Rione Monti, Rome = Safety and proximity to tourist sites?
 

Hi all,

We are American tourists considering an apartment rental in the Rione Monti area of Rome for a week. We are very unfamiliar with the area and would love your help!

What are your thoughts? Is this a safe area? Some pics of Google Earth from several years ago show the neighborhood with lots of graffiti, but recent traveler pics don't show that much. Is it safe to walk home through the neighborhood alleys at night?

Also, is Rione Monti really far from tourist sites? We will be walking everywhere (we are able-bodied) and taking the Metro station, which seems to be 1-2 blocks away. However, we will definitely want to visit all the main tourist sites in Rome.

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

It's safe--not too worry. And all of central Rome has graffiti, so please don 't let that bother you. I like that area and don't consider it out of the way (good restaurants over there), especially if you enjoy walking. Many people feel that the very center is the best area for a first visit, but there are sights you'll want to see all over, so IMO Monti will be fine. Closer to the Forum and Colosseum, further from the Vatican, etc. Rome is a joy to explore.

Have fun!

What street is your apartment on? Some areas in Monti are better than others.

can you post a link to the apartment?

I don't know how true this is but I once read that this US city type (multi-colored murals) of graffiti was unknown in Rome or perhaps Europe in general? Not graffiti in general just this type.

And then some NYC(?) art show went there showing the works of these *talented young street artists* and the fad or should I say plague of this kind of *street art* caught on?

DH and I stayed at the Hotel Grifo in the Monti district this past fall. We loved the area. It is a working class neighborhood full of cafes, fruit/veggie stores, clothes boutiques, grocery stores, chocolate shops, etc. We walked to all the tourist areas.

Graffiti is all over Rome. Doesn't mean it's a bad neighborhood.

>>>I don't know how true this is but I once read that this US city type (multi-colored murals) of graffiti was unknown in Rome or perhaps Europe in general?<<<

Graffiti existed in Italy before the US became a country. The Tourist Board in Florence used to run graffiti tours. It was graffiti from the 1400's and later. It included color, but they quit running the tour a few years ago.

***But in Florence, starting in the 1400s, it was a technique of wall design, where the top layer of pigment or colored plaster is scratched through to reveal an underlying layer.***

http://tuscantraveler.com/2010/flore...-then-and-now/

Monti is safe. All of Rome is safe.

Graffiti existed in Italy before Italy became a country, and it certainly existed before the Renaissance. One of the more fun things to do walking around Roman ruins is to find ancient Latin graffiti.

Unlike the US, it is not a sign that you're in a neighborhood in Rome when you run across it, but it is actually NOT true that there is graffiti all over Rome, so if you'd rather be someplace where you don't look at it the minute you walk out the door, that is easy to do.

Monti is the geographic center of Rome, but whether or not it is central to the sights you want to spend time in depends on what sights you want to see. If you want to spend a lot of time with Roman antiquity, Monti is hard to beat. If St Peters', the Vatican museums and the Galleria Borghese are your focus, you are better off by the Spanish Steps.

I actually think the pizza Navona area falls between two stools: too far to comfortably walk to the Vatican museums, too far to walk to the best sights of Roman antiquity. But some people love it because it's got all the tourist piazzas and shops.

Typo alert: I met to type above:

"Unlike the US, it is not a sign that you're in a "not-safe" neighborhood in Rome (if you see graffiti there)

<<<Graffiti existed in Italy before the US became a country.>>>

And even back to the Stone Age using a burnt stick to draw an outline of an animal in a cave long before man even set foot in America.

But I did way go out of my way to specify only *1* type of modern spray painted artistic graffiti whose style is now internationally copied which had to start somewhere!

The ancient Romans favorite place for graffiti was plastered walls.

Brick walls which was often concrete faced with bricks was then plastered over so now smooth.
If the plaster was painted it was all the better, stratch-in your graffito and the white plaster beneath gives it a notable outline.

As we type a long corridor in the off-limits part of the Colosseum is being cleaned from centuries of accumulated grime.
The painted plaster walls in that corridor have frescos with stratched-in graffiti from ancient to the 17C discovered so far (IIRC).

Thank you so much everyone for your replies!! They have been most helpful!!

I'm not sure of the exact street, but it seems to be near or on Via Cimarra or Via dei Ciancaleoni. Is that a safe-looking area?

Thank you for your thoughts on graffiti. In the USA, graffiti and even alleys are usually associated with pretty unsafe environments, so I was hesitant when I saw it.

Isle - if it's in the Via dei Ciancaleoni it should be fine. on our first trip to Rome we stayed in an apartment a couple of streets away in the via dei serpenti and it was a great area to be in. lots of lovely little shops, a nice square with a fountain and a cafe and bars, a great gelateria where we rubbed shoulders with the local carabinieri, a good enoteca, and even, should you want one, an indian restaurant.

walking distance to the Colosseum too, and good access to the Vatican etc, via the buses that run up and down the via Nazionale [where there is also a small supermarket]

you'll be fine, honestly.

Thanks annhig! Sounds like a lovely area. I guess we have nothing to be afraid of... :)

That location is very good. I've had a fabulous dinner at L'Asino d'Oro, which is a few blocks away from you. They also have a great lunch for few euros.

http://www.parlafood.com/lasino-doro-reopens-in-monti/

Have fun!

I guess we have nothing to be afraid of... >>

Isle, we had our kids with us, and our then 14 year old son really liked going out in the mornings to get our breakfast cornetti - after a couple of mornings of going with him, he insisted in doing it himself and always brought back the right things, even though he spoke no Italian.

the biggest danger has faced was being run over by one of the electric buses!

Leely, thanks for the link to Parlafood. I'm collecting restaurant recommendations for my trip to Rome in about 3 weeks time and it looks pretty interesting.

oops, that should be "the biggest danger HE faced"

Reading these comments is reassuring me a bit.
I am looking at an apartment called Mok House in Monti.
The street view looks a little creepy.
38 Via San Martino ai Monti
Thoughts on this address?

It's an ok area, not really attractive, but closer to the train station (another unattractive area) and more modern than the Monti most people are talking about (the other side of Cavour is where there is pedestrian only areas and cobblestone streets). The park between your apartment and the Colosseum can attract some questionable people hanging out. I don't care for the park area and wouldn't wander through there on my own at night although I have during the day.

If you state your budget and what you need in an apartment, you might get some other suggestions.

i don't know this area - it's not one that we ventured into.

as you're concerned about safety, based on what ky says, I think I'd go somewhere else.