The Craic on Tour - Guide to Rome
By Chris Weldon
January 25 2005
A party of intrepid London Irish supporters will be making their way to Rome shortly. We are fortunate to have our very own man on the ground to assist us. Herewith ChrisW's guide to Rome.
ROME
This is intended as a simple, unsophisticated guide for those who don’t know Rome and who will have limited time here. There are quite a few LI supporters traveling over for the Italy v Ireland game on 6th Feb. Wales will play here on 12 Feb. and France on 19 March. If you needed an excuse it’s not too late to book for any of those games. Next season, course, England and Scotland will be the guests. When booking, add an extra day or two and really make it worthwhile.
I hope you will find the guide useful and if you have any questions feel free to contact me on my UK mobile 07801712618, by e mail chrisweldon at aliceposta dot it or through the MB
Getting to Rome
This is so simple and affordable. Between them Easy jet and Ryan Air have daily flights to Rome Ciampino from Gatwick, Stansted, Bristol, Luton, East Midlands, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and Belfast. With a bit of planning you should pay no more than £50 return all up and you can do it for considerably less. BA and Alitalia are more expensive options to Rome Fiumicino. It’s about a two-hour flight and transfers to the city from the airports are simple via train, bus or taxi. For a group of three or four a pre-booked chauffeur-driven Merc. at 44 euro to the city from either of Rome’s two airports makes sense (Airport Connection +39 06 3383221).
Hotels and guest houses of all types and price levels are available in abundance. Just put ‘Rome Hotels’ into Google to be engulfed by them. Try to stay centrally, it’s worth the few extra euro
The Match Venue
The matches are played at the Stadio Flaminio off Via Flaminia which is towards the North East of Rome. Apart from taxi the stadium can be reached by overcrowded tram from Piazza Flaminia or on foot by a fifteen minute stroll from the said piazza which itself can be reached by metro. On match days there is a general drift on foot from Piazza di Spagna through Piazza del Popolo to Piazza Flaminia, which is right alongside, and thence to the stadium.
Stadio Flaminio has a capacity of approximately 26,000 all seated. The West Stand is covered, the two ends and the East stand are uncovered. The stadium has never been full for a Six Nations match, three or four thousand seats usually being available, but it was full for the last autumn International v NZ. It is nevertheless always worth buying a ticket in a advance if only to avoid poor seats (www.ticketone.it). Centre of the uncovered East Stand is my recommended seating area and it seems quite a few of the LI supporters will be there for the Ireland match. The covered seats are most expensive and it is cold in the shade. In the not unusual circumstances of bright sunshine the East stand can be glorious in February. If it rains...well, it rains. Rome’s winter sun is very warm but the moment it goes behind a cloud you will be reminded that it is winter. Layers are recommended, coat, jumper and shirt/blouse, which can be donned and discarded according to sun and shade. Remember this also when eating al fresco.
Outside the stadium confines you will find an array of outlets selling lager, Guinness and wine and the party starts here. Along via Flaminia near the stadium are many catering vans. Don’t think Madstad catering here, these sell a variety of foods including delicious heated sandwiches and rolls. The spiced roll from the ‘Emporio’ van was worth the price of the NZ match ticket alone. Inside the stadium you will find roving vendors selling lager and soft drinks.
As a general point Six Nations rugby is very much a developing event in Rome. Each year something else is added to the catering and entertainment so who knows what we will find on 6th February.
Social Venues
Let’s get the Irish pubs out of the way first. Rome has a bewildering number of them but, for the most part, you will wonder why they are so-called. Sometimes it’s just a name, other times there is some attempt at Irish decor but that’s it. Italian owned and run they have no connection with the mother country. There are a few exceptions, prominent amongst which are:
The Druid’s Den, Via San Martino ai Monti, near Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore in the Termini area, owned by Donna from Donegal and her husband Tonino, an honorary Irishman. This will be the post match venue for a good group of LI supporters and is a favourite haunt of certain well known figures from London Irish Rugby Club (www.druidspubrome.com) +39 06 48904781.
Finnegan’s, Via Leonina, just off Via Cavour midway between Termini and Roman Forum, Irish owned and run (www.finneganpub.com) +39 06 474026.
However, the array of restaurants, trattorias and pizzerias should keep you out of the pubs for most of the time.
Piazza Navona is really the central place to go. A beautiful elliptical, baroque construction by Bernini, containing three fountains and surrounded by restaurants, cafes and bars. This is real tourist area so the restaurants are expensive and not of the highest quality but a lunch in the sunshine on the east side (Café Dolce Vita recommended) has to be done. Allow about 10 euro for starters, and/or 15 for main course and 20 to 30 euro for a bottle of wine. Also, take the alley out of the west side of the Piazza by St. Agnes church and you will come across whole street loads of less expensive but absolutely heaving restaurants, in the evening in particular. Really good value and great atmosphere
Five minutes walk south of Navona is Campo dei Fiori, a lively square, stuffed full of bars and pubs, and one or two good restaurants (La Carbonara is highly recommended). This is generally a young peoples’ area although you don’t get the separation into age groups that we have become used to in our city centres in UK. Here you can enjoy the bustle and the varied street entertainment amongst the pub crowds without a hint of aggression to spoil the occasion. As someone accustomed to the no-go, yob filled city centre of Southampton on a Saturday night, I just love mingling with the friendly dining, drinking crowds of Rome.
The Spanish steps in Piazza di Spagna is a great meeting area and the alleyways and lanes surrounding it are again full of restaurants and bars. The Enoteca(wine bar) Antica in Via della Croce is recommended for drinks, snacks or inexpensive meals. Restaurant ‘34’ in Via Mario dei Fiori is good on atmosphere, somewhat more expensive but has two sittings in the evenings. Good for groups but don’t let them rush you. A favourite with post-match Irish. Booking essential. Amuse yourself at the ludicrous prices in the designer shops on Via Condotti but don’t take your wife.
Ten minutes amble north of Piazza di Spagna is Piazza del Popolo. This is a monumental Piazza with only a couple of restaurants but there are many others in the side streets off. In the centre is a glorious 3,000 year old obelisk which the Romans nicked from the Egyptians. High above the Piazza is Pincio Park from which you get wonderful views overlooking Rome. Some of us will be starting on match day from Via Veneto, on the other side of the park, walking through and ending overlooking Piazza del Popolo and Rome before plunging into lunch.
There are, of course, a million other marvellous areas to visit but how long have you got? Trastevere south of the Vatican is a maze of alleyways, restaurants and curios where you could forget yourself and the match. And so on…
Culture.
Now, as for yer actual culture, we’ve got a bit. I don’t want to preach but based on the experience of many of our visitors I would strongly advise against trying to do too much. One or two things a day is enough for most people. I have seen more than one weekend ruined. From the myriad of choices I have made some suggestions below of central sites, relatively easy to access and relatively well known.
Number one for me is the Vatican Museums. Note they are closed Saturday afternoons and Sundays. Guided tours meet near the Vatican at around 9am Saturdays and 9am and 12 am weekdays. Suggest you try www.enjoyrome.com or call +39 06 4451843 for a booking. The tours by the guide Agnes are particularly recommended. It is a three to four hour job depending on queues. Prepare to be astounded by the richness of sculptures and works of art 2,000 years old and more: Laocoon and his sons fighting off the twin serpents, various stone, marble and bronzes of Hercules, more art than you can take in, the Raphael Rooms and, of course the Sistine Chapel. The tour ends in the magnificent Cathedral of St. Peter itself. There, don’t miss the ‘Pieta’, Michaelangelo’s fifty ton marble of the dead body of Christ lying across the lap of his desolate mother. One of the most exquisite things I have ever seen, and marvel at the fact that the sculptor fashioned it between the ages of 22 and 24 years old. Price, including indispensable guide and entrance, about 30 euro for the whole thing. Everybody should do this once in their lifetime.
Afterwards why not stroll down Via della Conciliazione which leads straight from the front of the cathedral to the River Tiber, bear left along the tree-lined river and cross Ponte Umberto by the hugely ornate Justice Building and continue down Via Zanardelli to your lunch in Piazza Navona. 25 minutes.
The Roman Forum begins by Piazza Venezia behind the so-called ‘Wedding Cake Monument’ built to celebrate the unification of Italy by Vittorio Emmannuel II. The forum, the commercial and political centre of ancient Rome, is basically ruins but can be brought to life by a knowledgeable and passionate guide.
At the end of the forum is the amazing Colosseum, a 2,000 year old 55,000 seater stadium where the Roman populace was entertained free of charge by the rulers to keep their minds off insurrection. Once inside this incredible structure it is possible to feel something of the blood-thirsty atmosphere which must have prevailed as human beings hacked each other to death or were ripped to pieces by enraged lions. Those Romans certainly knew how to enjoy themselves. All we get is the odd ear biting in the scrum. If visiting the Colosseum you will probably be approached by someone asking if you want to join a guided tour. Once they have collected about fifteen or so English speaking visitors they will take you in. It costs about 15 euro as opposed to 8 if you simply enter without a guide but it is well worth it and you bypass the queues which can be very long.
I could just go on and on. There are so many beautiful churches, (the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is strategically placed between Termini and the Druids’ Den) and wonderful historic sites (Torre Argentina where Brutus and co. did for Julius Caesar). The Barberini Museum off the piazza of the same name at the bottom of Via Veneto has some marvellous Caravaggios. The Capitoline Museum near Piazza Venezia is probably second only the Vatican. Among its vast array of treasures it contains the original She Wolf sculpture. Made by the Etruscans in 500BC you can walk right up and touch this symbol of Rome, one of the many humbling moments you can experience in this city. One of my favourites is the Pantheon, the oldest intact building in Italy with its incredible unsupported roof span and its amazing dignity in the face of the MacDonald’s which confronts it on the other side of the Piazza della Rotonda, near Navona. Entrance is free. In Piazza del Popolo there is a treat for the technically minded among you. In a small museum there are working wooden models made from the enginnering drawings of Leonardo da Vinci with explanatory notes. For a quick fix there is the Trevi Fountain, off Via del Corso, not far from Piazza Venezia
Most of all enjoy the warmth and welcome of the Italian people with their noisy, fun loving ways. Enjoy the wonderful food and wine and may the Roman sun shine on you.