Rome 2023

Apologies for the non-bookish content, but I thought I’d record a few details about my trip to Rome with an autistic ten year old daughter!

Our flight was on Friday and we had spent a week or two prior to that on very real tenterhooks! This was her first time abroad, her first time flying, the longest time spent away from home…those days between the end of school and our departure were… tense. Very tense.

To try to keep costs down and ease pressure I’d chosen a later flight at 1745, trying to give us plenty of time to drive to the airport, without needing to either leave at silly o’clock or book an airport hotel. Oh my goodness, the traffic that day! We needed every moment of that later departure time, assisted with meet-and-greet parking and special assistance for our daughter’s autism… and we still made the gate with moments to spare!

Ryanair’s Special Assistance programme was an absolute Godsend: having arrived and spoken to someone at Customer Services, we were waved to the front of the Luggage Drop-Off, escorted straight through passport control with a very friendly chap and into the maelstrom of security. Absolutely worth a quick phone call to arrange even if I balked at the description of an “intellectual disability” which does not sound an accurate or empathetic description of autism in any way!

She did absolutely love the flight and her face when we finally took off and when she could look out of the window at the world, or when we passed through the clouds or over the mountains beneath us… it was a picture! The somewhat Jerry landing took her aback though!

We were however, horribly late arriving in Rome: once we had got through passport control, collected luggage, found the transfer driver who was not where he should have been… it was nearly midnight before we got to the hotel.

Day One in Rome

Personally, I am rather deflated that, having tried to learn Italian, I must look so quintessentially English that I am greeted in English before I can open my mouth! Before the buon of buongiorno can be uttered, I am greeted with “Good morning”; before I can offer my posso ordinare… I am asked “What would you like?” It seems rude when, asked in English, to reply in Italian!

We decided to keep the first day quiet after the travel and amble around the Villa Borghese gardens and some rather inexpert rowing!

Perhaps the aimlessness of that didn’t help our daughter: she became a little frustrated with small things, not helped by being so tired. Would she have done better with a specific thing to see? Possibly.

We did manage what I was most concerned about – to allow her to find three meals a day that she would eat! She adored the honey on toast at the hotel – I think it is the auto-toasting machine! But turned her nose up at the croissants… back home, it is the other way around!

For lunch, on the way back to the hotel for a rest, we were not going to be able to get away without heading in for our first meal in Rome …

… at McDonalds!

We did head out to a restaurant near the hotel in the evening! Where, again, as I opened my mouth to ask Hai un tavolo per tre, per favore? The waiter asks in English “Table for three?” This was also the first time we had to negotiate the dreaded fact that our daughter will eat pasta but without any sauce except ketchup… The staff were accepting and willing to give a bowl of plain spaghetti and it was eaten with gusto and proudly “like an Italian,” twisted around the prongs of her fork.

It was actually rather nice food – Julia’s Ristorante – both the spaghetti bolognese and the tagliatelle con pancetta e parma.

Day Two in Rome

The weather in Rome has been continuously gloriously hot without being overpowering, and on Day Two we headed for the bigger tourist spots: the centro storico and the Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon.

Unfortunately, this being a Sunday, the Church was closed as we passed it and a procession of nuns into it did rather confirm the point! However, the Trevi Fountain was literally around the corner and, despite every warning about crowds at the Trevi Fountain, it was far less crowded than expected! Busy, certainly. But there was no need to fight our way down to the fountain itself to fling coins in. And it is certainly impressive and beautiful.

One unfortunately dropped bottle of coke did put something of a dampener on the moment! But a cute hat from a tourist-trap stall improved matters!

And it was not a day entirely without a bookish focus!

Arriving at the Pantheon, we were taken aback to discover it was no longer the free entry we had been led to believe! A hasty retreat to the nearest place with WiFi and we secured tickets to try to reduce waiting times and had a slightly disappointing lunch at Di Rienzo. Insalata Capricciosa and Cacio e Pepe… and another bowl of plain pasta.

And then The Pantheon itself was amazing – our tickets allowed us in the fast track queue which did mean a queue but was quick, to be fair. Less than ten minutes.

Could we have popped down to the Colosseum? Or up to the Spanish Steps? Or spent time in a bar soaking up atmosphere and finally ordering in Italian vorrei un cafe, per favore? Could we have returned via the Sant’Ignazio di Loyola? Yes, we could but by this stage the heat and business and tiredness were very much catching up with us and the appeal of the hotel room, air conditioning and quiet was inescapable!

Tomorrow, we have Colosseum tickets planned and explore there… So far, we have walked everywhere! And she has done so well! Even if she has had the occasional piggyback and carry! Tomorrow, we may explore the Metro…