In the 15th century, the Russian monk Philotheus devised an interesting theory: in the history of mankind there were three Romes, and a fourth shall not be. That is. There was the First Rome on the Tiber, fell into insignificance and fell. There was the Second Rome on the Bosphorus, also known as Constantinople, fell into insignificance, became Istanbul and fell. There is a Third Rome on the Moscow River, it stands, and will stand. But a fourth Rome shall not be.
The idea is presumptuous, because nothing is eternal under the moon. But nevertheless, its fame here should attract residents of Rome No. 3 to Rome No. 1. This does not happen: in Rome on the Tiber, Russian speech can still be heard rarely (I am not speaking about tourists, of whom, however, there are not very many, but about those Russians who have chosen this city as their permanent or temporary residence). More often you hear English, American, French, German, Japanese speech. Not like in London, New York, Berlin and Paris, where Russian is already spoken on every corner. This is strange: Rome is a wonderful city, insanely beautiful, incredibly diverse and, despite some inconveniences, very comfortable. And - what is important - it is still about 20 percent cheaper than London, and accordingly, even cheaper than Berlin.
But let us immediately temper the ardor of those who wish to buy an apartment in Rome. There is a significant obstacle - the attitude of Romans towards foreigners. They can be understood. On the one hand, foreigners represent one of the most important sources of income for the city. On the other hand, Romans are tired of millions of tourists idly wandering the streets, poorly understanding local codes of behavior and poking into every nook and cranny.
Moreover, the inhabitants of Rome are naturally annoyed that there are tens of thousands of "sleeping apartments" in the city, belonging to wealthy foreigners who live there for at most a month a year, and the rest of the time they remain locked. The housing issue in the city is acute, and here - "all sorts of people have come and don't even live here".
Add to this the Roman nonmefregismo ("I don't give a damn").
Therefore, given also the surrealism of Italian bureaucracy, in order to buy or rent any real estate in Rome, a foreigner will have to fight through some obstacles. If he is ready to pay the required money immediately or according to a clear scheme, it is not a fact that the transaction will be completed easily. Romans, despite all the openness of their souls, are suspicious of strangers.
Example. An emigrant from the USSR in 1981, while waiting for the opportunity to enter the United States, found himself in transit for three months in Rome and fell in love with Italy. In America, he made a rather good career as an author and illustrator of children's books. And three years ago he decided to settle with his family in Rome. He started looking for an apartment. Despite his American passport and all bank guarantees, people were sniffing around him. "An American? Then why does he have a Russian surname? Is he a gangster? And what kind of profession is that - writer and artist?" The situation was saved by chance. Just during the apartment search, at the Rinascente bookstore, one of the most famous in Rome, a presentation of his new book, published in Italy, took place. The owners of the house where the coveted apartment was located saw that their potential buyer was greeting very respected people who are shown on television, and stopped doubting. Now Mr. Romansky lives in a very beautiful apartment in one of the nicest places in Rome, next to Villa Celimontana park.
Perche Roma ("why Rome")?
Before deciding to move to Rome, naturally, it is useful to think about why exactly there.
A positive argument. It is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, rich in cultural and artistic monuments. The climate there, in any case, is better than in Moscow, Dublin and London. There, the atmosphere of dolce vita still breathes (though not as seductively as in Fellini's times). There you can wander the streets and dream, or you can work productively: Rome is the capital of one of the main European countries. From Rome it is close to other European centers, and to the eastern coast of the USA it is four hours less flying than from us. Finally, Rome has many green spaces where it is easy to breathe.
A negative argument. Rome has the highest noise level among European megacities. There is terrible street traffic, and only the unimaginable skill of Romans in maneuvering with centimeter precision in the flow of cars, scooters and pedestrians allows avoiding self-injury, or even certain death. Corruption flourishes in Rome, and as a result almost everything depends on connections. Finally, the climate there can be awful. In summer - "dog time", that is, caniculae. The thermometer rises to 40 degrees, the city becomes as hot as a frying pan, there is nothing to breathe. In winter, the temperature rarely falls below five degrees, but a piercing wind and rain for half the week are possible.
So think about it. And do not forget that Rome is a strange and wonderful city. Choose those pieces of its mosaic where you are more comfortable. For convenience of choice, note that Rome is divided into 27 districts arranged in a spiral, starting from Castel S. Angelo (1) and ending with E.U.R. (27).
It is not easy to choose. An ideal place to live might be found 20 km from the Roman Forum, where the "Golden Mile" stands - the place where in ancient Roman times the counting of distances from the city to the rest of the universe began. For example, you can buy a villa or a small house on the Alban Hills or somewhere near the town of Frascati, not far from Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Roman Pontiff. There it is cool even during the holidays, green, but prices are the same as on the French Riviera or on the shores of Lake Geneva.
One can try to purchase an apartment in the center of historic Rome. Ideally - to make many international millionaires envious - is to buy a large apartment in the Theater of Marcellus. This is a huge structure, half the size of the Colosseum, built more than 2000 years ago, naturally, largely dilapidated, then restored and turned into a tourist attraction. But part of its arcades and time-worn columns hides some of the most expensive apartments in the world. To live there is more serious than buying a residence at Kensington Gardens in London or settling on Avenue Hoche in Paris. But these are corporate apartments, and one would be able to buy something there only if all the Swiss gnomes and Bill Gates go bankrupt in three minutes, and you manage to catch it.
If desired, one can try to become the owner of one of the villas on the Janiculum Hill next to the Vatican, where there are embassies everywhere, and tranquility is guarded by carabinieri standing on every corner. Green, quiet, and very expensive. Approximately the same place is Parioli, near the Pincio Gardens and Villa Borghese. Housing here has an exorbitant cost. Slightly cheaper, but also very expensive, is an apartment on the top floor of some ancient palazzo in the city center, with its own roof garden and panoramic views.
These are ideal, that is, almost unattainable options. Now, about their opposite, about places in Rome where one should not settle.
As in any big city, in Rome there are cheap and crime-prone suburbs far from the center, located along railway lines and highways and built up with shabby block houses. They were mostly erected in the 50s-70s, when Rome's population was growing rapidly, and now they don't know what to do with them - the utilities have aged, and any valve in the water supply will require more than a simple replacement. Such are, for example, Prenestino Torpignattara (22), Garbatella Tor Marancia (25), the lower part of Portuense (23), and Prati Fiscali (12).
But it must be borne in mind that sometimes half a kilometer from these gloomy concrete thickets there are completely charming neighborhoods. A very special place in the very south of the city is the E.U.R. district. The name is an abbreviation for Esposizione Universale di Roma, "Universal Roman Exhibition," a complex that Mussolini began to build in 1942 and, for obvious reasons, did not finish. And the exhibition district was conceived as a model fascist microdistrict for workers. Construction was completed in the 50s-70s, and recently E.U.R. has undergone modernization. There are straight wide streets atypical for Rome with curious names (Electronics Avenue, Citizenship Avenue, Social Security Avenue, Sports Achievements Avenue...), quite green, Mussolini's megalomaniacal structures are now mostly occupied by offices of various companies, inexpensive and quite pleasant. But it is completely unlike Rome in the usual sense.
A very colorful and still quite moderate in price place is Testaccio. Testaccio is located at the junction of Gianicolo-Trastevere (5), Trastevere-Aventino (6), and Viale Marconi (24) and was built mostly under Mussolini as economic housing for workers. By the 70s Testaccio had become a rather disadvantaged area, but then it gradually began to turn from a semi-slum place into a quite charming one. Houses were reconstructed in accordance with modern standards, representatives of the intelligentsia and middle class moved here, fashionable shops, galleries, and restaurants opened. But at the same time, Testaccio retains a special, very lively atmosphere that evokes the films of the great Fellini.
Now, about more expensive places, but more or less affordable. Next to Testaccio is the Aventine Hill. If you are not interested in city socializing, you love quiet and greenery, and you have sufficient means, this district of Rome is for you. Tourists rarely get here (although the Colosseum and the Forum are ten minutes on foot), embassies and monasteries around, fresh air, it is not for nothing that Roman patricians have long settled here.
If, however, proximity to urban civilization is a key factor for you, it is worth considering a small apartment in the area of Via Veneto, Quirinale - Viminale (3), there is the greatest concentration of American residents of Rome, expensive hotels, and expensive and very bad restaurants. The places there resemble the Grand Boulevards of Paris, only on a smaller scale. One can try to find something near Piazza Navona, Piazza della Rotonda, or Piazza di Spagna (Pantheon - Piazza Venezia, 2). I mention a small apartment because about a large one - see above. But even something more or less two-room will hardly cost you less than half a million euros.
Conditions are more humane in the bourgeois districts around the lower part of Via Flaminia (Flaminia - Parioli, 16) and Piazza Mazzini (Prati - Della Vittoria, 15). There the development is mainly from the late 19th - early 20th centuries, that is, you will not have the opportunity to admire the stonework and wooden beams of the 16th century, but there is an elevator and, in general, it is similar to what you are used to if you live in an ordinary European city.
The upper part of the Monteverde district, next to the Doria Pamphili Park and the embassy quarter on the top of the Janiculum Hill (Villa Pamphili, 20), is becoming increasingly prestigious. Here it is still cheaper than on the Aventine Hill, more working-class, but surely in five years this district will become more and more expensive.
Finally, in this brief overview of the district where I myself have lived for four years and am very happy. This is Trastevere ("Beyond the Tiber") - Gianicolo - Trastevere, 5. The first to settle here, back in the 4th century BC, were Jews, Syrians and other people from Asia Minor. That is, "newcomers". In those times Trastevere was not considered part of Rome, although it was a 15-minute walk to the Capitoline. This quarter has seen both times of prosperity and times when it turned into slums. Now it is one of the most picturesque corners of old Rome, touristy but not turned into Disneyland, and still retaining a surprisingly friendly, semi-rural atmosphere. Prices here are getting higher and higher, and I fear that over time Trastevere will become as expensive as the areas of Piazza Navona and Via Giulia. Well, whoever didn't make it is too late.
All this is only scattered pebbles of the Roman mosaic. Assemble it yourself and remember that Rome is a city so diverse that even the Romans themselves cannot understand it completely.
Agata FARRELL-CLIVIO.
Translation by Anna SOLOVYOVA.