Marco's apartment is in a great area of Rome. I didn't see any tourists and enjoyed my stay very much. I strongly recommend a stay at this location if your goal is to enjoy the experience of being among Italians and making new friends. You will be one of the FEW Americans ever to have been here. The local folks are VERY kind, gracious, congenial, and helpful. PLEASE treat them all with respect and remember that you are not in the US. Remember the adage, “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” If your goal is to party, I'm not sure that this is the place for you. We are an older couple and wanted to enjoy the "real Italy" not the tourist area.
There is a wonderful food shop in the same building as the apartment. There is also a fruit/vegetable shop in the front of the building. There is a superb pizza restaurant two buildings down on the same street. There is also an ice cream (gelato) shop two buildings down. A grocery/dry goods shop is also on the same street as the apartment.
There is a monstrous shopping mall about 15 minutes’ walk away. It has EVERYTHING!!! The only problem with walking is that you will have to carry your purchases back to the apartment. The mall has three floors and rivals ANYTHING you will find in the US. There is a Italian Wal-Mart in the mall.
Getting to and from the center of Rome is simple and straightforward. Here is how you do it.
GOING TO ROME:
Buy 6 tickets for each person at the Tabacco shop in the next building store front. The bus stop is right in front of that shop. Take the 555 or 075 or the 055 bus to the Lunghezza train stop. It will take you to the Tiburtina train station/stop. Get off there and take the subway to either the Termini stop or the Colosseo stop. The Colosseo stop will stop at the Colosseum. After you take in the sights of the Colosseum you can either walk or use the bus or subway system. Please take the subway to the Vatican, known as the Vaticano and the Capella Sistina. You can take the subway from the Colosseo stop to the Ottaviano stop which is just a few blocks north of the Vatican.
GETTING BACK:
To return from the Vatican to your apartment (Marco’s apartment) follow these instructions.
Take the subway from the Ottaviano stop to the Termini stop. Get off the subway and get on the train to Tiburtina, it might also be indicated as the train to Rebibbia. In either case, get off at Tiburtina. You now change trains to the ES1, ES2, or ES3 train to Lunghezza. The difference in the three trains is the departure times. Take the train to Lunghezza. Get off the train and go to the bus stop. You will wait for the bus 055, 075, or 555. They will all go to the apartment. We took the 055 bus and it stops right in front of the tobacco shop.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Each ticket costs 1.50 Euro and is good for ONE train/Subway ride and all the bus rides you can take within 100 minutes of when it was validated.
Validate your ticket when you get on the bus or just before you get on a train. If you cannot validate your ticket, write (in ink) the date and time you got on the vehicle. (such as 11:05 04-10-2018 day month year format).
While in Rome central, Do NOT eat at any restaurant surrounded by tourists. Side streets away from the crowd will have the better food and prices. Do NOT eat at any restaurants that have a “hustler” outside drawing clientele.
Take water with you when you go to Rome. It can be expensive there.
You can't get lost. If you find yourself on the wrong train or bus, call Marco. Make sure you have his number.