ROME: The sun is setting in Rome and you have 108 minutes to spend in the city. What to do? Start in Campo di Fiori. While the multitude of bars offer mostly over-priced coctails at such un-Italian venues as The Drunken Sailor and Magnolia, one must experience the piazza's nightlife. You're as likely to hear English spoken as Italian, particularly during the academic semester and high of the tourism season when young Americans find the piazza a great place to drink and hang out. Yet mixed in with the foreigners are plenty of Italians, drunkenly carousing around a statue of Bruno in the center of the square. If you're lucky, you might even see the dancing lady, an old woman who begs for money while dancing in place to techno music. If you want, stop for a cocktail in Magnolia, a bar at the corner of the square. The place is owned by a Palestinian, and also serves great hummus. Don't stay too long, though. Campo is an experience, but the more authentic part of the evening is yet to come. From Campo, make your way down the narrow streets toward the Ponte Sisto bridge. Vendors of all sorts line the cobblestoned streets, offering handmade jewelry, knockoff purses and belts, and pashmina scarves among other things. The Ponte Sisto is one of Rome's only pedestrian bridges. Be sure to pause and look at the night landscape over the Tiber river. To the right, you see the top of the Vatican lit up against the night sky. Make your way into Piazza Trilussa, the beginning of Trastevere, one of Rome's most characteristic districts. Trastevere is the place to be at night for young Italians, and they're everywhere. During the summer, the steps leading up to Trilussa's fountain may have a handful of drummers and a guitar or two, and the piazza is likely to be full of small tables carrying handmade crafts. Stop at the bar on the terrace to the left of the piazza. Make sure to pay for your drink before you go up to the bar, then enjoy a traditional Italian apperitivo – small cocktail appetizers – with your drink. Try the local beer, Peroni, sample the Italian wines, or go for a cocktail of some sort. Once you've finished your drink (or put it in a plastic cup), head out into the streets of Trastevere. You'll find a plethora of small bars, restaurants, and gelatarie – ice cream shops. Make your way to Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, where even late at night you'll likely find children playing and men selling light-up toys around the piazza. As your 108 minutes draw to an end, make your way up the Gianicolo hill. It's a steep climb, but once you reach the top it will be completely worth it. Turn away from the Gianicolo fountain in front of you to find a panoramic vista. You can't quite see the Vatican to the left or the Colisuem to the right, but you can see everything in between. There's the Castel Sant'Angelo, the monument to Victor Emanuel II, and even the top of the Pantheon if you know where to look. After a whirlwind evening touring some of Rome's busiest nighttime hot spots, seeing the Eternal City glittering below is breathtakingly beautiful. BM
