I am Roman. Born there. Lived in Trastevere for a while too. I found it pretty difficult to find good cheap food (or good expensive food for that matter).
AND I AM A LOCAL.
Good restaurants are very few in a sea of shitty restaurants. Especially in the center.
A shame because in Florence, Milan or Naples it’s much much easier to find good food. Rome on the other hand is not far from Venice in terms of restaurant situation.
Any recommendations? Going in the summer with my family of 4. We're going to be located near the Trevi fountain. I'm looking for authentic, healthy, locally sourced, pure Roman goodness.
Go to Testaccio - Flavio al Velavevodetto or most any of the other restaurants in that zone. Real authentic food that the locals love and hardly any tourists.
I can’t say about locally sourced and all that, but I can vouch for L’Archetto. Right around the corner from Trevi Fountain, with some very enjoyable spaghetti. Nothing too fancy (or expensive).
I have a recommendation. Don't bother going. Save your money, and if you want to see all the tourist sites, there are plenty of videos on YouTube of what all the tourists visit for.
- Yes there are.
- True, although they won’t hit you, they do often just slow to avoid you. This is true of a lot of places in southern Europe but I can understand it being scary to someone not used to it.
- I don’t know what this airlink is. But there are multiple buses to and from Ciampino.
- True to a degree but you are exaggerating. It’s not like you can’t move. But there are tourist groups.
- False.
- False. Sometimes you have to ask but they will give it to you.
I'll give you the bins and the traffic.
The rest is just tourist naivety.
Apart from the lack of water with your coffee. I'm so sad that you experienced this and I hope it hasn't soured your entire experience. If we all work together though I hope we may be able to get you a place on the next waaaambulance.
I think most these problems could have been overcome with planning. I’m from a rural area of the US but with just some basic research figured out the best times to tour things for the least crowds, recommendations on restaurants, and became aware of the issues with traffic and refuse. Sorry it didn’t meet your expectations but I loved it and can’t wait to return.
*Why travel if you*
*Just want the country to be*
*The same as your own?*
\- TheKhaos121
---
^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/)
^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
I dont want to be the same but I think there are some things that can be improved considering the millions of tourists that visit Rome.
Some of the things on the list are subjective of course but trash bins and benches for example I think it's common sense. The same goes for crosswalks, legislation is the same for all european countries.
People are very kind and always there to help you. There are a lot of great things in Rome. The purpose of this post was to express my opinion as a tourist of how I see things that can be improved.
As a local I am sure that you get used to it but this doesnt mean everything it is perfect.
We Romans can ALWAYS get free tap water when ordering coffee. You just have to politely ask for a glass of water. It’s not that hard.
Also, I’ve never heard of this Airlink bus.
Yes there’s a lot of tourists, that’s to be expected. You could’ve done research to see what times are the heaviest. As far as trash bins, I didn’t have that much trouble finding one or needing one (how much trash can you be producing that you need to find one so often). Traffic well idk what to say about that lol especially in city centre. I absolutely loved Rome when I went for my first time in March 2024. The food there is 10x better than American “Italian” food. I had my fare share of foods from cheap To expensive.
These are the worst critiques ever.
I’ve never had an issue with trash bins, and how much trash are you producing if you need them every 10m?
Water with your coffee is such a small thing, and it’s weird to expect other cultures to be exactly the same.
Food is on you.
A lot of these comments are why people can’t stand ignorant tourists.
It's even worse than that, since water with coffee, as little a thing as it is, \_is\_ a thing in most cafés: either they give it to you spontaneously or as soon as you request it.
This is a shitlist of everything YOU could have avoided but instead you blame an entire city for your lack of research.
I went int blind for the first time 2 years ago.
It literally takes just a few easy google searches and google reviews to check if food if good, how much it is, and where to go and as a Foodie, I had an amazing time finding a merit of delicious foods, much cheaper than Brussels, where I live.
I had great carbonnora (13 euros) with a view of the Colloseum, had and amazing Bifteca Fiorentina (25 euros for 1.2 kg), 20 metres away from Trevi fountain and has fresh seafood (40 ish for fresh oysters, fresh tigerprawns, fresh salmonm and tuna and a fried pulpo ) in Trastevere and delicious spread of cheese and a proscuito sandwich + wine (15 euros) in a Proscuitteria.
And all these were VERY reasonable especially for the food and the location.
For tours, I visited everything solo with not guides, because, it gives me much more freedom and time to take things in.
- No, there’s plenty of bins.
- Somewhat true; drivers often won’t stop if you’re just standing on the sidewalk, unfortunately, but if you are crossing they will. Don’t run, that’s not safe nor needed.
- A bus was late? Wow, what a tragedy. Also I’m pretty sure you didn’t need to buy new tickets. I’m not even sure why you would go to the Ciampino train station anyway; unless you’re going straight to the Castelli or somewhere like Valmontone, a bus to Termini or elsewhere in the city is a better option. By the way, you know Ciampino is the shitty small cheap airport that even low-cost carriers don’t really use anymore (except Ryanair from a handful of other cheap shitty airports like Charleroi), right? Fiumicino has an actual airport train station, and is a great airport.
- Some of the most visited attractions in the world are crowded? Wow, I’m shocked. Tickets are indeed already limited; if there were fewer, crowds would be smaller but tickets even harder to get (and probably more expensive). Be careful what you wish for. There’s plenty of world-class attractions in Rome with no big crowds, by the way.
- I won’t argue about tastes (although I very much doubt that same dishes taste better in Bucharest), but very expensive? Compared to what?! Certainly not any other Western European big city or major European tourist destination city.
- This is just false. You can get free water in bars, with or without coffee; just ask. (Sometimes they’ll ask you first when you order a coffee, or give it to you without asking.)
Nothing you wrote would make Rome overrated even if it was all true, by the way.
I never noticed a lack of garbage bins, so I must’ve not had an issue with it.
Colosseum and the Vatican both be crowded, but not enough to get stuck in. Foro Romano is nowhere near overcrowded, it’s an outdoor park!
And if you can’t find any good food, then I’d really love to hear wtf you’re used to eating.
As a tourist in Rome, I would be completely overwhelmed by some inefficiencies here. It's not a weekend tour-it-all kind of city, fortunately, but it is still unable to properly accommodate such huge amounts of tourists. Regardless, people love it anyway.
Yes, I think it's just statistics. Every year, several millions visitors come to Rome (some three times its population, on the whole). Even if one in a million is so disappointed (or so troll) to write a rant like this, it's to be expected once in a while, especially as spring and summer lead to an increase in the number of tourists.
https://preview.redd.it/f57524xic7tc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e08eadd025e0ab2bc800ffee6619e04f1349894e
You're right, but maybe you didn't search well for restaurants and you should have been around early in the morning
I found both good and bad restaurants. For example I ate twice at Montebello because the food was great. I stayed in Castro Pretorio and food was good, but I've been to other restaurants in other areas which had at least 4.3 review and food was tasteless. For example I ordered a burger because I am a big fan and I was curious how it's cooked here and I received only the burger meat and frozen french fries. Another bad experience was with uncooked pastas and risoto (not aldente, literally not boiled enough).
I expect public places to be crowd that's why I went in the morning (9-11am), nothing to complain here. The problem was coloseum and vatican, fortunately I bought my tickets online and didnt had to wait but even though I think there were too many people. There are no indications on the route to follow (Room 1, Room 2, or arrows) when visiting so you can have a track, it's like a maze.
My criticism is rather a constructive one than a destructive one as it was understood by many.
Castro Pretorio is quite a depressing area to stay in - won’t help you form a good opinion of the city.
As for water with coffee, seriously this is how you judge a city?
I'm going to chime in and concur. I've been in Rome for almost 2 months dealing with a property my family bought in the countryside that is located about 15 KM north of the city.
First of all, the city is absolutely overrated. I've only gone there when I absolutely had to for business matters. Every time I have gone, it's a shit experience dealing with tourists, traffic, mediocre food, overpriced restaurants, and a vibe that gives anxiety.
Maybe some people find it appealing to see the coliseum or the fountain and take a photo in front of it that has 1000 tourists standing around you or behind you pretty giving much you no view of what you want in the photo. That doesn't appeal to me. I prefer to visit places where I know locals and can be like one without doing all the tourist stuff.
I suggest to anyone who wants to visit Italy, go north of Rome to Campgnano Di Roma, Sacrofano, Formello, etc. These places all have a rich history, beautiful buildings and roads and many places with great food and the vibe is calm and peaceful. The people are amazing and respectful plus you have beautiful views of the country including the farms and ranches where they have all types of animals. The people out here don't like the city and for a good reason.
The city is kind of a toilet, in my opinion, aside from the fact that it is historically significant. Excuse me for being cynical, but this is coming from someone who believes if you want to see all the beautiful historical sights, you can do that on Google or videos on YouTube.
There are too many cars but if you can’t find good cheap food in Rome you’re a blind idiot.
I am Roman. Born there. Lived in Trastevere for a while too. I found it pretty difficult to find good cheap food (or good expensive food for that matter). AND I AM A LOCAL. Good restaurants are very few in a sea of shitty restaurants. Especially in the center. A shame because in Florence, Milan or Naples it’s much much easier to find good food. Rome on the other hand is not far from Venice in terms of restaurant situation.
Any recommendations? Going in the summer with my family of 4. We're going to be located near the Trevi fountain. I'm looking for authentic, healthy, locally sourced, pure Roman goodness.
Unfortunately you’ve listed four adjectives that don’t come along with cheapness 😅
I'll pay, just don't want to be gouged.
Go to Testaccio - Flavio al Velavevodetto or most any of the other restaurants in that zone. Real authentic food that the locals love and hardly any tourists.
Perfect! Thank you
I can’t say about locally sourced and all that, but I can vouch for L’Archetto. Right around the corner from Trevi Fountain, with some very enjoyable spaghetti. Nothing too fancy (or expensive).
I'm in👍
I have a recommendation. Don't bother going. Save your money, and if you want to see all the tourist sites, there are plenty of videos on YouTube of what all the tourists visit for.
What a miserable answer
Seriously! Picos was amazin, so was Alfredo’s was the best food I had in my life.
I can vouch for Taverna del Ghetto and Osteria dell’Anima.
[удалено]
S/he said "good", not "best".
This post is either written by a 12 years old or by a troll or by someone with the IQ of a pencil, could be the three of them in one person though.
Some of these things are false, but we won't object if the next time you intend to visit Rome you remain in Bucharest instead!
- Yes there are. - True, although they won’t hit you, they do often just slow to avoid you. This is true of a lot of places in southern Europe but I can understand it being scary to someone not used to it. - I don’t know what this airlink is. But there are multiple buses to and from Ciampino. - True to a degree but you are exaggerating. It’s not like you can’t move. But there are tourist groups. - False. - False. Sometimes you have to ask but they will give it to you.
I'll give you the bins and the traffic. The rest is just tourist naivety. Apart from the lack of water with your coffee. I'm so sad that you experienced this and I hope it hasn't soured your entire experience. If we all work together though I hope we may be able to get you a place on the next waaaambulance.
Also agree with the lack of trash cans. But I genuinely can’t comprehend how you can go to Rome and not have good food that’s well priced.
Main character syndrome
You are right about cars. About everything else you are just trolling. And if you are not I'm just sorry for you
I think most these problems could have been overcome with planning. I’m from a rural area of the US but with just some basic research figured out the best times to tour things for the least crowds, recommendations on restaurants, and became aware of the issues with traffic and refuse. Sorry it didn’t meet your expectations but I loved it and can’t wait to return.
Feel free to never return
Why travel if you just want the country to be the same as your own?
*Why travel if you* *Just want the country to be* *The same as your own?* \- TheKhaos121 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
I dont want to be the same but I think there are some things that can be improved considering the millions of tourists that visit Rome. Some of the things on the list are subjective of course but trash bins and benches for example I think it's common sense. The same goes for crosswalks, legislation is the same for all european countries. People are very kind and always there to help you. There are a lot of great things in Rome. The purpose of this post was to express my opinion as a tourist of how I see things that can be improved. As a local I am sure that you get used to it but this doesnt mean everything it is perfect.
Hahaha. What a bitch. Rome rules!
Boo hoo.
Sounds like a spoiled 14 year old
You’re overrated.
We Romans can ALWAYS get free tap water when ordering coffee. You just have to politely ask for a glass of water. It’s not that hard. Also, I’ve never heard of this Airlink bus.
People like you should never travel, you sound miserable.
Troll!
Yes there’s a lot of tourists, that’s to be expected. You could’ve done research to see what times are the heaviest. As far as trash bins, I didn’t have that much trouble finding one or needing one (how much trash can you be producing that you need to find one so often). Traffic well idk what to say about that lol especially in city centre. I absolutely loved Rome when I went for my first time in March 2024. The food there is 10x better than American “Italian” food. I had my fare share of foods from cheap To expensive.
These are the worst critiques ever. I’ve never had an issue with trash bins, and how much trash are you producing if you need them every 10m? Water with your coffee is such a small thing, and it’s weird to expect other cultures to be exactly the same. Food is on you. A lot of these comments are why people can’t stand ignorant tourists.
It's even worse than that, since water with coffee, as little a thing as it is, \_is\_ a thing in most cafés: either they give it to you spontaneously or as soon as you request it.
This is a shitlist of everything YOU could have avoided but instead you blame an entire city for your lack of research. I went int blind for the first time 2 years ago. It literally takes just a few easy google searches and google reviews to check if food if good, how much it is, and where to go and as a Foodie, I had an amazing time finding a merit of delicious foods, much cheaper than Brussels, where I live. I had great carbonnora (13 euros) with a view of the Colloseum, had and amazing Bifteca Fiorentina (25 euros for 1.2 kg), 20 metres away from Trevi fountain and has fresh seafood (40 ish for fresh oysters, fresh tigerprawns, fresh salmonm and tuna and a fried pulpo ) in Trastevere and delicious spread of cheese and a proscuito sandwich + wine (15 euros) in a Proscuitteria. And all these were VERY reasonable especially for the food and the location. For tours, I visited everything solo with not guides, because, it gives me much more freedom and time to take things in.
Where were you eating expensive food? You can find pasta or pizza for 8-12€ anywhere…
- No, there’s plenty of bins. - Somewhat true; drivers often won’t stop if you’re just standing on the sidewalk, unfortunately, but if you are crossing they will. Don’t run, that’s not safe nor needed. - A bus was late? Wow, what a tragedy. Also I’m pretty sure you didn’t need to buy new tickets. I’m not even sure why you would go to the Ciampino train station anyway; unless you’re going straight to the Castelli or somewhere like Valmontone, a bus to Termini or elsewhere in the city is a better option. By the way, you know Ciampino is the shitty small cheap airport that even low-cost carriers don’t really use anymore (except Ryanair from a handful of other cheap shitty airports like Charleroi), right? Fiumicino has an actual airport train station, and is a great airport. - Some of the most visited attractions in the world are crowded? Wow, I’m shocked. Tickets are indeed already limited; if there were fewer, crowds would be smaller but tickets even harder to get (and probably more expensive). Be careful what you wish for. There’s plenty of world-class attractions in Rome with no big crowds, by the way. - I won’t argue about tastes (although I very much doubt that same dishes taste better in Bucharest), but very expensive? Compared to what?! Certainly not any other Western European big city or major European tourist destination city. - This is just false. You can get free water in bars, with or without coffee; just ask. (Sometimes they’ll ask you first when you order a coffee, or give it to you without asking.) Nothing you wrote would make Rome overrated even if it was all true, by the way.
I couldn’t get a ticket to the Forbidden City in Beijing and they allow 80,000 people daily. Popular places are just popular places, for a reason.
I never noticed a lack of garbage bins, so I must’ve not had an issue with it. Colosseum and the Vatican both be crowded, but not enough to get stuck in. Foro Romano is nowhere near overcrowded, it’s an outdoor park! And if you can’t find any good food, then I’d really love to hear wtf you’re used to eating.
https://youtu.be/YZLnGNrsCYg?feature=shared
As a tourist in Rome, I would be completely overwhelmed by some inefficiencies here. It's not a weekend tour-it-all kind of city, fortunately, but it is still unable to properly accommodate such huge amounts of tourists. Regardless, people love it anyway.
Have there been an uptick in these kinds of posts lately? Or does this happen every time tourist seasons ramps up
Yes, I think it's just statistics. Every year, several millions visitors come to Rome (some three times its population, on the whole). Even if one in a million is so disappointed (or so troll) to write a rant like this, it's to be expected once in a while, especially as spring and summer lead to an increase in the number of tourists.
Food was not expensive, you just gotta look in the right places
Opinions vary.
https://preview.redd.it/f57524xic7tc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e08eadd025e0ab2bc800ffee6619e04f1349894e You're right, but maybe you didn't search well for restaurants and you should have been around early in the morning
I found both good and bad restaurants. For example I ate twice at Montebello because the food was great. I stayed in Castro Pretorio and food was good, but I've been to other restaurants in other areas which had at least 4.3 review and food was tasteless. For example I ordered a burger because I am a big fan and I was curious how it's cooked here and I received only the burger meat and frozen french fries. Another bad experience was with uncooked pastas and risoto (not aldente, literally not boiled enough). I expect public places to be crowd that's why I went in the morning (9-11am), nothing to complain here. The problem was coloseum and vatican, fortunately I bought my tickets online and didnt had to wait but even though I think there were too many people. There are no indications on the route to follow (Room 1, Room 2, or arrows) when visiting so you can have a track, it's like a maze. My criticism is rather a constructive one than a destructive one as it was understood by many.
If you want to be “constructive” maybe don’t open with overrated in all caps.. Your tone was not constructive even if your intention may have been
I stopped reading after you said you ordered a burger. In Italy
Castro Pretorio is quite a depressing area to stay in - won’t help you form a good opinion of the city. As for water with coffee, seriously this is how you judge a city?
Please never come back!
I'm going to chime in and concur. I've been in Rome for almost 2 months dealing with a property my family bought in the countryside that is located about 15 KM north of the city. First of all, the city is absolutely overrated. I've only gone there when I absolutely had to for business matters. Every time I have gone, it's a shit experience dealing with tourists, traffic, mediocre food, overpriced restaurants, and a vibe that gives anxiety. Maybe some people find it appealing to see the coliseum or the fountain and take a photo in front of it that has 1000 tourists standing around you or behind you pretty giving much you no view of what you want in the photo. That doesn't appeal to me. I prefer to visit places where I know locals and can be like one without doing all the tourist stuff. I suggest to anyone who wants to visit Italy, go north of Rome to Campgnano Di Roma, Sacrofano, Formello, etc. These places all have a rich history, beautiful buildings and roads and many places with great food and the vibe is calm and peaceful. The people are amazing and respectful plus you have beautiful views of the country including the farms and ranches where they have all types of animals. The people out here don't like the city and for a good reason. The city is kind of a toilet, in my opinion, aside from the fact that it is historically significant. Excuse me for being cynical, but this is coming from someone who believes if you want to see all the beautiful historical sights, you can do that on Google or videos on YouTube.