This small guide wants to be a little more complete than the usual 'pre material' sent by mail; we just tried to think about the common questions that a newcomer like you would have about Rome and Italy in general, some paragraphs will not be essential, but some others may contain essential information that will, in our hope, give you a useful overview of this new environment in which you will spend at least 2 weeks

Some paragraphs are very important, other paragraphs will tell you about the habits of our country. By living with us you will understand the differences that exist between the various European cultures and sometimes maybe you'll be surprised how Italians think or act differently than other populations, while some other times you'll discover how close we are; in all those case, just open your mind

We have to become a single country but this doesn't mean that we have to ignore our individuality, instead we have to know each other as much as possible, and this will make easy to co-operate and work together.

After a hard selection you finally are expected in Rome. The whole group here longly prepared this course and we'll do our best to make it working in the better way; on the other hand your co-operation will be essential, attending a BEST event means giving capital importance both to the didactic and the social part. This means that your good mood and your enthusiasm will be the capital component to fulfil one of the main objectives of the course:

Italy, placed right in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, is a 56 million people country formed by a main continental peninsula almost completely surrounded by the sea, plus two large islands (Sicilia and Sardegna) and a great number of smaller islands, one of which (Lampedusa) is placed almost in front of Libya and far beyond the island of Malta.

The main land is approximately more than 1000 kilometres long and I think that his "boot" shape is definitely well know by everyone.

Also Italians use sometimes to nick-name their country as "Lo stivale" (The boot, in Italian).

As every other Italian, we are of course proud of our messy, but still beautiful town. Rome is since 1870 the capital of Italy, but Historically it was always considered the most important city of our country.

Rome is a very ancient city, so it's difficult to say when it was 'founded' if ever it was. The legends says Rome was planned by the Gods themselves.

After the fall of Troy, it was the Gods who led a band of Trojans to a promised land in the west. There Romolo and Remo were born to a Vestal Virgin and nursed by a friendly She-wolf.

Upon reaching manhood, the twins founded Rome on the banks of the river Tevere.

This happened on April the 21 of 753 BC, more than 2500 years ago. Soon after digging the borders of the new city Romolo claimed and promised on his own life 'anybody who dares to pass this borders without permission will find here sure death!'.

His brother Remo then, wanted to challenge Romolo and crossed the borders.

Without esitation Romolo killed Remo and became the first king of Rome.

Don't be surprised of how many legends are involved in the story of Rome, since it's very difficult also for the researchers to make distinction between what is true or not, ancient romans were used to write history books changing a lot of things just because they wanted to hide that the 'Caput Mundi' was originally just a small group of people living on a hill, caring about some sheep and controlling the commercial traffic which had to cross the river Tevere.

But in a case or in the other, this small group of people held a very important position and all the surrounding populations began to attack them. After defeating the invading armies, this first little fierce group of primitive Romans took revenge conquering the surrounding kingdoms, turning them into Roman provinces.

This is the beginning of the huge spreading of the Roman Kingdom first, then Roman Republic and finally Roman Empire, who took over all the populations of the Italian peninsula and began to spread beyond, in central Europe and in the northern part of Africa.

After the transition from Republic, the Roman Empire reached its biggest extension under the Emperor Traiano, soon after he conquered the Dacia (Old Romania). It appeared evident that the Empire was too big and so it was divided in two smaller empires, the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire.

The Eastern empire could survive quite well till the arrival of the Muslims, but the Western one had a quite short life due to several invasions by barbaric populations mainly coming from Asia and in Italy began the long middle-age in which only the Church was able to keep culture and knowledge surviving.

During this period also the dimension of Rome decreased and for centuries a lot of foreign kings (mainly from France and Germany) tried to restore the Roman Empire. From then to one century ago, Italy was rarely a whole country but more often it was formed by a lot of smaller states, often fighting each other.

The definitive reunification of Italy was operated around 1870 after a lot of attempts against the occupants (mostly Austrian in the North and Spanish in the South) with the co-ordination of the Kingdom of Piemonte (a northern Italian region) whose king became the king of Italy.

At this point all Italy was reunited again with the only exception of Rome, which was the capital of the Vatican State, ruled by the pope.

After a formal invasion, Rome was took by the Italian army on the 20th of September 1870 and became the capital of Italy one year later, on June 1871.

Of course the best way to move through a city like Rome is to use the underground, but unfortunately Rome has only two lines, so you can't avoid buses; the tickets for buses and underground cost 1500 Lt.
Subway in Italy is called METRO.

Line A (red): from Anagnina to Battistini Station
Line B (blu): from Rebibbia to Laurentina Station
Line C : under construction

These 2 lines intersect each other at Termini Station, so you have to pass through Termini when you need to switch line.
Tiburtina Railway station is the second in order of size and traffic, located along the B line
Cavour station (B line) is the most useful for you: the University and the youth hostel are both very close to it
We have to warn you: DON'T TAKE TAXIS, they are terribly expensive, meaning that a short trip may cost you not less than 20.000 Lt. Going from the center of Rome to the Airport will cost you not less than 70.000 Lt.
Bus lines cover all the most important destinations.
You will find at least 2 different companies that provides pubblic transport by bus:
Cotral, the same that rules underground services: 75 min. ticket = 1500 £
J lines, introduced for the Jubilee, you need a different ticket that can be bought on board: 75 min. ticket = 1900 £.

Even if American tourists coming here are always surprised about this, maybe you already know that in Italy you can buy alcohol in any quantity, anywhere, at any age anytime and in almost all the public places selling drinks and food.

Italian laws, which are surprisingly liberal in this occasion, don't restrict the alcoholic consumption unless you are going to drive (or piloting an aircraft of course). So the only way you can have trouble with police when drinking is becoming dangerous or aggressive towards other people.

Also the maximum amount of alcohol that you can drink before driving is not really strict and you should not expect to run into troubles with police if you drank a couple of glasses of wine, and anyway you are not supposed to drive during our event unless you will come with your personal car, meaning that you can drink as much as you wish!

According to the latest referendum, in Italy is legal to take drugs, but it is illegal to distribute them; this means that if police is going to catch you with any kind of drugs (including Marijuana) you are going to be prosecuted only if the quantity that you are carrying exceed a minimal quantity that is allowed for personal use. This quantity is not set definitely but depends on the decision made by the court.

In any case you are not allowed to cross the borders of Italy with any kind of drug.

If you are going to seek a good Disco in Rome, you'll be surprised how expensive they are, compared with the other prices, and this is the reason why young Italians almost always go to Discos when outside Italy. You should expect to spend not less than 15000 Lt., but sometimes entry price rises up to 40000 Lt. and over. Usually the ticket includes the first drink, while the next ones can be terribly expensive (10.000 ~ 20.000 Lt.).

If you want to take a beer in a pub you can choose from a lot of places, and they are not too expensive (a beer may cost you about 4000-8000 Lt.) but again always look for the prices first. Pubs are quite popular between Italian young people and everyone of us will be able to suggest you a good one.

Insurance: you will not be ensured by us for your staying in Rome and we will not have any responsibility for everything (we hope nothing, of course!!!) could happen to you during the course. So you have to provide by yourself to stipulate an insurance covering at least medical care during your stay in Italy (you should bring with you at least Form E-111 for EEC citizens).

If you are looking for a pharmacy (in Italian: FARMACIA), then you have to look for a green or red cross on the streets. There are many of them so it will be quite easy to find one. Every pharmacy is open during normal shopping hours, but there are some who are open also during the night and during holidays.

Due to a recent law in Italy you should almost always have a medical receipt to buy even common medicines, but pharmacists will give them to you anyway as they consider this law useless.

Anyway if you have some particular need or habit, don't forget to bring your personal medicine pack, since it will be probable that you will not find exactly the same here.

Should you need an ambulance, the 118 phone number is always the one to use, if possible ask to some Italian nearby to phone as the operator usually does some questions at the phone and he's not supposed to speak English.

The Italian race is the result of a quite strong mix of many European and non European races, but still some characteristics are predominant, like the black hair and brown eyes and things like that. But remember that thinking that all Italian are like this is like thinking that all people from Sweden are blond with blue eyes or that all Martians are green.

Italian people are open and friendly and this may leave people from the northern countries a little bit concerned as it is quite usual for people to talk each other on trains and buses even if they don't know each other.

While on the streets of Rome, you can ask people to help you and they usually do their best, but not every Italian is able to speak English and young people are more likely to.