Scooters rule in Rome.
Due not so much to heavy traffic as very limited parking space scooters are transport du jour but the ubiquitous cobblestones are extremely slippery when wet.
The centre of the city appears to have neither underground car parks [afraid of what they might find down there?] nor multistorey or even old style surface parks though a few small, expensive indoor parks exist.
Since 'imaginative' street parking is thus sine qua non the fashionistas have taken to short-ass Smart cars, so, for example, the Trastevere bistro area that gets packed at night sees a huge ratio of Smarts over regular motors, mostly parked nose-in to the kerb.
We have no documented evidence what this unpleasant lighting-support critter is but Starcraft game players are of the opinion that it's a deformed infant mutalisk.
Shopping in Rome, expensive? Not compared to Paris or London, yet excellent quality, dramatic colours and unique Italian designs.
The Spanish Steps, looking down to the Piazza di Spagna and a fountain in the form of a leaking boat. Next,
