Roman holiday,
two wheels at a time

Rome has a persuasive advertisement for travelling by scooter. It stars Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck and a Vespa, and it has been making its case since 1953.

In William Wyler’s Roman Holiday, a princess escapes her official duties and spends a day discovering the city with an American journalist. Their Vespa excursion takes in the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia; the Mouth of Truth at Santa Maria in Cosmedin also features in their adventures. The film gives sightseeing an irresistible premise: for a few hours, abandon the prescribed itinerary and see what happens.

For a visitor contemplating the same two-wheeled escape, the temptation is understandable. There is pleasure in the idea of travelling between monuments with the city around you, rather than framed by a window. A hilltop view becomes an excursion. A coffee stop becomes part of the day’s structure.

The contemporary version does, however, need something the screenplay could leave out: a little preparation.

Begin with the paperwork

Before choosing a scooter, establish what you are entitled to ride. The Automobile Club d’Italia specifies that drivers must hold a valid national licence covering the category of vehicle being driven. An International Driving Permit accompanies that licence; it does not create an entitlement to ride a different vehicle.

For Australian visitors, Smartraveller advises carrying a physical Australian driver’s licence together with an International Driving Permit or an official translation. Digital licences are not accepted, and the permit should be obtained before leaving Australia. Check that your insurance covers the proposed riding, too.

These are questions to resolve before a booking: the precise scooter, the licence required and the insurance conditions. A smaller engine is no substitute for confirming the rules.

Then consider experience. If you are unfamiliar with motor scooters, learning to operate one deserves its own time and place. Smartraveller warns that Italian driving conditions can be dangerous and disorganised compared with Australia. A holiday ambition needn’t become an obligation to take the handlebars.

Follow the film on foot, too

Use Roman Holiday as inspiration rather than turn-by-turn navigation.

Via Margutta supplies one of its quieter connections: number 51 is the address used for journalist Joe Bradley’s apartment. Elsewhere, the film’s geography links the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and Castel Sant’Angelo. These are places to include in a day that combines riding with walking, rather than a promise that you can pull up outside every scene.

That distinction matters. Rome’s traffic restrictions require more care than a general instruction to avoid every ZTL, or an assumption that scooters can enter them all.

The city’s transport authority says motorcycles and mopeds generally have access to its limited traffic zones, but identifies exceptions. Tridente A1 requires the relevant authorisation. Appia Antica has separate conditions, including a same-gate entry-and-exit requirement for ordinary motorcycle and moped access when its restrictions apply. Check the current rules for your route, along with signs and any temporary restrictions.

Build walking into the plan from the outset. Park where permitted, put the helmet away and give the next place your full attention.

Climb towards a wider Rome

The Janiculum offers a change in perspective. From its promenade, the historic centre spreads into a panorama, while monuments to Giuseppe and Anita Garibaldi introduce another chapter of the city’s history.

It makes a worthwhile destination for a day organised around a few substantial stops. Spend less time trying to collect landmarks and more time understanding where they sit in relation to one another.

There is also a reason to consider arriving before noon. Rome’s tourism office records the daily firing of a blank cannon shot beneath the Janiculum belvedere at midday. The timekeeping tradition began under Pope Pius IX in 1846; the cannon has been on the Janiculum since 1904.

Let that provide an appointment, then leave the next part of the day less tightly arranged.

Stop beneath the orange trees

For another view, make the Aventine a destination and continue on foot into the Giardino degli Aranci, or Orange Garden.

Also known as Parco Savello, the garden occupies a space enclosed by medieval walls. Its belvedere looks across the Tiber towards St Peter’s. The present garden was designed by architect Raffaele De Vico in 1932.

Nearby, in Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, the celebrated keyhole at the entrance to the Priory of Malta frames St Peter’s dome through garden hedges.

These stops give the scooter a useful role: connecting places where you want to spend time. Allow the garden to be a garden, rather than the interval required for a photograph before moving on.

Give the day an ending

The cinematic image may favour immaculate clothes and carefree expressions. The road requires an approved helmet, properly fastened, for both rider and passenger. Italian law is explicit on that point.

Choose protective riding clothes and closed footwear, keep photographs for stationary stops, and arrange the day so you are comfortable with the return journey. Save the wine for after the scooter has been handed back.

There is no need to reproduce an entire film, or fit every famous sight into one afternoon. A handful of destinations is enough: a cinematic address, a hilltop panorama, a garden, somewhere to stop for lunch.

Return the keys with time left to walk. Find a table. Order dinner. Give the city an evening that requires no navigation at all.

Published in Departure Lounge.

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