Hard to believe it’s been six years since my last visit to Rome. The friendly folks at Facebook won’t let me forget, however, as they keep pushing memories my way. They look suspiciously familiar. Another Six Nations rugby weekend. Another Valentine’s Day. Another loss for the Italian team. For an explanation of why it makes sense to travel to Rome to watch rugby, read my original story.
Not everything is the same, however. The authorities have laid on far more trams so transport to and from the Stadio Olimpico was far easier. Inside the stadium there’s been a complete overhaul of food and beverage provision, with a wide variety available from food trucks, stands and vendors strolling the aisles. It’s the only stadium I know surrounded by parkland; go early, grab a beer and relax on the grass under the umbrella pines. There was still an abundance of queuing, but this time a new cause: Covid-19.
Given that the Italians were the European front line of the pandemic and suffered horrifically, it's no surprise that they're now hyper-vigilant on disease control. You probably stand more chance of getting hit by an asteroid than of catching Covid in Rome. FFP2 masks are required everywhere, only allowed off for seated eating or drinking. You won't get in to any public venues without showing your vaccination certificate; sometimes multiple times. To get into the game, the name on your ticket, photo ID and vaccination certificate had to match up. We saw multiple people turned away for a missing element. Major museums do the same triple check plus a temperature scan. At the stadium, we had to go through three different queues with variations of checks before we finally got to our seats. If this is the future of major events, plan on getting everywhere at least three hours in advance.
Despite the increased admin, prolific queues, and extended hours in a mask, a long weekend in Rome remains an ideal way to break England's winter gloom. We got lucky with sunny skies and 16C (61F) temperatures for the whole visit. Travelling out on a Wednesday evening and back on the Monday gave enough time for plenty of sightseeing and lots of wonderful Roman meals without being away from the office too much. Rumoured plans to eject Italy from the Six Nations tournament might be better for the game, but will strike a heavy blow to options for winter weekends away.
Prices at the hotel we'd used last time had skyrocketed, so we opted into our customer loyalty programme and went for the newly-opened Mercure Centro Termini. Its location 1/3rd of the way down the long, straight road between the main train station and the Victor Emmanuel Monument is ideal for sightseeing, with most things in walking distance. It's amazing how much this area has changed since my early visits to Rome. In the '80s the station and everything around it was run-down and a bit dangerous. The whole neighbourhood has had a makeover (other than one small park across the street from the bus terminal that's still the preserve of weeds, rubbish and the homeless) and the station itself is modern, efficient, clean and studded with upscale shops.
The local Mercure is so new, however, that taxi drivers don't know where it is. Even when you tell them the specifics (at the corner of Via Nazionale and Via Agostino Depretis) they confidently take you somewhere else in the area. The newly-renovated building ... a pink Venetian Romanesque-style palazzo out of place in the grand, white, neoclassical street, obviously wasn't designed as a hotel. There's no real lobby to speak of, just a check-in desk across from the lift doors and a few couches on either end of the bar and restaurant that faces the street. If you didn't look up to see the Mercure flag hanging above, you'd never guess from what you can see through the windows that it's a hotel. Which might be part of the problem with the taxi drivers. While the street-facing restaurant is busy at breakfast time, when guests can add a functional but unexceptional buffet breakfast to their tab for €13, we never saw anyone eating lunch or dinner here, which made the whole place a bit odd and lacking in atmosphere. I'd like to see them lose some of the restaurant tables and create more lounging space.
Based on our lodgings, I'd guess there's a lot of variety in accommodation since they seem to have wedged hotel rooms into a space built for something else. Ours was generously sized but oddly shaped; a long, narrow rectangle with exceptionally high ceilings ... the walls were taller than the rooms were wide ... divided into two distinct spaces by an archway. A super-king bed took up almost all of the second room, while the first by the door was occupied with a shelving unit, desk and one chair. A modern, spacious bathroom continued the enfilade on the other side of that. Tall glass doors in both rooms led onto a balcony that ran the length of the space but, sadly, had no chair or table.
Staff were friendly and consistently helpful, particularly the attentive and charming Daniele who, running the bar and restaurant from breakfast into the afternoon, became the real face of the hotel as his domain doubled as the lobby. While short on atmosphere, the Mercure was functional, quiet, good value for money and I'd stay there again. The location gives easy, quick access to the airport via the Leonardo Express train (€14 per person, travel time about half an hour), though we did splurge on arrival and took a mini cab door-to-door (€60, but saved us 20 minutes of walking with luggage, with the only driver all weekend who knew the hotel).
Our itinerary for the weekend balanced serious sightseeing with great food, shopping and sport. I was conscious of being at a tipping point perhaps never to be send again: all the tourist attractions were open, but there were few visitors beyond Europeans. Though the Spanish Steps and the Vatican were crowded, numbers were nothing like recent history.
Sightseeing was a joy. Thursday was all about Baroque church architecture, Friday dominated by the glories of Ancient Rome, and Saturday given to the Vatican. With Sunday’s game not starting until 4pm we could fit in some shopping around the Spanish Steps in the morning. Monday was my only miscalculation; a day somewhat wasted because I forgot that museums are all closed in Rome at the week’s beginning. I should have saved the churches for departure day. Despite that miscalculation I still managed to pack a prodigious amount of art, architecture and history into a short period, and managed to tick one place of my still-to-see Roman bucket list. Enough to finally have some decent experiences to blog about. More to come…
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