Printable destination guide
For more information and to book please visit www.mrandmrssmith.com or let us arrange your whole trip, by calling +44 (0)20 8987 4312 or from the USA dial 1 866 610 3867.
Rome
Italy
- Cityscape
- Archaeological eye-candy
- City life
- Piazza people-watching
With the Vatican in town, Easter and Christmas are highlights of Rome’s calendar, but visitors flock all year to the Raphael frescoes and the Sistine Chapel.
Native Romans are in their element in the buzzy, flirty squares of Piazza Navona or Campo de’ Fiori; do as they do and linger over delicious cucina romanesca – as style-conscious as the Eternal City is, food isn’t about fashion here: traditional trattorie are best for pizza and pasta.
Pictured: Hotel de Russie
Our round-up of the hippest hideaways and boutique hotels in Rome
more
Planes, trains, automobiles, or maybe even helicopter – we tell you the best way to go.
more
Highlights the best Rome has to offer, from art and culture to fun-packed activities; we've even found the most inspiring place to enjoy the views from.
more
We've tracked down the best cafés for people-watching, the bars with the coolest cocktails, the most accomplished restaurants and the liveliest local nightlife in Rome. All you have to do is make sure you've packed your favourite threads…
more
Here is the map of Rome; each Mr & Mrs Smith hotel is marked by a flag; click it for more details.
more
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- You can hail them everywhere, and taxi ranks have numbers to ring. Avoid the many unofficial and unlicensed taxis.
- Tipping culture
- 15 per cent is usually added; small change for drinks.
- Packing tips
- Rosary beads; a pick and shovel to unearth ancient artifacts a few metres down (the reason why Rome's metro has never been completed).
- Recommended reads
- Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon; Open City: Seven Writers in Postwar Rome, edited by William Weaver.
- Cuisine
- The foundation of Roman food is cucina povera (rustic cooking) enjoyed in traditional trattorias. We love spaghetti all’amatriciana (tomato and pancetta) and saltimbocca (veal roll with sage and butter). Thursday is gnocchi day. Rome also has a fantastic café culture, so join the locals for an espresso in one of the many piazzas.
- Currency
- Euro.
- Dialing codes
- Code for Italy: 39. Rome: 06.
- Do go/don't go
- In the summer, the city gets sweaty and crowded; you may prefer to go in the spring or autumn. Any time of year, one of the pleasures of a visit to the Eternal City is to simply dive off the crowded tourist route and explore the city’s countless lesser-known treasures at random. Rome’s museums are often surprisingly uncrowded.
Getting there
Planes, trains, automobiles, or maybe even helicopter – we tell you the best way to go.
- Planes
- Rome is served by two airports: Fiumicino and Ciampino. A 30-min train from Fiumicino to the centre costs €9.50; a taxi costs €60. From Ciampino, at least once an hour, a public bus goes to Anagnina metro station (30 mins from centre) for €2. A taxi to the city centre costs about €30.
- Trains
- Stazione Termini is the main station (www.trenitalia.it).
- Automobiles
- Driving in Rome is not for the nervous. You can park in blue zones for €1/hour; or the daily rate for carparks is around €25. Cars with foreign plates are not allowed in the historical centre. You can rent a vespa and see the sights Roman Holiday style on a vintage Vespa or in a cute Fiat 500 (www.happyrent.com).
Worth getting out of bed for
Highlights the best Rome has to offer, from art and culture to fun-packed activities; we've even found the most inspiring place to enjoy the views from.
Remarkably Rome
The Pantheon is the most perfectly preserved ancient building in the city. The enormous columns in the entrance were transported all the way from Egypt, and the dramatic interior is richly decorated in marbles beneath the massive masonry ceiling.
- Viewpoint
- Piazza del Campidoglio by night, for panoramas over the Forum and the Palatine, or the top of the Spanish Steps for a view over the Centro Storico to St Peter’s.
- Arts and culture
- Rome’s importance to Western civilisation is inscribed in its imposing historical sites: the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Forum, St Peter’s and the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel. Palazzo Doria Pamphilj is a mansion housing a gallery of 15th- to 18th-century art; Villa Borghese boasts a magnificent art collection and spectacular grounds. Rome’s many layers of history are illustrated by the Basilica di San Clemente near the Colosseum where a 12th-century church is built on top of a 4th-century Christian building, in turn built on a 2nd-century pagan temple. It’s possible to visit all three levels.
- Something for nothing
- A stroll at sunset in the lush Pincio Gardens, above Piazza del Popolo.
- Shopping
- Via Condotti, starting at the base of the Spanish Steps, is Rome’s most prominent shopping street; Via Frattina runs parallel, along the same lines. Via del Corso sells younger styles. More interesting shopping can be found near Piazza del Popolo. On Via Nazionale, you’ll find leather stores and a handful of boutiques. Via Sistina is good for small, stylish outlets. Porta Portese open-air fleamarket in Trastevere is the largest in Europe, open on Sundays from 05h until around 14h. A stroll round the lively fruit and vegetable market in Campo de’ Fiori near Piazza Navona is a great way to spend the morning.
- Daytripper
- The catacombs along the Via Appia Antica are the ancient communal burial ground of the city, covering several kilometres of tunnels carved out of the soft rock. The catacombs of San Callisto are the most famous and it's possible to take a guided tour.
- Activities
- Train as a gladiator with Gruppo Storico Romano (www.gsr-roma.com). There’s an air of the Colosseum about the Stadio Olimpico, the home of Rome’s two soccer teams: AS Roma and Lazio. A ticket to a weekend game between September and May costs from €20. You can buy tickets at Orbis in Piazza dell’ Esquilino; remember to take some ID.
Diary
April Good Friday: a torchlit procession from Via Crucis up the Monte Palatino re-enacts the 14 stations of the cross. Easter Sunday The Pope’s blessing from the balcony of St Peter’s (www.vatican.va). 1 May Spring music festival in Piazza San Giovanni. May/June Dolce Vita Jazz Festival at the Palma Club (www.lapalmaclub.it) and the Parco della Musica. 29 June Feast day of Rome’s patron saints, Peter and Paul, when the city shuts down. September Contemporary-photography festival FotoGrafia (www.fotografiafestival.it). Also, La Notte Bianca: all-night music, dance and theatre (www.lanottebianca.it). RomaEuropa Festival: theatre, music and dance events (www.romaeuropa.net). 25 December Christmas blessing from the Pope, delivered at noon.
Eating, drinking and dancing
We've tracked down the best cafés for people-watching, the bars with the coolest cocktails, the most accomplished restaurants and the liveliest local nightlife in Rome. All you have to do is make sure you've packed your favourite threads…
Cafés
Giolitti
A veritable institution: one of Rome’s oldest ice-cream parlours, Giolitti dates back to 1900 and is within my-cone-hasn’t-melted distance of the Pantheon. Classic interiors complement the Italian versions of knickerbocker glory and peach melba.
Great for: Classic gelato.
40 via Uffici del Vicario, Rome 00186
(+39 (0)6 699 1243)
Il Gelato di San Crispino
Handily located near the Trevi fountain, this gelateria is claimed by many to make the best ice cream in Rome, if not the whole country. Flavours are seasonal and made with top-quality ingredients. Try a classic stracciatella, pistachio or hazelnut, or something more exotic, such as liquorice root, green tea, or saffron.
42 via delle Panetteria, Rome 00187
(+39 (0)6 679 3924)
Restaurants
Gusto
Gusto is a huge restaurant, pizzeria, wine bar, cookshop and bookshop all in one, good for weekend buffet brunch when you refill as many times as you like and pay for what you eat by weight (of the food, not of yourself once you’ve finished).
Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9
(+39 (0)6 322 6273)
Arancia Blu
Vegetarian restaurants are a rarity in these parts and this is a contender for Rome’s best. Arancia Blu is a stylish, alternative, urban bistro with a great wine list.
Via dei Latini 55-65
(+39 (0)6 445 4105)
Il Drappo
Quiet, with soft music and subdued lighting, this is an ideal place sample an array of inventive Sardinian specialities.
Vicolo del Malpasso, 9
(+39 (0)6 687 7365)
Camponeschi
Eat in one of the best fish restaurants in Rome, while enjoying a front-row view of the Piazza Farnese. Praise has been heaped on the ambiance, the service and the food here. Come and try it for your yourself.
Piazza Farnese, 50
(+39 (0)6 687 4927)
Santa Lucia
Located behind the Piazza Navona, sometime celeb haunt Santa Lucia provides comfortable outdoor seating and simple, traditional Italian food such as pastas, seafood and vegetarian dishes.
Largo Febo, 12
(+39 (0)6 688 02427)
Il Brillo Parlante
A wine bar that does very good food. Choose from 20 wines by the glass at the bar and/or eat downstairs in one of several wood-panelled rooms. The menu is relatively extensive; choose from cured meats, crostini, pastas, grilled meats, and wood-fire pizzas.
Via delle Fontanelle, 12,
(+39 (0)6 324 3334)
L’Altro Mastai
This is a recent addition to Rome’s list of Michelin-starred restaurants and serves exciting Mediterranean dishes. The beetroot ice cream was a very pleasant surprise.
Via Giraud 53
(+39 (0)6 683 01296)
Da Lucia
It’s well worth tracking down this gem of a trattoria on a cobbled backstreet. It's packed to the rafters with locals and specialises in simple, typically Roman dishes, such as spaghetti with pecorino and pancetta, and fried artichoke hearts.
Vicolo del Mattonato 2,
(+39 (0)6 580 3601)
Bars and clubs
Enoteca Antica
A drink in this dark, atmospheric spot in an ancient wine cellar is the perfect ending to a visit to the nearby Spanish Steps. Enter through a discreet door and decide whether to opt for a tiny table in the back, or stand at the bar where wine bottles are stashed in every nook and cranny.
Via delle Croce 76B
(+39 (0)6 679 7544)
Freni E Frizioni
This quirky bar in up-and-coming Trastevere is housed in a former garage. The patrons tend to spill out into the square outside, cocktails in hand.
Via del Politeama, 4 - 6
(+39 (0)6 583 34210)
©2008 Mr & Mrs Smith
