Two reasons why I am NOT Rome’s biggest fan

So I have now been in Rome for a little under two months and I have to say that I am not loving it. There are some good things going on in the city, but overall I just don’t feel a connection with the city. In the coming weeks and months, I will try to explore more, especially since Rome has AMAZING weather, so hopefully slowly but surely I will fall in love with the city. But as of right now, eh…

Two of the biggest things that stand out as my dislikes are things that I have to deal with on a daily basis.

1. In Rome, there are not many traffic lights. On the very large streets of course there are lights but on smaller streets it is rare to find a traffic light. And for a city as walkable as this that is full of pedestrians and tourists this is shocking. The reason I hate this is because all over the city you have so called “zebra crossings” at which cars should stop automatically when they see someone crossing or attempting to cross. Unfortunately this is not always the case. I have been crossing and had cars come quite close to hitting me as they apparently saw no need to slow down and I have also heard one story too many of people being involved in car/pedestrian accidents. Considering that I walk to work every single day, I really have developed a fear of being hit by a car.

2. I don’t feel comfortable in Rome and I think it is largely because I am black! I would say that 90% of the time that I am out in Rome I am being stared at. Sometimes it is in a good way, such as when I went to the market near Vittorio Emanuele with my flatmate and received plenty of compliments from the men working at the stalls. But when I am on the metro or walking down the street, I often get stares that make me feel uncomfortable and worse, unwanted. Many people refer to Rome as an international city, but once you step outside of the three Rome based United Nations buildings, the only non-Italians here seem to be illegal immigrants, making for a tense dynamic between Romani and non.