RST's 700th Post. Holy Cow!

We've been writing this blog for more than eight years, but it remains surprising--no, astonishing--that we have managed to produce 700 posts.  Yes, 700!  If you figure it takes about 8 hours of work to produce one post (some are less, some much more--like days), that amounts to 5600 total hours spent making content.  That's like having a 40-hour-a-week job for almost 3 years.  Yikes!

To celebrate our 700th, we're offering links to some of our most popular posts (those with the most page views, and some others with lots of traffic).  Click on the link to see the original post.

Richard Meier's Jubilee Church.  The all-time page-view champ at over 15,000.  A ways out of town, but worth the trip.  #17 on RST's Top 40.

Europe's Largest Mosque--in Rome.  We may have a lot of Muslim readers, but the building is quite something no matter what religion you are.  Also on RST's Top 40 - at #24. Interestingly, a post we did on Rome's Kebab was also widely seen.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A Moral Act or Not?  Philosophy professor Raymond Belliotti examines the ethics of the murder by evaluating it against 7 moral criteria.







Riding a Scooter in Rome.  Actually, RST's post on renting a scooter in Rome was somewhat more popular, but this one's more useful--lots of hard-earned tips about riding a scooter in Rome, should you decide to do it, which you shouldn't.

Italy's Liberation Day: Bella Ciao.  Guest blogger Frederika Randall pulls apart the legendary anthem and examines the history of "Bella Ciao."













 Tracking Elizabeth Taylor.  ET spent some time in Rome, some of it with Richard Burton, while she was making movies.  She's still iconic here, but perhaps less so than Audrey Hepburn, whose image is everywhere.













The 1960 Rome Olympics: An Itinerary.  There's lots to see in Rome related to the 1960 Olympics: the Olympic Village; the Palazzetto dello Sport, where Cassius Clay made his name and reputation; an amazing stadium built by Mussolini where the athletes warmed up.












Garibaldi in Rome.  The darling of Italian unification, Giuseppe Garibaldi fought the French on the Gianicolo and lived to tell about it.












Via Tasso.  To most Romans, via Tasso means "place where the Germans imprisoned and tortured their political enemies," or something like that.  It's not far from the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, and you can visit, even walk into the cells and read the messages prisoners scrawled on the walls. RST Top 40, #3.

On St. Paul's Path.  Cities have their "named saints," saints special to the city.  Rome has two: Peter and Paul.  Paul brought Christianity to Rome, and was martyred just outside the city.  You can visit the sites and try to feel his presence.

Deaths on 2 Wheels and 2 Feet - Warnings of the Perils of Getting Around Rome

"On the streets of Rome, 25% of the deaths are motorcyclists."

This LED display is one that never ceases to disturb me as we (motor)cycle around Rome.  Bluntly stated, it cites the statistic that 25% of deaths on the streets of Rome are of those who ride 2-wheelers. "Motociclisti" here includes we scooter riders.  Bear in mind, scooters can be quite large - up to 600cc.  Audrey and Gregory rode a 50cc Vespa.

It's not just riders, though.  Pedestrians are similarly warned:

The translation here:  In Rome in 2014, 45 pedestrians were killed and 1800 injured.  As Bill recently wrote about walking around Rome, "You can walk, but they can kill you."

Just don't be looking up at these signs while driving.  I took the one below while on the back of our 250cc Malaguti scooter.  Bill has never seen one of these signs - his eyes are on the road.

Dianne

Watching the Tourists: I

Tourist Ballet, Piazza Venezia
 

If you're visiting Rome in the high season, the tourists can be irritating.  They clog the sidewalks and the top attractions and by their very presence define the restaurants you don't want to go into because they're "tourist traps."  The other side of this is that tourists can be entertaining, part of a rich tourist experience if you will. 

Here's an example.  These girls on the scooter may be Romans, but they're not sure where they are or where they're going. They're sitting at a light at via Ostiense, looking west up via del Porto Fluviale. They're got about 30 seconds to make up their minds.  If they tip over there'll be some serious skin loss.

Some things are just irresistible, especially for young men.  This scene was enacted in a small park off Piazza Venezia.

Rome tourists like to be photographed with gladiators, even at the Trevi Fountain, which was constructed about 1500 years after the last gladiator.

Some things are irresistible, especially for older men.  I liked this pose in front of the Altare della Patria (the enormous monument to Italian unification) in Piazza Venezia.

Bill

Sidesaddle Cycling

India--one hand around the driver, maybe.

We read with curiosity a recent story in the New York Times describing the efforts of Shariah law advocates in Lhokseumawe, on the island of Sumatra, to prohibit as "improper" women riding on motorcycles and scooters with their legs spread.  Under the new regulation, women can ride (presumably only as passengers) but only sidesaddle--that is, with both legs on one side of the vehicle.  In addition, women are not supposed to hold on to the guy who's driving.  We suspect that Lhokseumawe's directive derives in part from a Shariah-based society in which women are discouraged, or prohibited, from wearing pants (an odd perspective, in that pants, while a mark of liberation, are also, arguably, the less sexy option.  See Hillary Clinton). 

Something similar happened in America in the late-19th century, when men took issue with women riding bicycles.  Just too sexy.  In that case, the prohibition had to be absolute, or men had to get used to it, for sidesaddle was not an option, at least for the woman doing the pedaling.  There was a time, too, when proper western women who rode horses were expected to use special saddles that allowed both legs to go comfortably to one side.

Rome, 2007.  Waiting for the dress to
get caught in the wheel.

It's understandable that Muslim men of a Shariah bent--who paradoxically seem to be titillated by just about everything--would find their hearts beating fast at the sight of the spread legs and prominent rear ends of cycle-straddling young women.  Indeed, we (that is, I) have not been immune to the occasional palpitation while surfing the streets of Rome on a warm spring day. 

And we have witnessed, with shock and concern, the occasional effort at going sidesaddle (right).  It's a dangerous practice: bikes must negotiate bumps and the occasional object, and they lean as they turn.  A passenger with both legs on one side, and only an awkward grip on the handles (that only sometimes exist) on either side of the back seat, could easily fall off.  Modesty has its price. 

Bill 

China.  Two riders, one helmet. 

 

Caught! A Small Drama in Piazza San Silvestro

It was early evening when we passed through Piazza San Silvestro.  Not long ago it would have been full of buses and people waiting for them, but the piazza has been reinvented, its function as a bus depot eliminated, and what we found was a huge empty space, filled with rubble and machinery, surrounded by a plastic and chain-link fence.  To serve businesses on the piazza--including the restaurant at far right, above--the sidewalks remained accessible. 

As we were walking by, a young woman mounted her scooter and, cautiously, but on the sidewalk, and with a shopping bag over one arm, headed north on the east side of the piazza.  Scooters using the sidewalk for a few yards, to find a place to park, are commonplace in Rome, but this woman's sidewalk journey was a longer one than usual: a whole block of sidewalk to cover before she reached a usable street. 

She didn't make it.  As luck would have it, as she neared the end of the block and was passing in front of the restaurant (with outside tables, also on the sidewalk), a police officer approached and--from what we could observe from afar--ordered her to turn around and walk the scooter back to where she had begun her sidewalk ride.  No ticket, but embarrassing.

Bill

Riding a Scooter in Rome

OK.  You've succumbed to temptation and rented a scooter, despite never having ridden one.  You've got your pretty wife on the back, holding on tight, and you're pulling out from Bici Baci into Rome traffic.  What should you think about?  What do you need to know? 

1) Road Hazards


Under an overpass, waiting out the rain

     Rome's roads have been deteriorating for more than a decade.  Potholes abound, and if you hit one before you see it, you could lose control.  Although much of the Lungotevere (the broad street that runs on either side of the river) has been paved in asphalt (over brick - or the Roman sanpietrini - see our post on these), brick streets are common in the city and they pose special problems for scooters.  They're rough (especially on the passenger), and more slippery than asphalt, especially when wet.  Be exceedingly cautious when riding on any wet surface; turn slowly and gradually.  You can slip and fall, too, on any of the city's many tram tracks, with their shiny metal surfaces (again, especially dangerous when wet).  If you're going the same direction as the tram tracks, crossing them is tricky business; to do so safely, increase the angle of crossing just a bit, so that your tire doesn't ride the track.  Watch out, too, for loose gravel, anywhere, but especially at the junctures of country roads or the entrances to quarries, brickyards, and other construction facilities.  When possible, avoid turning on gravel.  When it rains, stay off the scooter.  If you're on the scooter and it starts raining, join most Romans and find an underpass (or a cafe) until the storm passes (photo above right). 

2)   The Threat of What's Behind

     Most of your attention will be properly focused on what's ahead of you, but you'll need to be conscious of vehicles behind you, too.  Here's the problem: if you were driving in the States, you'd have a lane that was yours.  That's not the case in Rome, where two-way streets will be marked only by a center line, and multiple-lane streets going one direction (say, the Lungotevere) will usually have no lane markings at all.  So it's a bit of a free-for-all out there.  Because you're new to the scooter you'll often (and reasonably) be driving a bit more slowly than the rest of the traffic, and that means that you'll be passed often, and sometimes at very high speeds.  You'll need to keep an eye on your rear-view mirrors, but you can't do that all the time, and despite your best efforts you'll often be taken by surprise by cars, big scooters, and motorcylcles--some of them crotch-rockets, coming from the rear.  Indeed, some cycle drivers enjoy coming close to a slower-moving vehicle (that is, you), then moving sharply into its path.  It looks dangerous, and it is, but it happens all the time.  Important advice: hold your line.  Unless there's a reason to move left or right--and you've checked your mirrors to make sure it's OK--don't.  Just keep going on the line you have. 

3.  Leader of the Pack.
     One of the pleasures of riding a scooter in Rome, and one of the reasons that it makes sense for so many to do so, is that scooters have the right to go between cars and find their way to the front of a group of vehicles waiting, say, at a stop light.  That's not true everywhere--you'd be ticketed in Buffalo if you did it--but it's well-established custom in Rome.  So there you are, sitting in front with 10 or 15 other scooters, waiting for the light to change.  And here's the rub: when the light changes, you have an obligation to accelerate in a timely, consistent fashion.  If you dally--if you're looking at your map, or are otherwise distracted--the people behind you won't like it.  And if (this happened to me once) you're not concentrating, the light changes, and you're not sure whether to go or not, and you start and then slow down or stop in your indecision, you'll be hit from behind. 

4.  Riding the Sidewalk
     In extreme traffic situations, where the roadway is so crowded that even scooters can't make progress, some scooters will take to the sidewalk.  This is most common on the last stretch of the Lungotevere, heading south, just before Porta Portese.  Not a good idea. 

5.  Cutting in, the Italian Version. 
     In Italy, it seems to be the custom that a vehicle with even a slight advantage on the vehicle next to it (say, two or three feet), may cut in front.  If you did that in LA, you'd be shot, and in most American cities it would be considered rude and wrong and provoke much honking and cursing.  Not so in Rome.  We don't advise that you engage in this behavior, only that you know it exists, so when it happens to you you'll understand. 

6.  Riding the White Line

Would you ride the white line?

     On crowded two-lane roads, especially those exiting and entering the city, it is customary for scooters to use the middle of the road--i.e., the area straddling the white line in the middle--as a third lane.  Scooters going the direction of the heaviest traffic have an informal right-of-way to the white line, so that scooters moving with less traffic are expected, sometimes and now and then, to defer.  Nonetheless, scooters going both directions will ride the white line, zipping in and out as they do so.  This can be exciting--like being part of a human video game--but it is obviously not for the faint of heart or the novice driver.  For scooters, riding the asphalt shoulder (on the right) is also permitted--indeed, encouraged and expected (Dianne here - I don't like being on the right; too many unforeseen obstacles).
     Sometimes, it's OK even to use a good portion of the left lane.  The best example is the intersection of via del Circo Massimo and via Santa Maria in Cosmedin, the latter named after the church on the corner that houses the famous tourist attraction, the Bocca della Verita'.  The bottleneck occurs as vehicles move southward over two lanes through Piazza Boca della Verita' and must negotiate a stoplight.  Dense traffic backs up through the piazza, often preventing scooters from using the usual between-the-lanes tcchnique.  Rather than wait, scooters cross the white line, use the oncoming lane (especially when there's no oncoming traffic) to bypass the jam and reach the front.  If you're in Rome for very long, you'll be doing it, too. 

7.  Speeding
    You'd have to behave like Mario Andretti to get a speeding ticket in Rome.  Although there has been some concern about excessively high speeds on the freeways outside the city, that doesn't seem to have carried over to the city streets.  There are no posted limits and, to our knowledge, no customary limit.  In most situations, the traffic determines how fast vehicles can move, and most Romans proceed at a reasonable pace for a given place and condition.  It's a great pleasure to drive without constantly checking the speedometer. 

8.  Restricted Areas
     Unlike automobiles, which can be restricted from driving in the historic center, scooters can go anywhere--or almost.  One of Rome's most important thoroughfares, via del Corso (running north and south betweeen Piazza Venezia and Piazza del Popolo) is restricted, limited to pedestrians and special vehicles (small buses, taxis, emergency vehicles, police, big wigs, hotel guests), except in the wee hours of the morning, when you'll be asleep - or, if you have jet lag, get up and drive it; it's a great time to scooter through Rome, as we noted in an earlier post.  As a result, getting from Piazza del Popolo to Piazza Venezia, or vice-versa, involves a maze-like journey through the city's medieval core.  Fun or irritating, depending on your mood.

9.  If You've Never Driven a Scooter 


Watch for opening car doors

      A few thoughts for the real novice.  Turning a scooter is counterintuitive.  You'd think that to turn the scooter left, you would pull on the left handlelbar.  Nope.  To turn left, you push gently on the left handle.  This push intiates a slight body lean, which turns the scooter.  Find yourself a quiet place to try this a few times, alternating light left and right pushes. 
      For the passenger: avoid sudden movements at any time and, on turns, don't try to help; avoid leaning to assist the turn or leaning to counter it.  Just sit there.  And, as if it needs to be said, riding side-saddle is stupid (photo below right, but she was in Islamic dress; so maybe she had no choice).  For those who have rented a 50cc scooter: because you'll be going more slowly than much of the traffic, stay to the right, near the shoulder.  For all drivers: when driving near parked cars, watch for opening doors.  Don't get "doored."!  

10.  What to Wear

Bare arms and hands look good, but what if she falls?

Imagine your scooter going down, even at the slow speed of 25 mph.  For 20 or 30 yards, you're underneath your bike, your arms and legs pressed against asphalt or brick.  To protect yourself from serious abrasions, wear a leather jacket, jeans, gloves, and boots (yes, uncomfortable in the Roman summer).  Helmets are required by law in all of Italy (though you'll still see some helmetless young riders in small towns), and full helmets, the kind that cover the chin, are by far the most protective.  To protect your eyes, especially if your scooter lacks a windshield, keep your face shield down. 



11.  Watch Your Attitude




Riding side-saddle, and with a long skirt,
is really dumb, but if you're a woman
in Islamic dress, maybe you have no choice

        Driving a scooter can be a heady experience  Novice or expert, it's not uncommon to feel cool, confident, even cocky, especially with a woman on the back.  But you should know that when you feel that way, it's a bad sign.  It mean you're focusing on yourself rather than the road.  There's no room for that on a two-wheeled vehicle moving 40 miles an hour.  Get back to work!

Bill