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Go to Rome NOW - Rome Addict

Mary Hanson

10+ Posts
Just got back to Puglia from a quick 4 day trip to Rome. If you want to see Rome as it has NEVER been come now or as fast as your can. For the past 2 years the Italian government has seriously subsidized the repair and restoration of public and large private buildings. In December 2021 the entire city seemed to be under scaffolding and canvas. The wrappings have come off. Wow what a present to the world!!!

All I can say is centro is magnificent beyond your wildest dreams. Buildings you never knew as anything but black, gray graffiti covered are revealed to be multicolored, splendid examples of everything from Medieval to Belle Époque architecture. The reason I say this has never happened before is because Rome has existed for centuries and each layer and expansion occurred over decades or centuries. The previous architecture existed but the daily living of cooking fires, blacksmiths, heat and light fueled by oil and wood left the pre-existing buildings covered in soot. Add 20th century automobile exhaust which is a particularly nasty mix of oils and hydrocarbons and even the post war stuff was pretty grimy. In 2000 the Jubilee saw St. Peters and the Bernini colonnade cleaned up but the rest of the city carried on uncleansed.

Add in the garbage crises seems to have been temporarily solved. Whether due to a crackdown or just lack of tourists who knows? But the streets are also free from the overflowing garbage heaps. Prices in restaurants are up but hotels, air bandbs right now are about as low as they can go. Come midweek and hotels in the 50 to 75 euro range exist. With breakfast.

Rome is back, with a vengeance.
 
Just got back to Puglia from a quick 4 day trip to Rome. If you want to see Rome as it has NEVER been come now or as fast as your can. For the past 2 years the Italian government has seriously subsidized the repair and restoration of public and large private buildings. In December 2021 the entire city seemed to be under scaffolding and canvas. The wrappings have come off. Wow what a present to the world!!!

All I can say is centro is magnificent beyond your wildest dreams. Buildings you never knew as anything but black, gray graffiti covered are revealed to be multicolored, splendid examples of everything from Medieval to Belle Époque architecture. The reason I say this has never happened before is because Rome has existed for centuries and each layer and expansion occurred over decades or centuries. The previous architecture existed but the daily living of cooking fires, blacksmiths, heat and light fueled by oil and wood left the pre-existing buildings covered in soot. Add 20th century automobile exhaust which is a particularly nasty mix of oils and hydrocarbons and even the post war stuff was pretty grimy. In 2000 the Jubilee saw St. Peters and the Bernini colonnade cleaned up but the rest of the city carried on uncleansed.

Add in the garbage crises seems to have been temporarily solved. Whether due to a crackdown or just lack of tourists who knows? But the streets are also free from the overflowing garbage heaps. Prices in restaurants are up but hotels, air bandbs right now are about as low as they can go. Come midweek and hotels in the 50 to 75 euro range exist. With breakfast.

Rome is back, with a vengeance.
Great to hear this--on our last couple of visits to Rome, the city was decidedly on the scruffy side.
 
Great to hear this--on our last couple of visits to Rome, the city was decidedly on the scruffy side.
In 2019 we made the decision to leave Thailand and move to Italy. Puglia (particularly the Valle d itria) is a long way from Rome being 5 hours by high speed rail. We had been looking much closer in Calabria and Campania. But we spent April 2019 in a lovely apartment in Centro. That was the best part of the stay. The worst? The crowds were horrific; pushing shoving with me ending up on the ground several times. Add in the rats and garbage and Rome no longer was a factor in where we wanted to live. We have visited several times during covid but I am not naive enough to believe that it will remain this empty. Pics are Pantheon and Navona at noon. You can see how few people there are.

20230112_112735.jpg



Note from Admin: second photo didn’t get uploaded.
 
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Good to hear about the renovations.

I booked a trip for a few days in July. I haven't been in almost 10 years probably, been to other parts of Italy and it was usually easy enough to fly into other airports.

Now United has nonstop SFO-FCO a few days a week in the summer.

One reason I'm going is for the amatriciana.
 
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We were planning a trip to Italy until the recent change in government :( Switched to France. We Hope to see Rome someday.
 

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