How to deal with the hawkers and other Rome, Italy Warning Or Danger Tips

Rome has an awful lot of people who will pester you on the streets, trying to get you to spend money buying various knick-knacks that are of neither use nor ornament. It probably seems like there are more of these people than there actually are because we noticed that we were seeing the same people day after day, each time selling something different. The first time, we were sitting by the Trevi Fountain and a man approached us wanting to sell something: we never made eye contact, carried on talking between ourselves and he went away fairly quickly.

The following day, in the Piazza del Popolo the same man approached us trying to sell flowers. We tried the same tactic of avoidance but this time he was more persistent, he wouldn't leave and in the end he put one of the flowers down on top of my friend's bag. At that point, we got our stuff together and walked off without looking at him. Don't touch anything that they're selling and just try and ignore them. It's a pain but you might find yourself having to move away at times otherwise they won't leave you alone.

Leave a Comment