Cover charge
by TinKan
In Italy it is customary to have a cover charge (Coperto) added to your bill at every place that you sit down to eat or drink. This is to pay for the bread sticks and the cleaning of the table.
Even if you just sit to take a break at a table at a snack shop expect to pay this coperto even if you do not eat the bread or olives.
This is why the shops do not like you to sit without buying something. They will still charge you and you should pay. It is their way.
The Keats-Shelley House
by craic
I will have to scan some pics for this tip because when I visited in 2004 I didn't have a digicam.
I thought it was just called the Keats House but oh well. It is right by the Spanish Steps and has a plaque on the wall letting you know who lived (and died) here.
You would have to be keen to want to visit. It costs a few euros and it is tiny, not that much to see. You can go into the room Keats died in, at the front of the flat. But all his furniture had to be burnt, because his landlady, who lived in the room at the back of the flat, reported his death from tb. And that was the law at that time.
It's called a house, but it is a flat - three rooms tops. No kitchen. Apparently he and Joseph Severn, his friend who nursed him through his last days, would lower a basket from the window and a local restaurant would send their meals up.
And no visible bathroom either. Bit tricky that, I would imagine. 'Are they angels?' as a church high up asked as he scanned plans for a church that contained no bathrooms.
Rome to Venice
by traveller1234blog
The easiest and fastest way to reach Venice from Rome is to take Rayain flight from Ciampino airport to Treviso airport. Its one hour flight. By train you will atleast need 5 to 6 hours to reach Venice.
Bye
Meghana
http://traveller1234.blogspot.com
Best ice cream ever
by Gili_S about Gelateria La Scala
What can I say, there are no words to describe the quality of ice cream in this place, a home made by the owner, the ice cream I had here was the best one I ever had. No surprise I came back here also late at night to have more.
The Pantheon
by Andraf
This building is ancient Rome's best preserved monument. The emperor Hadrian reconstructed it around 120 AD when an older temple sitting on the same spot was destroyed by fire. The interior is really striking, with its dome a perfect hemisphere and an oculus which is believed to symbolize the all-seeing eye of heaven. I really liked this building, it has a certain geometrical harmony which reminded me that in architecture sometimes the simplest things achieve the biggest effect. Inside is Raphael's tomb and the tomb of Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy's first king.