre of Rome is topped by the Baroque Piazza and the Palazzo del Quirinale, the official residence of the Italian president since 1948.

The Via XX Settembre, leading to it from the northeast, has a fine collection of Baroque churches, including Francesco Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale.

There are also two pretty parks known mostly to locals.
Viminale

Between the Esquiline and Quirinale, the Viminale is the smallest of Rome's seven hills.

It is topped by the Italian Ministry of the Interior, occupying a palazzo built around 1910.

But its southwestern flank lead to the old Roman area known as the Subura, a fine place to wander and eat pizza.

Pointers for the budget traveller

At a tourist information centre near the Roman Forum, I asked an attendant whether anything was free in the Eternal City.

He looked at me strangely, then came up with a response. “Si, signora,'' he said, pointing to the brochures on the countertop.

“All these are free.'' It's like that in Rome, where prices for everything are high, even before you get sticker shock from exchanging dollars (or dirhams, for that matter) to euros.
Here's how a budget traveller can try to make do:

STANDING ROOM ONLY

At a café or a pasticceria, stand at the counter instead of sitting at a table.

The prices are higher if you sit down and let a waiter or waitress serve you. Besides, you might be inclined to tip.

Elbow-to-elbow with locals at the counter, you'll find the food is just as good and it's easier to watch Romans do as they do.

BREAKFAST TREAT

It is becoming less and less common for breakfast to come with the price of a room at budget hotels and pensions in Rome.

If it's not included where you're staying, go out to a café and have some marvellous caffeinated beverage — macchiato, cappuccino, espresso — with a cornetto, which is something like a croissant.

Cafés usually display sandwiches and other quick eats. Bakeries often have the best sandwiches and pizza by the slice.

The difference between lunching this way and settling down at a table could be as much as $15 (Dh55).

MORE B&Bs

Aside from such well-known money-saving accommodations as budget hotels and religious houses, bed and breakfasts have finally arrived in Rome.

There are hundreds of them in every district, priced from about $80 to $240 (Dh294 to Dh881), such as Il Covo, near Via Panisperna in the old Roman slum area, or Subura.

The proliferation of B&Bs started during the Catholic Church's Jubilee in 2000, when there weren't enough beds for the millions of pilgrims expected and Romans were encouraged to open their homes to visitors.

Now the tourism bureau in Rome keeps a long B&B list that can be viewed at www.romaturismo.com

FREE IN VATICAN CITY

Is anything free at St Peter's? The great Bernini's Colonnade and the Basilica, to begin with.

Inside, the subterranean Papal Tombs are free but there's a charge to ascend to Michelangelo's Dome (about $10, or Dh37, by elevator or $7.50, or Dh27, on foot).

Admission to the Papal Treasury Museum costs about $9 (Dh33) and a visit to the fabled Vatican Museums (including the Sistine Chapel) costs $21 (Dh77), though it's worth remembering that the Vatican Museums are free from 8.30am to 12.30pm on the last Sunday of every month.
For general information, visit www.vatican.va

SEASONAL BARGAINS

Unlike many north European capitals, Rome has a sliding price scale for hotel rooms, depending on the season.
Highest rates are charged from April to October.

But from November to March (not including the holidays), it is low season, which means you might be able to find a room in an upscale hotel for less than $200 (Dh735) a night.

Off-season, try the Hotel Villa San Pio (www.aventinohotels.com), the Hotel Scalinata di Spagna (www.hotelscalinata.com) or the Hotel Bramante (www.hotelbramante.com).

CHEAP SHOPS

Forgot your toothbrush? Need some flip-flops or an envelope? Look for a casalinghi shop, or a household goods shop, in your neighbourhood, selling a range of knick-knacks at rock-bottom prices.

Rome also has its own 99-cents-only stores. One is Euro City at 221 Via Cavour, where it's more like everything for $1.50 (Dh6).

NEW FORUM FEES

The whole Forum area, from the Vittoriano to the Colosseum, used to be free, a place for wandering around in, like a public park.

But in early March, a $16.50 (Dh61) entrance fee was instituted, partly to control pickpocketing.

The Ministry of Culture says the revenue will also help underwrite further excavation work in a place where you can't dig a hole without unearthing archaeological treasures.

A nifty new addition at the Colosseum is the Time Machine tours for about $8 (Dh29), showing visitors digital images of what the place looked like in ancient times.

Of course, there are ruins all over Rome. One you can walk alongside without paying an entrance fee is the Emperor Trajan's Forum, with its famous column.

The same goes for Portico d'Ottavia, alongside the magnificent Teatro di Marcello, with entrances on the Via Teatro di Marcello and Via Portico d'Ottavia.

FOLLOW THAT BUS

Like other European capitals, Rome has several fleets of hop-on, hop-off sightseeing buses, such as Trambus (www.trambusopen.com).

It starts and ends at Termini Station, following a two-hour route that passes most major sights in the historical centre.

The buses ply after every ten minutes from 8am to 8pm daily and cost about $24 (Dh88) a day, with audio in eight languages and discounts at many museums and tourist sights along the way.

The same company runs Archeobus hop-on, hop-off tours along a route that takes in the Appian Way, priced at about $18 (Dh66) a day.

The Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, www.josp.com, part of the diocese of Rome, runs two main hop-on, hop-off bus lines that take in such far-flung sites of interest to religious pilgrims as San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria del Popolo.

PIAZZAS AND CHURCHES

All this sounds too complicated? Skip it and spend your time walking from one amazing piazza to another or from one exquisite church to the next. The church of Santa Maria del Popolo at the northern side of the Piazza del Popolo has two stunning Caravaggios, The Crucifixion of St Peter and Conversion on the Way to Damascus.

On the other side of the historic centre, there's San Pietro in Vincoli, enshrining the tomb of Pope Julius II, highlighted by Michelangelo's Moses.

Go there... Rome

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