Roma introduction

History

Rome has seen everything during her history of 2700 years. She has endured attacks and pillage by foreign barbarians, nch kings and native popes. Some of her proudest monuments are in ruins. Powerful locals have been the greatesmad emperors, French kings and native popes. Some of her proudest monuments are in ruins. Powerful locals have been the greatest spoilers.

Visitors come to see the ancient ruins in Forum, Capitolum and Palatinum. They also come to see the St Peters (San Pietro) cathedral an baroque churches. And finally the come to relax in cafés and restaurants of the narrow alleys in the Martian Fields (Campo di Marzo) center of the city. According to the law of contrasts, young people are attracted to this medieval part of Rome.

One million people lived here in the golden age of classical Rome. Later the number of inhabitants fell to thirty thousand in the Middle Ages. Now it is up to three million people. Rome is not as big as Paris, London or New York, but she has more memories of the past than the other cities.

Life

Rome is a city of contrasts, of youth and old age. She has for twenty centuries claimed to be the center of the world, first as the seat of emperors and then as the seat of popes. She carries her age well, brimming with life from morning into the night.

The night life of La Dolce Vita never existed though, but all classes of society are dropping into cafés all the time. Rome is not awake in the night but takes days and evenings with gusto.

Car traffic in the city is chaos incarnate. Drivers throng through every alley and fill every square, avoiding collisions with people. They argue loudly as other Romans. In spite of that, tolerance is one of the main traits of the Romans. The city is the Catholic capital of the world but its citizens are mediocre believers. They are primarily seasoned and wise in the ways of the world.

Seven Hills

The seven hills of ancient Rome are: Capitolum, Palatinum, Aventinum, Celium, Esquilinium, Viminal and Quirinal.

Canada

Via G.B. De Rossi 27. Phone: 841 5341.

United Kingdom

Via XX Settembre 80. Phone: 482 5441.

United States

Via Veneto 119-121. Phone: 467 41.

Accident

Phone: 113.

Ambulance

Phone: 113.

Complaints

It is generally useless and a waste of time to complain in Italy. Instead try to look at the bright side.

Dentist

An emergency dentist is available at Ospedale G. Eastman, tel. 490 042.

Fire

Phone: 115.

Hospital

English speaking staff are at Salvator Mundi International Hospital, tel. 586 041.

Medical care

Phone: 475 6741.

This number answers day and night and gives information on the services of medical doctors.

Pharmacy

Hours: 8:30-13, 16-20.

Closed pharmacies have signs on their doors to point out where there is night duty. Internazionale at Piazza Barberini 49, phone 482 5456, is open day and night.

Police

Phone: 113.

The city police, Vigili urbani, wear blue uniforms in winter and white in summer. The state police, La Polizia, wear blue uniforms with white belts and berets. The military police, Carabineri, wear red-striped trousers. You can ask all three types for help.

Precautions

Dont use a handbag. Keep money in inside pockets. Use cards as much as possible. Dont keep passports in the same place as money. Dont leave valuables in a locked car. Beware of gypsy children, especially in groups. Petty crime abounds, but there is very little violent crime in Rome.

Banks

Hours: Weekdays 8:30-13:30, 14:45-15:45.

Change foreign money in banks or at “cambio”-offices, not in hotels. Some banks only change foreign money during the morning hours. A bank is open 24 hours a day at the central railway station but often there is a long queue.

Credit cards

Credit cards are widely accepted in hotels, restaurants and shops. Visa and Eurocard (Access, MasterCard) have the largest circulation.

Electricity

Italian voltage is 220V, same as in Europe. Plugs are continental.

Hotels

Roman hotels are generally clean and well maintained, including plumbing, if they have three or more official stars. But two-starred hotels can also be very good, even if they do not have TV sets in guest rooms. A bathroom is taken for granted nowadays.

We only include such hotels, and in most cases we also demand a direct telephone line, working air-condition, and peace and silence during the night. Only hotels in the city center are included as we want to avoid long journeys between sightseeing and our Mediterranean afternoon naps. The price ranges from L. 80.000 to L. 590.000, excluding breakfast.

We try to avoid breakfast at hotels as in Italian hotels it is as insubstantial as in French hotels. More tasty and economical is the espresso coffee with cornettos on the corner café patronised by the locals. Breakfast is in most cases included in the stated price, as that is the normal price quoted.

We checked all the hotels in this database during the winter of 1995-1996 as everything is fickle in this world. We have also tested some other hotels that are not included as they were not on par with the best in each price category. Some four-star hotels in Rome are in fact worse than our selection of two-star hotels.

Money

The currency in Italy is the lire (L.). Paper money is dominant, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 50000 and 100000 lire (L.), increasing in size with their value. Coins are for 50, 100, 200 and 500 lire.

Prices

Prices have gone up on par with Western Europe.

Shopping

Shops are open 9-13, 15:30-19:30 in summer, 16-20 in winter. Sometimes they close earlier on Saturdays.

Tipping

A service charge is generally included in restaurant bills. Some guests leave a few thousand lire extra. Taxi drivers expect at least 10% from foreigners. Porters expect L. 1000 per bag.

Toilets

There are few public toilets. The toilets in cafés are sometimes not up to standard, but generally they are acceptable in restaurants. Bring the paper if you are not visiting a restaurant.

Tourist office

The National Tourist Board, Ente Provinicale per il Turismo, has its head office at Via Parigi 11, tel. 461 851 and branches at the airport and the central railway station.

Water

Tap water is usually clean and tasty. In restaurants most people drink bottled water.

Accommodation

The tourist office at the central railway station finds hotel rooms for travelers. Ask for a room with “twin bed” as such beds and rooms are often larger that those with “double bed”. Rooms on the outside are often more bright and airy but also more noisy that those on the inside.

Airport

The Leonardo da Vinci airport at Fiumicino is 30 km (18 miles) south-west of Rome, tel. 60 121. A bus takes 60-80 minutes from the airport to the central railway station. The train takes 30 minutes from the airport to the Porta San Paolo station where you connect to the Metro subway system. Taxis take 40-60 minutes to the city center and are expensive, cost L. 50.000 from the airport and L. 60.000 to the airport.

News

International Herald Tribune and other important foreign newspapers are available at many kiosks in central Rome. The main Roman newspapers are La Republica and Il Messagero. There are three TV channels, Uno, Due and Tre, and additionally cable channels in many hotel rooms, including CNN.

Phone

The Italian country code is 39 and the local code for Rome is 06. The foreign code from Italy is 00.

Post

The postal service is inefficient. Either use express post or use the Papal post at the Piazza San Petro in front of the Vatican. Italian post boxes are red and the Vatican ones are blue. A post office is open day and night at the central railway station.

Post

The postal service is inefficient in Italy. The main post office in Venice is beside the Rialto bridge, in Palazzo dei Tedeschi, tel. 529 911

Railways

The Italian railway system is inexpensive and effective.

Taxis

Registered taxis are yellow with an illuminated sign on top and use fare meters. They park at marked stands and can also be hailed on the street even if not strictly allowed. They charge supplements for baggage, night and Sunday journeys, and for journeys to the airport. The meter runs when the taxi is bogged down in traffic. Foreigners are expected to tip 10% or more.

Traffic

Rush hours are 8-9:30 and 17-20. It is often quicker to walk than to take a taxi. Beware of cars crossing at red lights. Dont drive yourself. The Metro is convenient for getting around in the city.

Coffee

Italians are the first-class nation of coffee culture. They drink all their coffee freshly ground in espresso machines. Most often they drink espresso or caffè = very strong; doppio = double the size of an espresso; cappucino = espresso mixed with air-whipped milk. Bad coffee for tourists is called americano. Italians usually have their coffee standing at the bar.

Cuisine

Foreigners often think that Italian cooking consists mainly of pastas after pastas. In fact this is more complicated. Italians do not talk of Italian cooking, but of Venetian, Tuscanian, Ligurian, Latin and so on. In this database we concentrate on Roman cooking, even if we include restaurants representing other types of Italian cooking.

Descriptions

Carciofi alla giudia: The artichokes are opened and flattened, cut in pieces and deep fried in an oil mixture of secret ingredients. After cooking they are golden and look like flowers. This is the speciality of the Jewish ghetto.

Pesto: A famous, strong sauce from Liguria, generally greenish, made of basil, nuts, garlic and lots of grana cheese. Liguria is the name of the coastal area around Genua.

Polenta: Corn porridge made by boiling maize in water until it becomes thick and chunky. Then it is cooled and cut in slices which are usually fried, baked or grilled. The porridge form in the Vecchia Roma restaurant is rather unusual.

Prosciutto Smoked ham. The best internationally known smoked ham comes from Parma. In Italy the one from San Danieli is considered at least equal to the one from Parma. The ham is always cut in very thin slices. Out of Italy it is most often accompanied with melon, but Italians like figs better.

Ricotta: Soft, unsalted cheese, reminiscent of Greek feta cheese, eaten fresh. Usually it is put into pasta envelopes and in sweet bakery, but it is also served in wet and soft dumplings.

Risotto: A rice dish from the Po valley, generally connected with Milan and Venice. The rice is first fried in oil or butter, often with onions, and then cooked in a small amount of liquid, wine or the juice of the food which then is mixed into the rice when it is served. Often butter and grana cheese are added.

Tartufi: Truffle. The Italian type of tuber, the underground mushrooms dug up with the help of trained dogs and pigs. This type is white and almost as expensive as the French black ones. They have a pungent aroma and are always used uncooked, usually in small amounts with some other food. Tartufi is one of the things essentially Italian.

Trippa: Tripe. Can be soft and tasty when it is correctly cooked. It is a national dish all the way from Rome to Florence.

Pecorino: A hard ewe cheese reminiscent of grana or parmesan.

Tuscany cuisine: Generally considered the top of Italian cooking. The Queens of France were often brought from Florence, bringing with them their chefs, starting what is now called classical French cuisine. The best pasta in Italy comes from Tuscany: ravioli and gnochi. And Tuscany is one of the best wine regions in Italy.

Zuppa di cozze: Mussel soup. Oil, onion and tomatoes are heated in a pan, water is added and finally the mussels are added, opening on the way to the table.

Eating habits

Italians do not eat much in the morning. They may have an espresso and cornetto at the corner café or bakery. Lunch often starts at 13:30 and dinner at 20:30. Both lunch and dinner are hot meals and are equally important. Italians like food and consume it with abandon.

They are on the other hand careful with the wine and some only drink water. Tap water is very good and clean in Rome, coming in ducts from the mountains. In restaurants most people have bottled water though, aqua minerale, often with gas, gassata.

Ingredients

Alla Romana:

- Abbachio alla romana = lamb cooked in egg, lemon and white wine sauce.

- Gnochi alla romana = mashed potato dumplings with tomato sauce and cheese.

- Pizza alla romana = pizza with mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and basil.

- Piselli alla romana = beans fried with onion, ham and butter.

- Pollo alla romana = chicken pieces fried in oil and butter with onion, ham, pepper and tomato.

- Saltimbocca alla romana = thin veal covered in ham.

- Trippa alla romana = tripe in tomato mint sauce, accompanied with pecorino-cheese.

- Zuppa alla romana = shellfish soup.

Cheese:

- Bel paese = mild and soft cheese.

- Gorgonzola = rather soft and strong blue cheese.

- Grana = very hard cooking cheese.

- Mozzarella = rubbery young cheese.

- Parmiggiano = parmesan cheese, a type of grana.

- Pecorino = hard and strong Roman ewe cheese.

- Provolone = strong cheese.

- Ricotta = fresh ewe cheese.

- Taleggio = mild & creamy cheese.

Fish:

- Bonito = tuna.

- Merlano = whiting.

- Merluzzo = cod.

- Rombo = turbot and brill.

- Rospo = monkfish.

- Sogliola = sole.

- Spada = swordfish.

- Spigola = sea bass.

Game:

- Allodole = lark.

- Beccaccia = woodcock.

- Capretto = kid.

- Capriolo = roebuck.

- Cervo = venison.

- Chinghiale = wild boar.

- Lepre = hare.

- Quaglie = quail.

- Starna = partridge.

- Uccelletti = small birds, such as sparrows.

Innards:

- Animelle = sweetbreads.

- Cervella = brains.

- Coratella = lamb lungs.

- Fegato = liver.

- Pagliata = kidneys.

- Rognoni = kidneys.

- Trippa = tripe.

Roman seafood:

- Antipasto di mare = cold seafood platter.

- Fritto misto di mare = deep fried seafood with lemon.

- Insalata di mare = seafood salad.

- Risotto di frutti di mare = fried rice with seafood.

- Zuppa di pesce alla romana = shellfish soup.

Roman specialities:

- Abbacchio = baby lamb.

- Alla romana = (usually) with tomato and sometimes red wine.

- Asparagus.

- Mint.

- Pecorino cheese.

- Ricotta cheese.

- Stracciatella = egg and cheese soup.

- Trippa = veal tripe.

Shellfish:

- Arselle and vongole = small shells.

- Cappe and cappesante = scallops.

- Cozze and muscoli = mussels.

Shrimp:

- Gamberi.

- Scampi.

- Gamberoni (big).

- Mazzancolle (very big).

Soups:

- Brodo = clear soups.

- Minestrone = clear soups with pasta.

- Minestre = thick soups with rice or pasta.

- Egg soups such as zuppa pavese and stracciatella.

Menus

An Italian menu typically has five sections: Antipasti = starters; pasti or asciutti or primi platti = pasta courses; secundi piatti = fish or meat; contorni or verdure = vegetables and salads; dolci and frutti and formaggi = sweets, fruit and cheeses.

There are no rules on the number of courses in a menu. Some have a starter and then two pastas, one after the other. The usual thing is to have three courses. It could be a starter, a pasta and a meat course. Or it could be a pasta, a meat, a side course. Or a pasta, a meat and a dessert.

The price of a starter, pasta or a bottle of the house wine is usually two times the price of a side course or a dessert; and the price of a main course is usually three times the price. The prices in this database are usually calculated on the basis of a starter, a second course and either a side course or a dessert. All prices are for two persons.

Restaurants

Lunch hour is 13:30-15, dinner 20:30-23. In most places the owner or some waiters understand English. Roman restaurants are generally small and clean, sometimes accidentally decorated. They usually have linen tablecloths and linen napkins, most often white.

Nowhere in the world is the service in restaurants better than in Italy. The waiters are generally quick and effective. They hurry with the courses until you arrive at the last course. Then everything slows down. It seems that Italians like to eat in a hurry and then to linger on over the wine glass or coffee. Quick service does not mean that the waiter wants to get rid of you.

Wine

The house wine is usually well chosen and economical, either bianco or rosso, white or red. Connoisseurs can have a look at the list to find something unusual, as no country in the world has as many different labels. Italian wine is generally good, sound and simple, but lacking in great growths. Italians do not take their wine as seriously as the French do. Red wines are generally better than white.

Roman wine is simple and agreeable: Frascati, colli albani, cori, montecompatri, velletri, zagarolo, all with the official quality denomination D.O.C. (denominazione di origine controllata). They are mainly white wines.

Better wines come from the north, mainly Piemonte and Tuscany. The best known Tuscany wine is chianti, especially chianti classico. Even better are brunello di montalcino, vernaccia di san gimignano, tignanello and sassicaia. From Piemonte there are barolo, barbaresco, barbera, dolcetto and grignolino.

The ancient Greeks loved Italian wine and gave Italy the name of Oenotria or the country of wine.

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson