DANNY ROBINS' INDIE TRAVEL GUIDE: MARCH 3RD 2011

For Lauren's first week back, I thought we'd take her somewhere nice in the Indie Travel Guide. So we're heading to one of my favourite cities - Rome.

Rome is a place that oozes history. There are ancient ruins around almost every corner, some of them seeming to lie almost un-noticed by roadsides. It was of course featured in the BBC's recent Zen detective series with Rufus Sewell looking very dashing and running around it with a selection of sexy ladies and gruff bad guys.

Rome is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and spectacular of European capitals, but it would be safe to say it hasn't been exactly famous for its music scene. So, beyond the ruins, relics and rather lovely food, what is there to tempt the Indie traveller? Well, more than you might think...

Inevitably a city with so much history has got a bit stuck in its ways and the Italian way of life isn't maybe so conducive to producing a city with great nightlife - they seem to choose coffee over booze and often live at home with their parents until they're almost 40 (see Zen as a reference on this) but things are changing and there's now some good club nights, interesting bars and decent gig venues. It ain't never going to be New York or London but then New York and London don't have the Colosseum...

It's also not a bad place to go if you're on a tighter budget because you can see a lot of stuff and have a lot of fun just wandering about the place.

Book Bars

There's a fairly recent trend in Rome for 'book bars'. These are places that merge the concepts of book shop and bar to create a nice cosy and intelligent place to hang out, drink and talk about books. The Italians aren't the biggest drinkers and some of these places feel more like cafes than bars but you'll still find them full of hip young things in the evenings. This is 'geek chic'.

One of the coolest is Caffè Letterario in the Mattatoio area - an area a bit further out that's going from run down to cool - it's the site of the Zaha Hadid-designed MAXXI (Museum of 21st Century Art) https://www.fondazionemaxxi.it/. Il Mattatoio is the old abbatoir - funny how meat-packing districts often end up as cool spots in cities - I guess because they have big warehouse space.

Other good book bars include:

Bibli in the Trastevere area - a great area for restaurants, across the river from 'touristy Rome'. Bar à Book in San Lorenzo, the university quarter. They do good homemade food and it definitely feels like a place where the really hip young Romans hang out.

Salotto 42, run by a Swedish model and apparently one of the Top 50 bars in the world.

Food

I have never been to Rome and not come back gushing about all the food I had. It's hard to have a bad meal here.

For a quick and casual pizza I would recommend Da Francesco in the Centro Storico (where most of the ruins are). Nothing fancy, cheap and cheerful but really really good.

For a hip but inexpensive eating experience, try Freni e Frizioni. The name means 'brakes and clutches' (it's in a former garage). It attracts an arty, student crowd. They lay out a buffet of lovely homemade food - focaccia, couscous and pasta, guacamole and raw vegetables and you help yourself as you have a drink. It's a popular early evening spot with Rome's in-crowd.

And, for desert, sample some ice cream from Il Gelato di San Crispino.They do a liquorice flavour that is "recommended to improve vitality, desire and ecstasy before the sexual act".

Dancing

There is an Indie club scene in Rome. They've had their own Club NME and there is definitely an appetite for Indie pop.

One of the best Indie nights out is Fish and Chips (the indie music is as English as the name) at the AKAB club. It's great, the dance floor is a cave and they have a beautiful courtyard with a Japanese-style garden. It's in an area called Testaccio which is a bit further out but full of nightlife.

Supermarket is another night worth checking out, as is Subba Culture, which bills itself as Rome's biggest alternative night - it veers into the Gothy (there's a surprising amount of Italian Goths).

A lot of good club nights and indie gigs go on at the Circolo Degli Artisti venue. As well as gigs they have things like exhibitions and vintage clothing markets.

Auditorium is also worth checking out; another place that hosts a lot of other arts events alongside gigs.

Festivals

Rock in Roma is a series of concerts that runs from 18th June till 24th July. It's a mixture of Italian bands such as indie act Afterhours (I once ate octopus with their lead singer - long story) and cult singer -songwriter Franco Battiato, along with English-speaking bands such as The Chemical Brothers, Jack Johnson and Moby.

It's organised by Italian promoters The Base, who organise gigs throughout the year.

Cosmophonies. Another summer festival worth checking out, this takes place in July in the amazing setting of the ancient Roman theatre of Ostia Antica. It's a festival of theatre, dance and music that in the past has seen the likes of Sonic Youth and Morrissey, who, for a while made Rome his home - he recorded Ringleader of the Tormentors there. The amphitheatre makes for some spectacular and memorable gigs.

Walk like a Gladiator

Of course, back in Roman times, you wouldn't have been going to rock festivals you'd have gone to the Colosseum and watched gladiators kicking the stuffing out of each other.

If you haven't been before it is incredible. I'd really recommend doing a tour, as without that you really don't get so much of a sense of what it was like. Also, if you do the tour, you can now get access to the lower levels where the gladiator would have been and walk out into the arena as they would have done. This is very recent - you've always been able to go around the audience seating area to see what it would have been like watching things there but it's only since the autumn that you've been able to experience it as a gladiator would. Live out your secret Russell Crowe fantasies...

For more info read this article.

And finally - get on your bike!

Cycling in Rome might seem a little scary - those Italians can be crazy drivers and the traffic is full on. They do have a bike sharing scheme like we have in London though and plenty of places where you can hire a bike.

One tip, if you fancy something relaxing and a break from the hurly burly of Rome, is to cycle the Appian Way - that's not a style of cycling ("I'm cycling the Appian way!") but a route. It's the original road that linked Rome with the rest of Italy. You can start off in the Parco Regionale and then ride for miles if you like along cobblestoned roads past meadows, hills, villages, caves, ruins, old farmhouses, sheep, and rivers. All very different to Rome but only a short way out of town.

Have a look at this for more info:

Phrasebook

Compared to some European countries, surprisingly few Italians speak good English. So, I've prepared a few handy phrases for the intrepid indie traveller to get by...

"Ne ho avuto abbastanza dell'opera. Voglio un po' di Belle and Sebastian" I've had enough opera. I want some Belle and Sebastian.

"Sono affascinato da gladiatori. Anche se preferivo quello con John Fashanu and Ulrika" I'm fascinated by gladiators. Though I preferred it with John Fashanu and Ulrika.

"Questo gelato mi sta facendo sentire piuttosto arrapato, che ne dici di ballare nudi nella fontana?" This ice cream is making me feel pretty steamy. Shall we dance naked in the fountain?

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