WALKING IN ROME
by armen pandora
Rome has almost 3,000,000 residents, over 1,000,000 tourists a month, 350 bus lines, 1,800,000 automobiles, 8,700,000 registered motorcycles, more than 3,000 electric scooters, 1,387 traffic lights, thousands of pedestrian crosswalks, 0 stop signs and is considered a 'pedestrian friendly' city.
Calling Rome pedestrian friendly is like calling New York ‘traffic friendly’ - sure there are a lot of both in each city, but 'friendly?'
Yes, you can walk from one end of the center of Rome to the other in about an hour, on Google maps. But no one walks on the map, they have to walk in the streets and doing that in Rome is a daunting task.
At major crossroads - I'm talking Times Square major - there are no street lights. Just a 'zebra' crosswalk where the pedestrian has the right of way - according to the law. But trusting in the law and stepping in front of the ever-speeding traffic and their sidekicks, the zooming motorcycles, is like stepping into the parted Red Sea, trusting that Moses will keep the waters at bay. It's based on a lot of faith - maybe that's why Rome has over 900 churches.
At first, you walk down a street and think it's a pedestrian walkway since there are hordes walking in the street and no cars in sight - wrong. Here comes a car or van or motorcycle plowing its way through crowds of people - people who are gawking at all the amazing sites, taking photos, gazing at their phones trying to find out where they are and where they are headed and not expecting a motor vehicle on their tails.
There was a time when the city was full of Vespas - like the one Gregory Peck was riding on with Audrey Hepburn in 'Roman Holiday.' If one hit you, you could probably do more damage to it than it could to you. Not any longer - they all stepped up and bought motorcycles in the past 70 years and those cycles are big - and they move fast.
Then for some crazy reason, Rome decided to allow 'birds' or pedestrian scooters. These are driven on the streets and the very narrow sidewalks. Worse, they are left on the very narrow sidewalks, clogging them even more than the other impediments to safe walking, like protruding foundations of ancient buildings, 'nazone' (drinkable water fountains), gates, iron fences - so much stuff that you are forced to walk in the street and when you do that - pray.
If you Google map a destination in Rome and look up how long it will take to walk there, double the time. Google is telling you how long it will take a person to walk that distance in a normal city with normal traffic and normal pedestrian sidewalks. Rome is not normal. In many places, there are no sidewalks. In many, there are just white lines delineating where the pedestrian pathway ends - that path is usually about 2 feet wide. In many places, there is no pedestrian 'zebra' path across a street and in many there are actual metal fences that prevent you from crossing the street.
There are many groups of people walking around in Rome. These people never heard of walking in single-file on a sidewalk that barely allows two people to walk side by side. Then there are the large tourist groups and student groups who roam the most walked pathways to the most frequented monuments. These hordes simply take over the enter street and sidewalk.
In summary, I suggest you keep your eyes open and on the path you are walking, stay alert, keep your health insurance up to date and visit one of the 900 churches to pray.