Some people travel to Italy for a week or two and go all over the country. They hit Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Tuscany to name a few, armed with phrasebooks and detailed itineraries that highlight the top attractions. (See Italy in a week!)
Meanwhile, I lived in Italy for six months and I never made it outside a 100 mile radius on my own.
I didn't go to Pisa, Umbria, or Pompeii. I didn't make it to Verona for the annual Juliet festival (a must for Shakespeare fans!). And I didn't go to Sicily.
Granted, the au pair schedule allowed exactly one day off per week. You can take a train to Florence and back in one day, other au pairs told me, but you'll barely step foot outside the train station before you have to head back. And the au pair allowance (for me, 100 Euro per week) wouldn't cover train tickets and museum passes anyway. So I had to put Tuscany and Venice on the back burner--I threw my coin in the Trevi fountain and hoped it would deliver: legend has it, when you throw a coin in the Trevi fountain, one day you're sure to return to Rome.
This, emphatically, has nothing to do with that film When In Rome. That is a totally different fountain myth which I have never even heard of. I call shenanigans on that. Plus, the Italians would frown on someone pilfering around in their lovely fountains, for any reason. They take their historical landmarks very seriously, and rightly so. Fountain wading is about as appealing to the Romans as someone tackling the Pope. As they say, Non si fa. It isn't done.
Now, I'm proud to say that I covered a lot of ground in Rome. At night after putting the children to bed, I would spread a map out in my room and trace the routes I went that day, highlighting and circling what I could remember. Eventually I learned street names, bus routes, and shortcuts. I could take the metro to the Coliseum or the Spanish Steps and find my way home on foot. I went walking every chance I got. I would get the children ready for school in the morning and then have all day to go exploring.
I went to the Vatican museums first, on my third day in Italy. (Sundays are free admission! Get there early to get a good spot in line.) I went to mass at St. Peter's. I spent whole afternoons in Villa Borghese, a popular park and museum. I toured the Coliseum. But most days, I walked through my host family's neighborhood, occasionally writing but mostly relaxing in local cafes. I bought apples at the market across the street from the apartment and visited the flea market at least once a week. If I ever felt like I was missing out on being a tourist, I could take the metro to the center of town and see the sights.
Inevitably though, two years later, it's the neighborhoods I miss most. It's the low-key days people-watching in the park or sitting out on the apartment balcony when the weather was nice. That's the pattern most of my days followed. I always felt more comfortable closer to home. I knew that I could always go back to Rome one day as a tourist, but it wouldn't be the same as it was when I wasn't just seeing the city, but living in it.
