Although the Italian Capital isn’t renowned for its environmental credentials, it is slowly embracing the idea of tourism which satisfies visitors while protecting the city’s heritage and environment, safeguarding it for the future.
Here’s how you can help and still have a wonderful vacation:
-
Don’t buy bottled water
Since ancient times, Rome’s water has been piped into the city from natural springs in the surrounding hills, meaning Rome enjoys very high quality drinking water. Around the city are fountains where drinking water is freely available, so why waste money and plastic by buying bottled water? Outside the Colosseum, there is even a free water dispenser offering a choice of chilled still or sparkling water to encourage visitors to reuse their bottles.
In the museums run by the city council, buy a reusable water bottle for €2 and take home a souvenir of your contribution to Rome’s future.
-
Avoid taxis
Anyone living in Rome will tell you how awful the traffic is, even in the city center where access is meant to be limited, so why go to the stress of getting stuck in traffic?
Rome’s metro service is limited (there are only 2 lines), but depending where you want to go, it can offer a time-saving alternative at just €1.50 per trip as well as taking you right up to monuments like the Colosseum and Spanish Steps.
Rome has finally started to phase out the horse-drawn carriages which used to take tourists from the Colosseum to the Pantheon and the Vatican all day long in temperatures frequently reaching 100ºF, replacing them with zero-emission, rickshaw-style taxis. There are also plenty of places to rent bikes, including electric ones to conserve your energy on hot days and 4-person ones for a fun day out with your friends. And unless you are rushing through in one day, remember that Rome’s historic center is small and incredibly beautiful and walking is by far the best way to appreciate all it has to offer!
-
Support local businesses
People come to Italy for the food, right? So why would you settle for a frozen pizza and industrially-produced ice-cream? Search out local businesses – places where Italians are eating and there are no pictures in the menu is usually a good start, look for signs which say ‘kilometre zero’ or the red, Slow Food snail. The Slow Food Movement was started in Italy to prevent the loss of local culinary traditions and to make people more aware of what they are eating and the snail is a good sign that locally sourced, traditional products and recipes are being used.
Unemployment is high in Italy, so help support the community you are visiting by using local guides, local drivers and local businesses.
-
Visit alternative sites
Rome has an overwhelming number of beautiful sites to visits, but sadly most visitors limit themselves to the same ones. You’ll have a far more enjoyable, authentic experience if you venture off the tourist trial a little bit. For example:
– There are 13 Christian and 6 Jewish catacombs in Rome (not all are open all the time), but most visitors go to the ones on Appia Antica where the huge number of visitors means tours have become quite rushed. On the other side of the city, the Catacombs of Sant’Agnese are in a lovely quiet complex just off Via Nomentana. There are regular visits in English and while you are waiting in case anyone else wants to join, visit the basilica which commemorates ones of Rome’s young martyrs, and behind it, the former mausoleum of Costanza, daughter of the emperor Constantine, which is now a lovely circular church.
– Rome has 4 papal basilicas, so don’t limit yourself to St. Peter’s. Yes, it’s the most famous and ornate, but the quieter St. Paul’s, dedicated to Rome’s other patron saint, shows you what the early churches looked like and retains a peaceful atmosphere where you won’t feel jostled and rushed.
– Want to really experience local food and wine in a lovely setting with cooler temperatures? Then head to the town of Frascati, 30 minutes away in the hills that overlook Rome. Here you can enjoy some Roman home-cooking, locally produces cheeses and porchetta (roast pork which is a local tradition), as well as the fresh white wines of the Castelli Romani vineyards.
