5 reasons why I love Rome (despite living here!)

[revised February 2026] Rome: everything that can be said, has been said already.

Therefore, I can just list here few reasons why I love Rome (despite living here!):

1. History is physically embracing you, all ages are represented from the hut where Romulus used to live in the Bronze Age to the rich Renaissance palaces of the Popes in the Vatican, from the humble houses of the Middle Ages in Trastevere to the Belle Epoque “shopping mall” called Galleria Colonna. I feel protected by my ancestors and my life makes more sense in this long historical “fil rouge” where all events are connected.
2. Riding my scooter with my clothes waving  and listening to quirky comments of the drivers arguing in the traffic jam is like a live show with St. Peter’s or the Colosseum as backdrop!
3. Even when you are hectic busy, in a rush or “having a devil for each hair “ (the way we say we are furious!) there is an holiday atmosphere surrounding you: people asking to take them a picture, kids trying to eat a huge gelato, young couples kissing everywhere, a bride crossing your road, a girl carrying tons of shopping bags like Pretty Woman…
4. Pizza (the “thin” Roman pizza), but also pasta carbonara, coffee with whipped cream, “grattachecca” (crushed ice with syrups and fresh fruit)…. There is no better place in Italy to taste them and I could not live long without
5. Some views are just breathtaking and able to let you forget all worries, sadness and rush: the sparkling Tiber at sunrise from Ponte Sisto, the sequence of arches along Clivio di Scauro on Celio Hill, the ten angels bordering Sant’Angelo’s bridge in the mist, the ruins of the Imperial Palaces on Palatine Hill at sunset when the red sky and the ancient stones blend….

Every week I show my city to new people coming from all over the world and I never get tired.  After 50 years I’ve been living here, I still find out charming corners, interesting sites and new old stories about Rome!