A guide to the various areas within the historic center of Rome

by leon lumsden

Roman Reference Rome apartments and Rome accommodation in central Rome cover the following areas: www.romanreference.comCAMPO DE' FIORIWe have Rome accommodation around Campo de fiori which is located across Corso Vittorio Emanuele opposite piazza navona. By day it is a open air market. Venders sell food, clothing and sometimes other interesting wares. Afternoons are quite and slow, with things beginning to pick up around 6 p.m., when the Vineria, the city's most crucial bar, opens up. When you enter the square by day it is hard to imagine what it is like at night. The square transforms into a meating place for nightlife. The bars open with tables facing the piazza and street performers entertain the bustling crowds. The surrounding narrow streets where we have plenty of Rome accommodation, create a charming atmosphere for a stroll. Home to central Rome's best food market, Campo de' Fiori is an amiable piazza, surrounded by houses with chaffed walls, warped shutters and pigeons nestling on their sills. The campo has been a focus of roman life and provided Rome accomodation since the fifteenth century, when the area was home to most of the city hotels, courtesans and artisans. Lucrezia Borgia was born nearby, her brother was murdered down the road, and Caravaggio played a game of tennis on the piazza, murdering his opponent for having the temerity to beat him. The cowled statue in the centre is of Giordano Bruno, burned at the stake on the spot for reaching the conclusion that philosophy and magic were superior to religion. Nowadays, the piazza is an unbeatable place to hang out, and it's worth dropping by several times a day. Afternoons are quite and slow, with things beginning to pick up around 6 p.m., when the Vineria, the city's most crucial bar, opens up. Bus to Corso Vittorio Emanuele. . COLOSSEUMThe area that surrounds the colosseum lives with antique charm. This was the official heart of the ancient city. Cobblestoned streets line paths of antiquity where some of histories most famous people walked. This area is packed with quaint side streets where restaurants offer tables with a view of Roman remnants. At night the ancient city is aglow adding an extra twist on the already splendid surroundings.The most concentrated and fully escavated cluster lies in the area bounded by the Capitoline, Palatine, Esquiline and Quirinal hills. This was the official heart of the ancient city, where the fates of nations were decided, military triumphs celebrated, and citizens entertained by the death of gladiators and the mass slaughter of wild animals. There were also taverns, a dole centre, brothels and markets, including the world's first shopping mall, the multi-storey Trajan's Markets. Metro Colosseo/bus to piazza Colosseo. . GIANICOLOOverlooking Trastevere is the Janiculum hill, which offers some of the best panoramic views of Rome. Accessable by Via Garibaldi which bends and winds steeply up the hill. At the top of the hill, the sprawling pinetree and statue-dotted public gardens are dominated by an enormous equestrian statue of Garibaldi, close to which a cannon is sounded every day at noon. The trees provide shade from the hot summer sun and its position on a hill sets itself perfectly for a nice breeze. Overlooking Trastevere is the Janiculum hill, which offers some of the best views in Rome. It's best reached by Via Garibaldi which winds steeply up from the Porta Settimiana past the dramatic Baroque Fontana Paola, known locally as the Fontanone, before reaching Porta Pancrazio, where the invading French troops breached Garibaldi's defences in 1849. At the top of the hill, the sprawling pinetree and statue-dotted public gardens are dominated by an enormous equestrian statue of Garibaldi, close to which a cannon is sounded every day at noon. Bus 41, 144. . GHETTORome's Jews had originally settled in Trastevere, but by the 13th century they had started to move across the river into the area which later became the Jewish ghetto: a cramped three hectares in one corner of the centro storico, immediately to the north of the Tiber island. Its chief landmark today is the imposing modern synagogue, begun 1874. The Via del Portico d’Ottavia, with its anarchic hotchpotch of ancient, Renaissance and medieval architecture, used to mark its boundary. Nowadays this is the center of Jewish life and it’s a good place to sample that unique hybrid which is Roman Jewish cookery. Bus H, 23, 63, 280, 630, 780/tram nightbuses 45, 8 (both with suffix 'n'). . NAVONAPiazza Navona, the great theatre of Baroque Rome, was built in the seventeenth century over the remains of the ancient stadium Domitian. Despite its gracious sweep, Bernini fountains and pavement cafés - not to mention the highest property prices in Italy - its daily denizens range from soothsayers, caricature artists, buskers, nuns, businessmen and anyone who simply wants a gossip. Bus 116T, 70, 81, 87, 115, 116, 186, 204, 492, nightbuses 628, 45, 98, 99, 78 (all with suffix 'n'). . PANTHEONThe compact core of cobbled streets and piazzas around the Pantheon is crammed with enough churches and palaces, restaurants, cafés and ice-cream parlours to keep you busy for several days. The city's layers of history are obvious at almost every turn. The bustle is constant. Bus 116T, 116,46, 60, 62, 64, 70, 81, 87, 115, 186, 492, 628, 640, 810, nightbuses 204, 99, 78, 25, 60, 45 (all with suffix 'n'). .. POPOLOFor centuries Piazza del Popolo was the first glimpse most travellers got of Rome, for it lies directly inside the city's northern gate, the Porta del Popolo. Via del Corso shoots down from Piazza del Popolo, jammed with traffic and hemmed in by jeans shops, banks and insurance offices. One of the city's main axes, it forms the central prong of three streets known, for reasons which are obvious as soon as you look at a map, as il Tridente, the 'trident' of Rome. At weekends, Romans swarm to this triangular grid of streets to browse in antique shops or go shopping Armani, Benetton, Bulgari and The Body Shop. Metro Flaminio/bus 95, 204, 95, 117, 495, 490, 628, 926/tram 225/train to Piazzale Flaminio/nightbuses 25, 29, 55, 78 (all with suffix 'n'). . S. GIOVANNIThe area known as San Giovanni is dominated by the mammoth facades of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, one of the first basilicas in Rome (built probably around 313 by Constantine) and still the city's official cathedral. The residential quarter of San Giovanni extends south along the Via Appia Nuova, a bland high street lined with shops. Just outside the city gate is the far more interesting clothes market of via Sannio. Metro S. Giovanni/bus 186, 850, 16, 81, 85, 87, 650/tram nightbuses 29, 30, 55 (all with suffix 'n') 30b,. . SPAGNAThe most famous piazza in the area, Piazza di Spagna has lost none of its picturesque charm. This is despite the fact that since its Metro stop was opened in the early 1980s it has become the favourite hangout not just for tourists but for Roman youths, who fill the square and the Spanish Steps above it for almost 20 hours a day. The square takes its name from the Spanish Embassy, which was located here for several centuries, but is better known for the Spanish Steps, the elegant double staircase, built in the 1720s, that cascades down from the church of Trinità dei Monti. The latest creations by Valentino and his ilk grace the windows of boutiques in the grid of streets immediately below Piazza di Spagna, notably Via Condotti, unchallenged as the city's première shopping thoroughfare. Metro Spagna/bus 116, 116T, 117, nightbuses 590, 25, 99 (all with suffix 'n'). . TRASTEVEREThere's been a small colony on the west bank of the Tiber since the foundation of Rome, reached by a ford where the Ponte Palatino now crosses from Piazza Bocca della Verità. After the fall of the Empire, Trastevere was gradually colonised by Syrian and Jewish trading communities. In the early Middle Ages the letter moved across the Tiber to the Ghetto, and in time Trastevere became the main working-class district of the papal capital. Trastevere contains an interesting mixture of bars, neighbourly alimentari and latterie, beautiful, often quite deserted squares and minor ancient or medieval monuments. Bus 23, 280, 56/tram nightbues 8, 30, 72, 69, 44, 30 (all with suffix 'n'), tram 8. TREVI FOUNTAINKnown the world over as the fountain where Anita Ekberg cooled off in La Dolce Vita, an exploit recently aped by Claudia Schiffer. Although it's tucked away on a tiny piazza, it's almost impossible to miss, as the alleyways which approach it are glutted with souvenir shops and take-away pizzerias and full of sound of water. The attention it attracts is justified however: it's a magnificent Rococo extravaganza of rearing sea horses, conch-blowing Tritons, craggy rocks and flimsy trees, cavorting below the wall of the Palazzo Poli. Bus 52, 53, 61, 62, 63, 71, 80, 95, 116, 116t, 119. . VATICANOA state within the Italian state, modest in size (only 44 hectares) but immensely significant due to its long history and impact on humankind; strong walls that seem intended to hide it, and yet a magnificent and imposing cupola within its realm is one of the most visible and conspicuous sights in Rome; a majestic piazza that bespeaks solemnity, and a window from which a man leans who for centuries has embodied a power above all earthly powers. And then, jewels of art and architecture that from this microcosm seem to have achieved a miracle of unsurpassed and unsurpassable creativity. Metro Ottaviano/bus 64, 982, 34, 46, 46b, 62, 98, 881, 23, 51, 81, 492, 907, 991/tram 19. . VENEZIAPiazza Venezia is dominated by the colossal Vittorio Emanuele Monument, constructed between 1885 and 1911 to honour the first king of united Italy. The west side of the piazza is formed by the Palazzo Venezia, which now houses an eclectic museum of decorative arts. The palace, one of the first Renaissance buildings in Rome, was built in the late fifteenth century. Centuries later, Mussolini established his headquarterhere, delivering regular orations to the crowds from the balcony overlooking the piazza, and entertaining his mistresses in the private rooms. Bus 56, 60, 70, 75, 81, 87, 95, 160, 170, 204, 628, 640, 716, 44, 780, 715, 716, nightbuses - 46, 25, 44, 60, 72, 96, 98, 99, 78 (all with sufffix 'n') . . VITTORIOBuilt at the turn of the century, piazza Vittorio was designed to be Rome's smartest new neighbourhood. The area round the station, where the elegant houses and porticoes had almost been reduced to slums, has been revamped and is now one of Rome's most fascinating and multi-ethnic. In the centre of the piazza are gardens which have recently been restored, offering a pleasant place to sit in the shade of palm trees, roman ruins and the curious Porta Magica, all that remains of the Villa Palombara that once stood here. The square hosts a bustling food market where you can find Roman artichokes and Italian tomatoes sold side by side with Indian spices, halal meat and tropical fruits. Metro Vittorio/bus 590, 4, 9, 71, 70, 105, 157/tram 14, 516..

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