When In Rome…guide to The Eternal City

By: Fleur Strik

The Eternal City, otherwise known as Rome, is one of the biggest hotspots in Italy. Everyone wants to visit its beautiful art, buildings, history and wants to eat the delicious Italian pizza or spaghetti with meatballs. Everyone expects a clean, beautiful, and historical city that has all these amazing things like the Colosseum, the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps, and of course Vatican City. They couldn’t be more right, it’s an incredible city with an intense amount of history in it but it will be a little different from what they expect. You’ll need to prepare yourself for this trip so you can experience this amazing city at your best, so you won’t be surprised in a negative way.

For starters, Rome is almost always invested with tons of people, it’s not just tourists from different countries that come and visit the city but it also has a ton of locals. With the number of people that always walk these streets, it’ll be messy, so all these amazing buildings and art and history will not be as clean as you see in pictures and are expecting. Having this many people in a city means that it’ll always be busy. The drivers drive like crazy, they’re Italians after all, so always be careful where you walk or drive.

The places you’ll want to visit are incredible and will blow your mind and make you feel like you walk through history, especially with all the gorgeous ruins around you, but you will definitely not be the only person there. You won’t be able to take a picture like those Instagram influencers take, because you might not even be able to get that close to it. The Colosseum is always very busy but it’s worth waiting for and for how many people there are the waiting lines aren’t so bad. Always look into buying tickets beforehand so you can possibly skip the line.

The Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps and public areas like this will always be full of people so this is a place that might be slightly hard to see up close or to actually walk around but it’s gorgeous and for sure worth it. The entire city is gorgeous, you have less wealthy places, it’s a big city after all, but if you see through that human and natural part of the city it’s amazing and definitely a place you should visit and bike in.

I said it’d be amazing to bike in because walking is fairly impossible, you either want to take public transport or rent a form of transport. Renting a Vespa could be amazing and very Italian, it’s just very pricey so if you’re on a budget I wouldn’t recommend this. Walking isn’t a possibility if you want to visit a lot of places in a day, everything is fairly far apart from each other since the city is huge and people tend to underestimate this. Another reason why renting transport is good is because Vatican City isn’t just a church, it’s an actual city with a lot of history in it and it’s beautiful with tons of ruins and old Greek buildings. Vatican City isn’t usually something you do in a few hours, it’ll take at least half a day if it isn’t just for the waiting line for getting inside the church. It’s one of the most interesting and beautiful places to visit when you’re in Rome, just because of the surroundings you find yourself in and the special meaning of it.

Something else that people tend not to expect or prepare for which you really should is the weather. It can be very rainy, and then sunny out of nowhere. Bring an umbrella and work with layers to make your Citytrip to Rome the best, since you’ll be prepared for any sort of weather. Another thing you’ll want to think about is money. Rome is called the Eternal City, and eternal is very old which means expensive. You won’t find that cheap pasta plate with meatballs because it’s child’s play for Italian chefs and they don’t like to prepare this. They’ll have the best of the best, and some places are most definitely affordable but others will be very expensive. Find food places online before you go that are within your price range and have the food you are looking for. You can eat pizza anywhere, just think of other choices you might not have thought about that they will have. It’s Rome after all, a beautiful and high-quality city.

Rome really is the Eternal City, it feels like you go back in history when you walk through the city and you get to enjoy some of the most beautiful greek buildings and art. Every City has its downsides and it being really busy is one of those when it comes to Rome. It’s also very expensive and just like every other place on earth, the weather can do crazy things. Food is one of their better qualities, it tastes amazing and you can find some of the best Italian food here, as long as you’re willing to pay for it that is.

This city is something worth paying for because it’s beautiful and full of history and meaning. The only reason I can think of when not to visit it is when you’re scared of doves because there is a ton of those over there. Other than that save up and book a plane ticket, because When In Rome!