At the moment there are 3 private bus companies connecting the airport of Ciampino to Rome: Terravision, SIT Shuttle and Cotral/Schiaffini.

Terravision used to be the most expensive one of these, but now costs only 4 Euros. Officially they only accept RyanAir passengers and sometimes you are asked to show your flight ticket before you can get on the bus. Terravision has an office at the airport itself and also in Termini station, on the Via Marsala side. They have buses connecting to evey flight.

The SIT Shuttle bus costs the same and also stops in the Via Marsala. Unlike the Terravision buses, which will not drive into Rome unless they are completely full, the SIT Shuttle buses have fixed departure times. Tickets can be bought from the driver.

The Cotral/Schiaffini bus stops on the other side of Termini, in the Via Giolitti and costs 4,50 Euros for a single trip. Tickets can be bought from the driver.

There is no train station at the airport of Ciampino. If you wish to take the train into Rome, you will have to take a Cotral/Schiaffini bus to the Ciampino City railway station and then from there a train to Roma Termini.

Taxis from Ciampino Airport to anywhere within the city walls of Rome and vice versa have a fixed rate of 30 Euros, regardless of the number of bags you have, the time of day, or the day of the week.

If the Chaplin B&B and Hostel Little Italy are not what you are looking for or you prefer a hotel in Rome rather than a bed and breakfast we recommend the Venere website for affordable and luxury accommodation. You specify your budget and the area you would like to stay in and you will get is a list of available properties in Rome with descriptions and guest reviews. On-line booking.

Rome to Civitavecchia by train

There is no direct train connecting Fiumicino and the international Leonardo Da Vinci Airport with the city of Civitavecchia, the harbour close to Rome, departure point of the mediterranean cruis ships.

If you wish to avoid spending lots of money on taxi cabs to Civitavecchia or on pricey pickup services your friendly travel agent will be more than happy to arrange for you, you can take the regional railway line FR1 to the Stazione Trastevere in Rome and from there a train to Civitavecchia.

The total cost, at the moment (2008), will be around 8 Euros per person for a one way trip.

I have heard of many different prices of taxi rides from the airport to Civitavecchia and also of several bus companies with different rates. Please be welcome to write a comment below if you know of better, cheaper or more convenient ways of travelling to Civitavecchia harbor from Leonardo Da Vinci Airport.

Rome B&B Chaplin Little Italy Bed and Breakfast Rome Hotels in Italy

If the Chaplin B&B and Hostel Little Italy are not what you are looking for or you prefer a hotel in Rome rather than a bed and breakfast we recommend the Venere website for affordable and luxury accommodation in Rome. You specify your budget and the area you would like to stay in and you will get is a list of available properties in Rome with descriptions and guest reviews. On-line booking.

The Roma Pass is a combined museum and public transport pass that can make it easier and cheaper to visit Rome.

What does the Roma Pass include?

For 3 days, starting from the moment it is used:
- free access to the first two museums or monuments visited (the Vatican Museums are not included; the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum together count as one visit only)
- a reduction on the museums and other Rome tourist attractions visited afterwards
- reductions on visits to special exhibitions and happenings
- (rarely) visits to parts of museums that are otherwise closed
- free public transport (subway, bus and tram).

When is the Roma Pass useful?

Note that the Roma Pass can be less useful than it would seem to be. Most of Rome’s principal tourist sites are churches and squares and as such have no entrance fee anyway and the Vatican Museums are not included. Distances between tourist attractions are often so short that it makes more sense to walk than to wait for a bus or to look for the underground.

Jumping the Queue at the Colosseum

One big advantage the Roma Pass has is that it allows you to skip the ticket lines at the first two attractions visited, which can save a lot of time especially at the Colosseum. (If you want to get into the Colosseum without queueing and you do not have the Roma Pass it is best to get your ticket, which is a combined pass for the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine) at the Palatine Hill.

Where can the Roma Pass be bought?

The Roma Pass is for sale at all the museums and tourist sites that are included. It can (in theory, at least) also be bought at the Information Points that can be found close to the main attractions and at Rome Termini Station and the airport of Fiumicino. Travel agencies, tobacco shops, newspaper stands and Atac ticket offices are also supposed to sell them, but in reality they hardly ever do.

How to use the Roma Pass

Before visiting the first tourist attraction, write your full name and the activation date on the back of the pass. From this point you have free access to the first two museums or monuments selected. From the third visit onwards you have to show the Roma Pass at the entrance in order to get the reduction. (It is mandatory to also have a means of identification with you.)
Also for the public transport pass you will have to write first name, family name and date of birth on the back of the pass and then validate it the first time you use it. (Note that you are supposed to activate the public transport and the museum pass on the same day)

Roma Pass Kit

The so-called Roma Pass Kit, with information (in English and Italian) about the pass consists of:

- Roma Pass Transport, a pass allowing 3 days of free public transport in Rome (ATAC buses and trams, lmetro lines A and B, Met.Ro trains: Rome - Lido, Roma - Viterbo). The transport pass has to be validated the first time you use it and expires at midnight of the third day.
- Roma MAP, a map of Rome, indicating all the tourist information points, subway stops and museums and monuments included. The adresses, opeing hours, phone numbers and nearest bus and metro stops to the attractions are also indicated.
- Roma Pass Guide, a complete list of the museums and monuments the Roma Pass is valid for.
- Roma News, a news magazine listing special happenings and exhibitions.

Traditional Italian breakfast

Romans, and Italians in general, do not eat a big breakfast, traditionally no more than a capuccino or a coffee (a caffè, or an espresso, as foreign tourists usually call it) with a croissant (cornetto) in the café around the corner.

Hotel breakfasts

In Rome bed and breakfasts and hotels breakfast is usually, though not always, included in the price. Do not expect too much from an Italian breakfast, though: it is not unusual for a 3 star hotel in Rome, to serve no more than some dry biscuits and a cup of coffee, which is rather little for tourists about to explore Rome for the day. Bigger hotels often serve a buffet breakfast.

B&B’s without breakfast in Rome

This may sound strange, but bed and breakfasts often do not serve the breakfast themselves. You are given a ticket which allows you to get one cup of coffee and one croissant in the café next-door. And if you eat more, you will have to pay for it out of your own pocket. Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome and B&B Little Italy provide you with a genuine, hearty breakfast.

Eat till you burst

Traditionally lunch (”pranzo“) is the most important meal for Italians. An antipasto, a first (usually a plate of pasta) and a second (meat or fish) course with maybe some dessert afterwards: a typical Roman lunch used to last hours.

Lunch hours in Italy

Restaurants in Rome tend to open around noon for the lunch crowd and close their doors around 3pm.

As everywhere else, also in Italy the traditions change: nowadays it is just as common for Romans to go to a bar and have a quick panino (“bread roll”) or tramezzino (a rather weak, white sandwich) instead of spending hours at the trattoria or osteria.

Rome restaurant opening hours

Foreign tourists in Rome, and Italy in general, will have to adapt to the opening hours of Italian restaurants, especially in the evenings. Visitors to the Eternal City used to to eating at 6pm (or still earlier) will have to suffer for at least an hour, since the various osterie and trattorie traditionally do not open their doors till 7pm.

Avoiding tourist traps in Rome

Of course there are eateries that open earlier than that, but those are bound to be restaurants that cater especially for tourists, and that will in turn also influence the quality of the food served.

Best time to arrive

Another reason to eat slightly later is that, by arriving too early, one misses the chaotic, noisy yet cozy atmosphere characterizing the authentic Italian restaurant. Therefore it is best to arrive at around 8pm when it is still early enough to not have to fight for a table. Half an hour later the restaurant will be packed.

Ristorante, trattoria, osteria?

There are several kinds of restaurants in Italy. According to most guidebooks the osterie are cheapest, followed by the trattorie and then the ristoranti, the more expensive eating places in Italy. The osteria’s and trattoria’s tend to be smaller and are often run by families.

Those crafty Romans

The owners of ristoranti in big tourist destinations like Rome read the guidebooks too and have therefore started calling themselves osteria or trattoria as well. As a result the distinction shave disappeared and we recommend that you have a look at the price list (which is supposed displayed near the entrance) before entering a restaurant.

Recommendations

The Little Italy Bed and Breakfast and Rome Hostel Chaplin B&B provide you with several recommendations for good, and cheap, restaurants. Some trattoria’s in Rome will even give you a discount when you mention our name.

When to eat pizzas

The pizzeria is a separate story. Although restaurants and trattoria’s often offer pizze on their menus, we recommend that you visit a real pizzeria, with a more extensive choice of pizza’s.

Note that traditionally pizzas are only eaten for dinner, so if the lunch menu offers pizzas as well, you are likely to find yourself in a tourist restaurant.

Pizza slices

It is however very normal to visit a “pizzeria a taglio” for lunch, where you can get, often extremely original and delicious, slices of pizza for lunch.

Some excellent pizzerias in Rome

Our favorite Rome pizzerias are Formula Uno (which is not a pizzeria chain, despite its name) in the San Lorenzo area near the Chaplin B&B and Ivo in Trastevere.

Click here for a list of Bed and Breakfasts in Trastevere.

Parks in Rome

The center of Rome is not short of delightful parks (Villa Borghese, Colle Oppio) where you can go for an enjoyable and relaxed pick-nick. Go to a supermarket, or even better, visit the so-called alimentari (greengrocer) and get fresh bread, cheese, meat and whatever else you may like, something to drink, and have a quiet meal on a bench or on the grass, away from the noise of Rome’s traffic.

Several hotels can be found near the Villa Borghese park in Rome.

Have your sandwich made for you in an alimentari

In an alimentari you can usually ask the people who work there to prepare your panino for you. That way you do not have to take knives or other kitchen utensils with you, which might make things less embarrassing when your bag gets searched at the entrance of one of the museums in Villa Borghese.

Do not buy food from stalls

We do not recommend that you buy anything from the stalls that can be found near the major tourist attractions of Rome. The prices are 10 times what they should be and hygiene is not their strongest pont either.

Tap water or bottled water in Rome?

Remember that you do not need to buy bottled water in Rome. The tap water is perfectly drinkable and the little fountains you can find all over the Eternal City even in mid-summer supply the freshest water imaginable. It is probably best to buy a bottle once and then keep filling it up from those fountains.