Anyone going to Rome can not help but notice the warnings from everywhere (our tour book had over 10 mentions of it) of pickpockets. In fact, the last friend of mine who came here on her around the world trip lost her wallet here. There are signs in many public places and warnings on any brochure. While on a tour of the city we got a firsthand view of these pickpoceters. Our tour guide alerted us and moved us away from four women each carrying babies and missing quite a few teeth who she correctly identified as pickpocketers. A few minutes later we watched a student protest of the mafia. Seriously, the mafia. They all wore red and symbolically removed a red bandana from their mouths as they shouted that they would not stay quiet in the face of the mafia.
Coupled with the grisly past within the Colosseum that was only a few blocks away, a place that saw an enormous amount of human and animal deaths during is 600 year tenure (sometimes 5000 animals from North Africa were slaughtered, perfume had to be sprayed to cover the scent of death), the romanticism of Rome was tempered somewhat.
The Colosseum.
Yikes -- two of the many possible faces of Rome! G.
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