{"id":2092,"date":"2016-06-19T14:10:40","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T21:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2092"},"modified":"2016-06-20T11:20:41","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T18:20:41","slug":"enjoying-rome-on-the-back-of-a-vespa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/2092\/enjoying-rome-on-the-back-of-a-vespa","title":{"rendered":"Enjoying Rome On the Back of a Vespa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The traditional Italian Vespa can zip through traffic for more time spent touring<\/p><\/div>\n

When hoping to visit Rome\u2019s many ancient attractions it was suggested, due to the Eternal City\u2019s maze of ancient roads and manic traffic, that I do so via Vespa, the stylish, iconic Italian-made scooter-bike featured in the 1953 Audrey Hepburn film \u201cRoman Holiday.\u201d The logic was that a Vespa could motor in between lines of crawling cars and taxis and slip down narrow streets and alleyways.<\/p>\n

IC Bellagio, an Italy-based travel company, part of the worldwide Virtuoso travel advisor network, offered just such an opportunity, but I was a little nervous about driving what is essentially a moped in Rome\u2019s vehicular vortex while trying to navigate with a map.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh you won\u2019t be driving the Vespa,\u201d said IC Bellagio\u2019s Andrea Grisdale. \u201cYou\u2019ll be riding on the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Say what!? Me\u2026on the back of a moped? I\u2019m a 50 year-old roundish square who\u2019s never sat on anything with less than four wheels. \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d I thought.<\/p>\n

I basked in the warmth of a sunny Sunday afternoon and watched the street below from the scenic, 11th<\/sup> floor rooftop patio of my lodging – the Hotel Mediterraneo \u2013 waiting to be picked up. The classic, art deco digs near Rome\u2019s Termini train station was perfectly centrally located to start the swing. When I saw the red Vespa roll up to the valet corner entrance, I went down to decide whether or not to go through with it. \u201cLorenzo,\u201d who resembled a cross between actors Roberto Benigni and Peter Sellers, handed me a helmet and suggested I wear my glasses to keep from getting bugs in my eyes. (Oh, he had me sign a release form, too.) The next thing I knew my arms were around his waist and the wind was in my hair as we zipped along the tree-lined Via Veneto. Shortly into the four-hour tour I was relaxed and confident enough to not even hold on\u2026I even took a moving \u201cselfie\u201d video and posted it on Facebook!<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go see the world\u2019s biggest \u2018slaughterhouse,\u2019\u201d Lorenzo joked, referring to the Roman Coliseum and its\u2019 barbaric history. In between spins through the streets, he stopped at various, often little-known, scenic vantage points, so I could get off the Vespa and take photos while he dispensed colorful, historical facts. When I asked the name of the church we\u2019d passed on the way to Trevi Fountain, Lorenzo smiled and shrugged, \u201cThere are over 600 churches in Rome, so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vatican City, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Fontanone del Gianicolo, the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio, and Appian Way were each reached and described – and it was fun to stop and talk Italian politics with Lorenzo at a caf\u00e9 for a cappuccino break (I chose a tall, cold Peroni beer) \u2013 and the joy of scooting between fashion houses and gawking tourists along the Via del Corso – and all throughout Rome before being safely returned to the Mediterraneo in time for dinner turned out the highlight of my trip. Viva Vespa!<\/p>\n

For information visit ICBellagio.com<\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When hoping to visit Rome\u2019s many ancient attractions it was suggested, due to the Eternal City\u2019s maze of ancient roads… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1749,15,998807,1044565],"class_list":["post-2092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courses-and-travel","tag-italy","tag-europe","tag-vespa","tag-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2016\/06\/Vespa-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2092"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2095,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092\/revisions\/2095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}