Rome, a city to live

Posted on Aug 4, 2024 in On your own

[revised March 2026] Rome is often defined as “an open-air museum” and this is probably true: in fact the whole historical centre is inserted in the list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

But Rome is also home to about 3.000.000 people who live here like anywhere else, going to schools or offices, shopping, enjoying  their spare time.

Our suggestion is to try and “live” the city  for a little while, instead of just “seeing” it:

  • you can rent an apartment in a suburban area
  • cook a meal at your apartment, which implies food shopping in markets or stores
  • move around by bike or Vespa to experience roads and traffic
  • take buses, metro or a train to move around
  • attend a service in the local church if you do that at home
  • go jogging where the locals go, if you are used to this practice or join a gym/yoga centre for a session…

Here some suggestions for venues to include during your stay:

  • town hall: Rome is special and our town hall was designed by Michelangelo! Don’t miss Piazza del Campidoglio and over the weekends you might run into one of the civil marriages taking place in the “Red Hall”
  • post office: send yourself a postcard and you’ll have the chance to visit a post office, for instance the main one in Piazza San Silvestro, a  converted monastery still with cloister and frescoes. Or you could visit the modernist building in Ostiense district, along Via Marmorata
  • markets: here you have the list of the markets in  Rome, mostly they only open in the mornings during week days. BTW the market in Campo de’ fiori, very centrally located and with a long tradition, is now super touristy. 
  • homes: we mostly live in apartments, you can visit some neighbourhoods to get an idea. I suggest an elegant district like Coppedé and a popular district like Testaccio if you still prefer to stay close to the centre. If you are more adventurous a tour focused on murals can  take you to some farer ‘hoods like Trullo or Quadraro. That’s where you get a real sense of what Rome mostly is!
  • cemetery: this is also part of life and we have a couple of options easy to reach by public transportation. Both are historical and beautiful in their own way: the “English cemetery” in Testaccio, just behind the Pyramid (Metro B Piramide) and the Verano, near the main train station (Metro B Policlinico).
  • stadium and sport centres: apart from going to a gym or jogging in a park (or even swimming in a pool in the summer heat), you can enjoy a sport event in town and visit the Olympic stadium (we also arrange tours of the Foro Italico area, an architectural attraction of the fascist age) or pools/tennis courts in the occasion of championships (find some ideas here)
  • concert halls or  dancing clubs: enjoy your holiday while experiencing daily life. Here our suggestions for music lovers (or this post, if you rave for Opera) and if you like dancing a little list here
  • schools and university: for obvious reasons you cannot enter a school with young kids, but you can visit the first university founded in Rome, La Sapienza. Which BTW has several internal museums (and we lead tours there!)
  • parks and playgrounds: Rome is a green city and we have a lot of public parks, most of them are historical parks with villas and museums inside. It’s nice to enjoy them hiking, biking or just having a pic-nic. We suggest Villa Pamphili or Villa Torlonia (but the most centrally located is Villa Borghese) and most have playgrounds for your kids
  • roads and piazzas: that’s what Rome is, you find charming alleys and beautiful piazzas everywhere. If you want to experience a very lively piazza go to Piazza Testaccio in the late afternoon. And the “road” not to be missed is the Appian Way, a real monument!
  • shops: they are everywhere, we have two article to suggest some shops we like and areas to go shopping. If you wish to visit a shopping mall, they are usually far from the centre. One that is easy to reach by metro (A line, Valle Aurelia) and not far from the Vatican is Aura.
  • museums and historical churches: you’ll be spoilt for choice! Here you have an help to choose the churches to visit (they all offer regular service) and for museums here you  have a list of our recommendations. 

You might need a bit more time than what you planned originally, but we grant you visiting Rome this way  will leave a different “taste”!