ROME CAN MAKE YOU ROMAN TOO

"How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man......" said Paul. How many? I wonder too! And also How many roads lead to Rome? We use to say, all of them. Exactly my friend: All roads take you to Rome. So choose one of them and come with me, I'll take you to visit my Rome, because every roman has his Rome. First of all, I think of Nanni Moretti's "Caro diario" movie. Have you ever watch it?

Well if not, I suggest you to do it as soon as possible if you have in mind to visit Rome, especially in summer that is, according to my personal opinion, the best period to explore Rome ( of course just in case you can put up with the sultriness of these days). Why am I talking about Nanni Moretti? Because his movies are nice, of course, but mostly because he is in the habit of going with his Vespa around Rome; the best mean to enjoy Rome. Traffic? Noises? Stress? No my friend, none of these things happen in Summer.

Rent a Vespa and just go out; it doesn't matter where, 'cause anywhere you'll go, you'll be fine. Go to visit of course museums, churches and monuments, but go also to discover the "real" Rome, the unknown and unfamous one, the same Rome in which I live; the one that Nanni Moretti describes in his movies: Rome doesn't speak english at all my friend; but it's always there, ready if necessary, to invent a new language, a new English, in order to give you the information you need. If it will ever happen to you to find this kind of people, I wanna tell you in advance you won't understand anything of all the things he'll say, but I hope you'll appreciate the kindness of a person that at least for half an hour has tried to explain to you, the simplest thing you unawarely asked, using just his hands and the unique english word that we know (OK). It's to praise a person like that! Isn't he?

In the afternoon you have to stop with your Vespa to take a delicious ice cream in Viale Somalia, (to be honest I don't remember exactly in which point of Viale Somalia the shop is, but since it's always overcrowded you will find it easy to discover!) and then go to the other part of the city (everything it's close with a Vespa!) to watch the best sunset of the capital. I'm talking about a place that we call "Zodiaco".
It has a wonderful view and it's not far from the centre: you just have to take another famous road "La panoramica" (famous because it's in Caro diario too) it will bring you to a green area called Monte Mario and in a while you'll be inside its park, above the Olympic Stadium, watching Rome in its beauty. Belive me, it is simply unimaginable what you'll see.
Aren't you hungry now? If I were you I'd go to pay a visit to Candido; an "istitution" of Rome. To me his kitchen it's a part of Rome as it could be the colosseum! He has a tipycal Trattoria in Piazza Giovenale where you can eat the most tasteful roman specialities.

Everything here is roman; imagine that I've never heard Candido and his waiter talking in italian; they just speak in roman. If you're looking for a common place to eat, a formal one, don't come here. But if you're board of the usual turistic places, and you feel like being in a familiar and funny atmosphere, if you have decided to keep on feeling roman today, definitely you have to come here. Concluding I just wanna say two more words: I'm a traveller too, and I don't know about you, but mostly what bounds me to a place, what makes me emotionally involved to a specific town or city or even country, it's exactly the ability that a place with its people can have to make me feel part of it, part of them!

Daniele Feliziani (Rome, Italy)