What should I avoid in Rome?

The restaurants directly facing the Colosseum, Piazza Navona, and the Trevi Fountain share a pattern. They charge €35-40 for a carbonara that runs €12-15 two blocks away. The tell is a laminated photo menu in six languages and someone standing outside pulling at your elbow. Walk 200 metres in any direction and prices drop by half. In Testaccio, Flavio al Velavevodetto serves a proper cacio e pepe for around €14, in a dining room carved into Monte Testaccio, the 35-metre hill built entirely from ancient Roman amphorae. The pecorino hits your fork still steaming, sharp and peppery enough to sting your sinuses. Testaccio sets the standard. If a restaurant near any monument charges double for the same dish, you're paying for the view and getting worse food.

The men in gladiator costumes outside the Colosseum will drape a plastic gladius across your shoulder for a 'free' photo, then demand €20. The same pattern plays out at the Trevi Fountain with rose sellers who press a flower into your hand, insist it's a gift, then trail you half a block asking for money. At Roma Termini, taxi drivers in the arrivals hall quote a 'flat fare' of €40-50 to hotels in the centro storico. The metered rate from Termini to Trastevere or Piazza di Spagna rarely tops €15. Insist on the official white taxis from the rank outside Termini, meter running. The Leonardo Express from Fiumicino costs €14 one way and takes 32 minutes. That beats the €50 regulated taxi fare from the airport, and it's far cheaper than the unlicensed drivers who approach you in the baggage hall quoting €70-80.

The Spanish Steps are worth 5 minutes of looking up toward Trinità dei Monti, but sitting on the travertine is banned under a 2019 city ordinance, and the fine is steep enough to ruin your evening. After 6pm on summer nights, the staircase becomes a shoulder-to-shoulder selfie crowd with nowhere to rest. Skip the Vittoriano rooftop elevator at Piazza Venezia unless you need the specific angle over the Fori Imperiali. The €7 ride delivers a decent panorama, but the terrace at Pincio above Piazza del Popolo costs nothing, and the sunset light over St. Peter's dome from that vantage is better. You'll catch the smell of roasted chestnuts from the vendor cart at Pincio in autumn, hear guitar players on the piazza below, and feel the warm stone railing still holding the afternoon heat at dusk.

July and August in Rome routinely reach 36-38°C. The humid air sits heavy in the narrow streets around Campo de' Fiori, and the cobblestones radiate stored warmth well into the evening. Queueing for the Vatican Museums in that heat means 90 minutes standing on exposed concrete along Viale Vaticano with no shade. Book a timed-entry ticket online for around €21 (a €5 reservation supplement on the €17 base), or arrive right at the 8am opening on a Monday or Wednesday when crowds thin because the Pope holds audiences at Saint Peter's Square those mornings. Mid-September, when Rome currently sits at about 21°C, is far more walkable. Mind you, autumn downpours arrive with little warning from October onward, so a packable rain jacket earns its suitcase space fast.