Today Souvonnah, Gina and I went to check out out riones. Mine and Souvonnahs rione is Monti. Monti is pretty close to the Colosseum so we were familiar with the area and knew where we were going, which was nice. After visiting Gina's rione in Testaccio, and doing a little shopping, we caught the bus to Monti. However, we accidentally got on the wrong bus so it ended up taking us quite a while to get to Monti, which was ok with me because I took advantage of the long bus ride and had a great nap! When we got off the bus by the Colosseum it was getting a little dark so we decided to walk for a while and see if we happened to come upon any inviting local bars where we could grab a drink and talk with Italians and/or tourists.
It didn't take long to find an inviting place: The Colosseo Wine Bar. The bar was pretty empty, seeing as it was early evening and Italians tend to eat late, but it looked warm and welcoming so we went in. We could see from the outside that a young woman was working here and I was particularly interested in hearing a young Italians perspective of life in Monti. Up to this point, the majority of people I had interviewed in Italy were older so I thought this was a great opportunity to speak with someone who was around the same age as me. She greeted us with great friendliness and helped us choose a bottle of red wine. She asked us where we were from and we began talking about living and studying in Rome. She spoke English well and this opened up a chance for us to begin our interview. She said she had been living in Monti with her parents for a long time and had been working at the wine bar for 6 years. She went on to tell us about how Monti is a hip part of town with good clubs, restaurants, and lots to do.
After we each had a glass of wine, hunger set in. To our dismay, the woman told is they they did not serve food until 7 but she could serve us some chips – we eagerly accepted. She brought corn nuts and potato chips that really hit the spot!
While we were munching away, two gentlemen came in and sat down at a table near us. They had thick English accents and we figured they were tourists. They looked friendly, so we began talking with them. The men said that they had just arrived in Rome and were here to visit with some old friends. The men asked us where we liked to go out, where we didn't like to go out, and how to get to Trastevere. They were in luck, seeing as I live in Trastevere and know how to get there on the bus. We gave them great directions and it felt good to be helping people, just as we needed to be helped when we first got to Rome. They said they had arrived at the wine bar after leaving termini and not knowing which bus to take, then they saw the Colosseum and decided to get off and walk around. They did not know anything about Monti except that they liked everything about it so far!
Our experience today in Monti, I feel, was relatively atypical. I feel this way because for one, it is rare to find someone who is young and works and lives in the same rione, and second because not all tourists get a chance to have an engaging conversation a local Italian. This experience left me with a few questions that I wish I would have asked at the wine bar – what is the demographic of Monti residents? How old is the average resident? Is it very expensive to live in Monti – so close to the Colosseum? Because Monti is relatively touristy, do the Italian residents living here feel as “Italian” as Italians living farther away from the tourism? Do residents of Monti mind the tourists more or less than Italians living outside of Rome? Are they just used to it? Why do they live in Monti? Do the majority of residents in this area rent or own their homes?
Today was a blast, we had an excellent time hanging out together and are very happy with our assigned rione!
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