Rome that you wouldn’t see on a postcard, from ancient ruins to graffiti-covered districts (photostory)

Alexander Popkov·
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Rome is one the world’s most touristic cities. It is called an “Eternal city” and is considered by many some sort of portal into the past. Travel magazines mostly show the Coliseum and ruins of Roman Forum in perfect light for photography, but they rarely show the city itself. The real Rome has a strong contrast with what is shown to the tourists. In this post, I will try to show the city as it is.

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We will take a look onto Ancient Rome…

 

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…main sights…

 

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…interesting places around the central area…

 

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…some of Rome’s graffiti outside the city center

Arrival

Our plane was delayed and we landed in Rome quite late. When we were going through the airport, some guy tried to sell us a minibus to a hotel, instead of the regular shuttle. He told that transport public transport doesn’t work that late. We thought for a while and decided to take a regular shuttle to center (Termini), then take around 20 minutes walk to see the wonderful night city.

The night city wasn’t what we expected. Trash on the empty streets and a half-destroyed brick wall along the way. It all looked like an abandoned industrial area. And as we found out, the “taxi guy” in the airport didn’t tell us all the truth, the night buses were actually operating.

In the morning, the city has transformed into something wonderful. There were a lot of shops on the sunny streets, full of people. The “half-destroyed brick wall” happened to be an ancient Roman wall, which suddenly started to look better. It is time to see the city!

Ancient Rome

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That is where it normally starts for most of the visitors – the ancient sights of Rome. The Coliseo metro station faces the Colesseum and the Forum. The area, surrounded by the yellow fence is the metro construction site (it has been being built for long). The shot was taken from Coliseum.

 

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We were told some nasty stuff about Rome in high season. That people are hanging out of every Coliseum window and inside it, you cannot stop, a flow of people pushes you forward. We decided to visit in the low season, in February to avoid it. There was a lot of people, but we could move around quite easy.

 

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A unique piece of engineering, huge and complex structure. In ancient times, it was coated with white marble but later was plundered. Now it is only a shadow of the past glory, but it still is fascinating. I think that crouds of  tourists really hurt the atmosphere, I didn’t feel myself in ancient times.

 

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Forum, as seen from Coliseum. There is a single ticket for both. You can buy it at the Coliseum entrance, in Forum ticket office and online. The line was smaller at the Forum, we waited around 20 minutes in the middle of the day.

 

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In ancient times, it was the center of the world. Many objects here are connected with key events in the past.

An interesting fact about Rome: In ancient times the city was way more densely populated than now. It is hard to believe…

Rome is also a good place for wildlife photography 🙂

Ok, that was a joke… I don’t do real wildlife photography. Picturing animals in cities in the closest.

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A small jam at the exit from the Forum. Otherwise, same as in Coliseum, you can move freely.

 

Let’s move further…

 

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Ancient ruins are all around the city center, each has some unique features and history.
This one has cats walking around.

 

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There is a cat sanctuary. Many cats there are with disabilities. You can adopt one if you want, even if you are in other country

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The columns in the center are the remains of the Apollo temple.

 

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The old aqueduct hosts a tram station. The trams are going to Pigneto district (about it further in the post).

Main sights of Rome and central streets

Rome is flooded with old architecture and history. However, I loved it more for its authentic streets, away from touristic paths. Nevertheless, if you are in the city for the first time, the main sights cannot be skipped.

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There is a lot of police and military on the streets. I was told that after terror acts in Europe the number of patrols increased.

 

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Famous fountain Trevi and an enormous amount of people, it is one of the most instagrammable spots of Rome. You actually have to stand in a line to take a picture next to it. It is told that there are a lot of pickpockets around, so you have to look after your things.

 

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Another famous fountain – the Fountain of Four Rivers. Sometimes people around are more fun than the architecture.

 

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Pantheon is unique, one of the few ancient constructions that came to our time without being plundered. The dome is huge, you have several thousand tons over your head. The walls are around 1 meter thick. It is lit through the hole in the center of the dome.

 

Spanish steps. Any idea why is it so famous? There are so many magnificent things in Rome, this one doesn’t look that special… (if I think of cool stairs – I think of 418 steps in Ålesund)

 

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On central streets, ancient things are mixed with some nonsense.

 

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The streets are very narrow and cars are running through.

In less touristic cities, the churches are put into tour guides and there is nothing to see. In Rome, there are so many sights, that many churches are not included, but they are actually interesting. I am not religious, but I liked going there, Churches in Rome are like small museums around the city.

This is one of the main ones – Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. The columns are different, they were “confiscated” from different countries. (after I took this photo, I was told that it is not allowed, so unfortunately no close-ups)

 

Inside, there is a statue of a child, religious visitors make wishes to it.

 

Some churches host homeless.

Vatican

Entrance to the Vatican.

 

There are a lot of “people in uniform”, I was told they are fine if you ask them for a selfie.

 

You may need to spend 2 hours in a line to get inside the St. Peter’s Basilica during the day. The good time is before 10 and after 16. (Also, you can get VIP pass to the Vatican city)
Inside St. Paul’s Basilica.
As a tourist, you can only get to the square, basilica, and museum. It is empty inside the Vatican, only security is wandering around.

 

And yes, in the second half of the day the light is horrible. It is better to take pictures early.

Interesting places around Rome’s city center and Trastevere district

In touristic Rome, there seem to be quite many restaurants, following the principle: “Why should we make tasty food – new tourists would come anyway?” Overall, either expensive or not tasty.

If you go away from busy touristy spots – you would find interesting streets and places, visited mostly by locals. Before entering, it is a good idea to check TripAdvisor, all places we loved had a rating over 4.5.

Here is a couple of places (not sponsored):

La Prosciutteria Navona. Really cool place, somewhere between Pantheon and Vatican.

 

Tasty sandwiches for 5 Eur.

 

Would you see this kind of details anywhere else than in Italy?

 

Trattoria Vecchia Roma. We were brought by locals there and had to stand in line to be seated. Loved it, it is so atmospheric, only local, a lot of noise and traditional Italian foods.

 

Trastevere is a cool district, next to the city center.
The hill at Trastevere is almost empty, it is only 5-10 minutes’ walk from the crowded Vatican. There are almost all locals around …and things that were left from the party the day before.

 

The view isn’t as fascinating as from St. Peter’s Basilica, but you can stay there for a picnic and no need to stay in line.

 

South of Trastevere is fantastic!

I think the best of Rome is its colorful streets. I don’t remember seeing much of chain restaurants or supermarkets. Almost every ground floor has something, it can be a small restaurant, a cafeteria, a shop of an artist. You can spend weeks walking around such districts.

A small restaurant, specializing on closed pizza.

 

A shop of an artist.

 

Foooood

 

At night, a lot of bars and restaurants open up.

Pigneto District

For seeing graffiti in Rome, this is probably the best place.

The poor transport connection affects the accommodation prices.

 

There is a lot cool street-art in Pigneto, we even saw some guided tours.

 

The driver is nervously beeping at the woman.

 

Here is an interesting one, it is actually an ad, sponsored by Netflix.

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Saw several cars, full of stuff. (Maybe these are husbands, who got kicked out of a house after a divorce?)

 

Worn out walls and old post boxes. I think the modern and germ-free Scandinavia (where I live) misses such things.

 

Lots of Catholic symbols around.

 

Local art-café.

Conclusion

On the way back, there was a mess with transportation again. We couldn’t find the airport shuttle at Termini station (from where it is supposed to be living). There were no signs showing you the way and no one tells you at the information desk. The bus stop is away from the main station. We were coming late, but shouldn’t have been in a hurry, the plane was late again.

I had some mixed feelings when leaving. Didn’t want to stay for a few days more, but wanted to stay for a month or so. In the end, I was tired of being a tourist but wanted to know more about life in the city, to make some friends. If I stayed, I would get to know about the life of the local artists or owners of small restaurants or studied more about the places of historical importance. For sure, it is not my last visit to Rome.

Further reading

Here are some example itineraries, if you want to cover touristic sites
1 day in Rome Itinerary from Passport Collective blog
2 days Rome Itinerary from The Traveling Teacher
3 days Rome Itinerary by Traveling Tom
4 days Rome Itinerary from Places Of Juma

If you have seen all of the touristic sights, here is a good list of “hidden gems” in Rome. I personally believe, that Rome is well-explored and there are no hidden gems, there are just… gems. It is a good list and things listed worth taking a look at. 

You can Sky Dive near Rome in Nettuno (guest post in my blog)

 

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