Roma - Insights into the Eternal City by Lucy Hopkins

1. Romans will almost always ‘give you the time of day’. However, they will rarely give it to you literally, as they tend not to wear watches. In a small Piazza del Risorgimento café, I counted three watches (one being mine) amongst eleven people.

2. Four-leaf clovers do not seem to exist in Rome. However meticulously I scour the park of Villa Borghese, I am yet to find one...

3. At the Porto Pia end of Via del Borgo Pio as well as by Castel Sant’Angelo and in Piazza Cavour, stand pairs of lofty, elegant trees that will remind you of those stalks on peacocks’ heads.

4. Pecorino looks just like Parmesan cheese, especially in restaurants, but do not be fooled.

5. In restaurants near The Vatican, nuns tend to eat Margherita pizze, washed down with Coca-Cola.

6. If the menu is translated into at least one other language form Italian, the food will generally cost more and taste worse.

7. The shut-down, metal flower stands, dotted around Campo dei Fiori after the daily market is over, serve as excellent ‘staircase seats’ from where to survey the buzzing nightlife of the square without having to pay for an over-priced table just to sit down.

8. When buying a pair of sunglasses or handbag from a Nigerian on the pavement, simply be sure to have equipped yourself with a 10 euro note. Flash it at him nonchalantly, then begin to walk away if denied sale - you will always be called back and nodded at.

9. Always put your foot firmly through the handles of your handbag or handbags whether you are inside or outside any café, bar, ristorante, pizzeria, gelateria or trattoria.

10.At the Arrivals gate at Ciampino or Fiumicino airport, approach one of the official drivers holding name-boards and request to share his client’s taxi into the city (agreeing on a fare beforehand).

11.If you want to save money, order and pay for your coffee at the bar (for which you will probably pay half the price of waiter service), then subsequently and politely ask to sit outside.

12.Wash all Roman lettuce thoroughly.

13.Send your mail from The Vatican itself as opposed to Rome, if possible. The post boxes there are yellow instead of red, and you have to buy special Vatican stamps from the post office or machine to the north side of Piazza S. Pietro. The Vatican (Swiss) post is far more efficient and reliable as it goes nowhere near the Italian postal system.

14.The weekly magazine, the entertainment bible, ‘Roma C’è’, comes out on Wednesdays, costs a euro, and will fill you in on all that is going on in the city, from news articles, cinema and theatre listings to information on all exhibitions, museums, galleries, music, dance, forthcoming and present events, directions, clubs, new restaurants, shops, sport and excursions. At the back, you will find six coupons giving you about six euros off various attractions. At first glance, the cinema section seems highly confusing; each film described (often twice depending on whether you wish to view it in the original language or not) is allocated various numbers and you need then to go to a slightly different section of ‘Roma Cè’ to relate these numbers to specific cinemas, where you are subsequently given viewing times, prices and directions.

15.Red onions are surprisingly hard to come across, and kidney beans are pink rather than dark red, forcing you to adapt your red onion, kidney bean, tuna, basil, balsamic vinegar, parsley, garlic, rocket, olive oil salad somewhat.

16.The best biscuits in Rome are also amongst the cheapest, in clear packets, thin and called ‘Gentillini’. Very delicious, very ‘gentile’.

17.‘The Doughnut Shop’, as we affectionately call it, on Via Trionfali, in the Prati area, north of the Vatican, is open pretty much 24/7, hidden away in an unadvertised, sunken cavern (although its smell betrays it), is incredibly good value for money, and boasts every filling/topping of cornetto (croissant) and doughnut imaginable; numerous jams, cream, custard, white chocolate, milk chocolate, Nutella etc... etc...

18.If a shop, a ‘negozio’, has let you off a few ‘centessimi’ or a couple of euros, pay it back to them when you pass by and you will become one of their favoured customers forever. They may not even accept their due payback.

19.Roman timing is totally unpredictable, probably due to the fact that they seldom wear a watch... Do not be too surprised if your builder / plumber / electrician / carpenter / Internet technician arrives at 7.55 am the next morning or at 9.55 pm the following month.

20.The department store ‘Coin’, on Via Cola di Rienzo, is a true Roman gem. Not only does it have a great supermarket downstairs and a couple of floors of beauty, clothes, home, kitchen and shoe sections, but it is also open all day, every day (even on the Italian equivalent of Bank Holidays) until 8.30/9 pm.

21.Watching the Romans in the fruit/vegetable section of supermarkets is highly amusing. The procedure is to choose your produce, place it in a plastic bag (supposedly wearing the fetching gloves provided), to note the number allocated to your particular food variety and then to weigh your purchase yourself, sticking its price and weight on as a tag for the cashier. However, I have noticed that most housewives ‘cling on’ to their bag slightly whilst it is being weighed, hence decreasing its price - a little like ‘breathing in when on the scales’ Roman style. I witnessed one ‘casalingua’ actually removing all stalks, vines and greenery off her ‘vine’ tomatoes before weighing them so as to put less pressure on her credit card.