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Rome Pages by jungles
Tips 1 - 3 of 3 Rome Local Customs
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Local Customs: No Early Bird Specials in Rome
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Most Italians do not eat dinner until around 9pm, and it is not uncommon for people to linger over a meal until after midnight. Consequently, it's almost impossible to find a restaurant that opens before 7pm, and many don't open until 7:30 or 8pm. It's best to adjust your schedule accordingly and, you know, do as the Romans do. If a restaurant looks empty or if the only people eating there are tourists, this is not necessarily a sign that it's a bad restaurant; it could just mean that the local crowd hasn't arrived yet.
Also, be aware that most restaurants close one day a week. The most common closure day is Monday, right after they've made a lot money on the weekend. Restaurants will usually have a sign out front (in Italian) stating when their closing day is.
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Local Customs: God Doesn't Like Knees or Shoulders
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Appropriate dress is required to visit any church in Rome. This means, essentially, that you must cover your knees and your shoulders. For women, tops cannot be sleeveless, and skirts or long shorts must fall at least below the knee. For men, it's best to wear full-length pants. If you want to wear sleeveless tops when walking around in the heat, you can bring a shawl to throw over your shoulders when you visit churches. There will probably not be anyone to stop you from walking into the smaller churches dressed inappropriately, though of course you should adhere to the rules out of respect anyway. To enter St. Peter's Basilica you will have to pass about a dozen hawk-eyed guards, and there's no way you'll get past them without proper attire. Some of the souvenir shops around the Vatican have capitalised on this and now sell throw-away, paper pants to desperate tourists. Don't waste your money on paper pants; come prepared. To visit most of the Vatican museums you can wear what you like, but when you get to the Sistine Chapel the same rules apply, so unless you want to miss the chapel you should cover knees and shoulders when going to the museums as well.
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Local Customs: Pay first, then order
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In most establishments where you would order at a counter, such as a gelateria or a snack bar, there will be a cash register that is separate from the counter where the food is displayed. When this is the case, you should go to the register first, tell the clerk there what you want, pay and get a receipt. Then take your receipt to the counter, and hand it to the employee who will fill your order. Many visitors to Italy are confused by this and get exasperated when they wait forever at the counter and are never served. If it's busy there will be no queue; you'll have to just wave your receipt at the employee along with everyone else, and hope you get served eventually.
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 Comments for jungles about Rome | | | | |
cpiers47 Tue Jan 15, 2008 16:39 UTC
Fantastic Tips on the Forum - thanks so much for the clear explanations. I'm going to take them when me when I head back to Rome in the spring and look forward to finally "understanding" that part of the city! Grazie Mille. | marielexoteria Mon Oct 8, 2007 11:42 UTC
Thank you for these tips. | Pabro Fri Mar 9, 2007 10:06 UTC
These are excellent pages on Rome, accompanied by superb historical details. The photos here brought fond memories of my visit there a year ago. | BlueBeth Wed Jan 17, 2007 09:51 UTC
You have great pages on Rome, I loved it when I went. La Scala Santa absolutely took my breath away, very moving :-) |
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on Jun 13, 2006
