Column: seasick

'Well, sir, fasten your seatbelts, because on this Viale the average co-driver gets seasick!' The taxi driver who drives me through Rome looks at me through the rear-view mirror and winks. 'The last real civilian acquisition we had in Rome was Pio X, otherwise it is to cry with our boards.'

We drive along the Altare della Patria towards the Tiber. And indeed, he hasn't lied: the road is full of potholes and bumps and the taxi shakes dangerously. I ask him about the city and the policy that the mayor (Mayor Raggi) is performing.

He laughs scornfully: 'Policy? She is shattering our beautiful city to smithereens. Rome is slowly losing its beauty, because it stinks here, the streets are dirty, trees fall over en the roads are… Well, do you want a tablet against seasickness…?'. He fumbles in his glove compartment and takes out an old box containing paracetamol.

I laugh. Romans are often seen as the Rotterdammers of Italy: straightforward, don't talk but clean and above all with a wonderfully dry humour... Raw shell, white pit. Let's keep it at that.

While we drive on, the taxi driver continues his story. 'Unfortunately, I was born in this city. About 62 years ago. My children have all gone abroad. I wanted too, only my brothers were ahead of me. Then my parents decided that I should stay. After years of dock work I became a taxi driver and I see this city every day in all corners and therefore also the holes.' The car hits a pothole and we are shaken wildly.

'Sin,' he continues his story, 'they're all trying to make something out of it here, all promises, but in the end it's really to… Well, you're going to get over your neck if you don't have sea legs and have to drive these roads.'

The Eternal Lost City?

Whether Rome is eternally lost, I personally do not know. As a Dutch Florentine, I am always fascinated by what is happening in the capital. It's a bit of a mess, I have to admit, but still. The Romans still love their city and so does this robust-looking taxi driver. In the end, he honestly admits that he wouldn't want any other city than Rome.

'Rome will always be close to me: the city inspires despite everything. Also, by the way, Raggi. Thanks to her I'm thinking about writing!' When I then ask what he wants to write about Rome, he answers dryly: 'Everything has already been written about Rome. No, I want to write about Raggi. And her obituary!'

He happily starts whistling along to a song that is on the radio. Slowly we approach Trastevere and thus the final destination of my taxi journey. When I get out, the taxi driver looks at me and shakes my hand firmly. 'Good luck in this lost city, I'm sure you'll have a good time or else you'll have to do what we all wish… get out! Good evening!'

I blink a few times, look around and laugh uncontrollably: 'Did this conversation really take place? This is bizarre, but also very funny' I decide to look for a nice restaurant to have a bite to eat with friends. The conversations that evening are of course about Rome and the comments of the taxi driver.

Well, Rome

Some of my friends have lived in Rome for over 35 years and have seen and got to know this city as a cradle: you can't touch the capital. Rome is holy ground. Of course we all see that partly because of the policy, but especially because of all the holy houses that have been built around Roman politics. It's getting more and more complicated to run the city.

Because there is little real preventive action, you see that in case of severe weather the city is partly flooded, trees are blown over, roof tiles are blown off the houses and people die because they are hit by flying debris or falling trees.

Lack of maintenance is therefore the general problem. For example, remember those buses that caught fire? And that the trees blow over because they are not reinforced… And the road surface… If you survive your scooter ride, you have done well for the day or the patron saint of traffic has done his job for you again. 

Is there nothing good to say about it then?

Most certainly yes. Because the Romans are of course real professional complainants for that matter. So this morning I woke up in Trastevere and the sunlight shone through the still wet streets. The smell of fresh coffee came from the bar on the corner, where I had my breakfast and watched the headlines in the news.

On the way to my first appointment I am still amazed every time by how beautiful the streets are, how much you discover new hidden alleys and squares just by walking and it often seems as if you are in an old Fellini-movie steps when you step on it Field of flowers out where the market is.

You will walk along the ancient ruins, see the tops of the dome of The Vatican and the walk along the lungovere remains beautiful. Rome may be difficult to control and govern, but what the Romans built way before Christ still stands today, making the city a wonderful museum of ancient times.

And no, I am not saying this as a tourist, but as a resident of Italy who continues to marvel at this special and often striking country with its extremes, brutal beauties and its expressive capital.