ROMAN HOLIDAY:They're a cranky bunch in Rome, but the city is worth visiting when you have the inside track on where to go, writes ROISIN AGNEW
WHEN PEOPLE FIND out I’m from Rome they often want to tell me how they are never going to go back there: “Everyone was so rude, and it was so hard to get around.” When I hear this I must confess that I smile inwardly. Rome is not for visitors, it is for Romans.
Although it is one of the most visited cities in the world, Rome has and always will have a strange relationship with its visitors. It is not a city that is easily cracked because it does not want to be cracked. Of all Italian cities, it is the city that is most “di Popolo” (of the people). We’re known for being a little crude, very friendly and a little xenophobic. It is not a city you can adopt easily, but one that you have to be born into or fight for. In spite of being tall, pale and blond, the fact that I was born here and have the same accent as the guy who runs the local fruit shop means that I qualify. In fact, I get extra brownie points for being blonde.
Rome is old families, old money, and conservative customs for the most part. It is proud, dirty and lacks any self-consciousness. The layers of cultural sedimentation in Rome are awe-inspiring but also the reason it has failed in many ways to produce a significant alternative or underground scene. If you go to visit the city that holds 16 per cent of what are termed “world treasures”, but end up not seeing them because you were in a shed listening to a post-punk poetry reading, I think it’s fair to say that you missed the point of Rome entirely.
However, Rome has always had an important alternative way of life to it in the form of networks of bars, clubs and cultural centres that have survived by never being totally counter-current, but always running alongside the city’s comfortable bourgeois backbone. Although it is not a young city, it is a vast and sprawling one with a population of more than six and a half million; that makes it a city with infinite potential. You couldn’t rightly recommend anyone visiting Rome not go to some of the more tourist-infested places, but similarly you know that they could leave without ever having seen the real Rome in action.
These suggestions tread the line between the unmissable and the unknown to the normal visitor, and hopefully will help attempts to explore a city that is so skilful in revealing just a little, enough to keep the visitor happy, while keeping the best to itself.
Bar della Pace, Via della Pace, 3/7 This is no secret, but is one of the oldest and most famous bars in Rome. It’s in one of my favourite areas of the centro storico behind Piazza Navona. Its ivy-covered walls and beautiful location next to the little basilica of Santa Maria della Pace make it a classic choice for an aperitivo.
It is featured in several movies as the entire street retains a rather cinematic washed-out timelessness. In spite of being right behind one of the most tourist-ridden piazzas in town, its slightly aloof air of being an insider’s bar keeps tourists away – for the most part.
It has a wonderful old bar inside but it’s outside on the cobbled street that its best aspect is on show, in the form of its clientele. You can never figure out where anyone is from, or what they do. Lacquered and coiffed, decked out with flawless precision and taste, these exquisite beings seem to communicate in Italian while also being able to drift effortlessly into French, English and Spanish, making you feel like you’ve joined a conclave of spies. Go between six and eight in the evening, or you are at risk of being there with other foreigners.
Cinema Nuovo Sacher, Largo Ascianghi, 1 This is Nanni Moretti’s cinema that he has run since the 1980s and a real hidden gem. Moretti is to Rome what Spike Lee is to New York – often to be met at protests and on marches during Berlusconi’s reign, he’s always been a sort of ambassador for Rome and the Italian left abroad. In consequence he is much loved and much ridiculed.
“Cinematic” is a word that gets thrown around a lot when dealing with Rome. This is in part due to Mussolini’s great propaganda muscle giving us Cinecittà studios, which made Rome a great movie-producing city in the 1950s and 1960s. It became the main studio that Federico Fellini worked with for films such as La Dolce Vita, Casanova, and 8½, which gave us an indelible version of the city’s streets, buildings and way of life, a Rome of the imagination.
The Nuovo Sacher is a little monument to the Roman love of cinema. It screens everything from classics to obscure art-house movies, and also runs a host of events from short-film festivals, to talks and readings with figures of Italian cinema and theatre. During the summer it has an outdoor “arena” cinema that should not be missed.
Beer Station Roma, Mercato Parioli, Viale Parioli Situated in an outdoor market in one of the oldest and most patrician neighbourhoods in Rome, this new bar has become an instant hit. Parioli is the Rome equivalent of Dublin 4 – times 10 – and is where well-to-do old Roman families live.
It’s a tourist-free borough that offers excellent if pricey restaurants and bars and is the site of one of Rome’s universities.
Beer Station was discovered by my friends Carlo and Michela a few months ago. It’s a welcome slap in the face to the slightly snooty atmosphere generally associated with Parioli. When the open-air food market shuts in the afternoon, Beer Station opens. In this old world neighbourhood it’s a nice alternative with its selection of craft beers, many of them Italian.
You sit on stools or carefully balance your weight on one hip as you lounge around outside, trying to figure out what the dress code is, as it pans from jeans and Converse to Chanel bags and dresses. I recommend making a first visit with a posse of at least four so as not to feel intimidated by the cream of Roman youth strutting its stuff like there’s no tomorrow. It may be alternative but it’s still Parioli. Next to the bar, there’s a wood oven that does incredible margherita pizzas for €2.50.
Circolo degli Illuminati, Via Giuseppe Libetta, 1 In order to go out dancing in Rome, it is almost imperative to have a car. Most of my memories from my final year in school there and from my summers since, place me in my friend Carlo’s car driving across town in search of “people and/or a party” – until last year when he had his licence revoked for reasons we need not go into.
The difficulty of getting to clubs that tend to be spread out across the city means that they’re mostly tourist-free. This club is a nice solution to going out dancing in Rome as it’s small, popular, inexpensive and reliable. There’s a long hallway where a series of retro-looking broken-down chairs and sofas form the central sitting area. Past the hallway is just one room or dance-floor, nice and simple. If you came to Rome looking forward to experiencing the local blend of electronic and dance music, the Circolo degli Illuminati (“the club of the enlightened”) should hit the spot. It does reggae nights, but trades mainly in dub step, house and deep electro and has a loyal crowd that comes here often.
There are two types of clubs in Rome and they are clearly divided by the amount you pay to get in – many can cost €20 or more, while others tend to be under €10, if not free. The vibe, clientele and type of music played in these respective types of clubs vary greatly. I would recommend trying to attend the latter type.
Da Baffetto, Via del Governo Vecchio, 114 is my first stop every time I go back to Rome. I join the vast crowd queuing up to partake of this pizza-shaped manna. I get maltreated and hit on by the foul-mouthed waiters, and I breathe a sigh of relief – I’m home. Da Baffetto does one of the best pizzas in town and is a place that sees both locals and out-of-towners sitting side-by-side, eyes rolling with pleasure. It gets its name (“at little moustache’s”) from the proprietor who has had facial hair since the 1960s.
A colourful photo display on the walls shows the evolution of the moustache through the years and you will undoubtedly see the legend himself if you visit.
You will also in all likelihood both laugh and cry. (That is good for a movie, not so good for a restaurant.) This is because the sweaty, fast-moving team of waiters (who wear cummerbunds) are among the rudest people in Europe, and my personal heroes. Your order is simple. Ask for pizza and beer. Do not stray.
Teatro Valle Occupato, Via del Teatro Valle, 21 The story of the Teatro Valle is an inspiring tale of civic action. Last summer, as Berlusconi’s government continued to slash funding to schools, universities and cultural entities, it was proposed that the old Teatro Valle should be sold to a private bidder, to be turned into a Dr Quirkeys-style games hall.
People were up in arms, as the Teatro del Valle has a long and varied history that dates back to 1726, making it one of Rome’s oldest theatres. The building was “occupied” by students, people involved in theatre, cinema, literature and a high-profile campaign was mounted to save the building, supported by characters such as Dario Fo and Ariane Mnouchkine.
The Teatro Valle became the last bastion of resistance, a symbol of culture and hope in a broken Italy that had resorted to pawning its own treasures. The people who took over the building are actors, directors, technicians, producers, patrons of the arts and they’ve quickly set it up as a co-operatively run cultural foundation, using the theatre as a workshop space and venue.
They continue their legal battle to take over the building properly, and nothing stops them from keeping the show on the road and validating their stance. They have a full summer programme that ranges from stand-up comedy to opera, so it’s well worth a visit.
Dolce Maniera, Via Barletta, 27 For those who live in Rome, the last stop before going home in the wee small hours is not a burger or kebab joint, but a “cornettaro”. A cornetto is a run-of-the-mill croissant but with less butter, and it’s the staple breakfast food in Italy. People stop by bakeries that have just opened for the day, and get their cornetti straight out of the oven for the noble sum of €1. Dolce Maniera in Prati is a bakery-cafe that does a roaring trade from about 4am in this nice residential area of Rome.
As Italians don’t generally drink very much, the assortment of people who gather on the tarmac outside this tiny bakery is generally quite civilized – dozy groups of friends, an inebriated middle-aged married couple, someone bringing their insomniac granny out for something sweet, and most commonly, platoons of teenage couples on their mottorini.
The popularity of the early morning cornetto has made it so that some of the cornettari make specially sugary and fattening ones on weekend nights, injected with Nutella, white chocolate, whipped cream, and almond paste. Dolce Maniera is so popular it is now open 24 hours a day.