Travel and Chaos in Italy's Heart

I love Rome--but I hesitate before recommending Rome to people I don't know well. It's the same feeling you get before extolling the virtues of Henry Miller novels to strangers wanting to get intimate with Paris. Rome is chaotic without the bustle, a nightmare for pedestrians, a colorful playground for destitute gypsies and Felliniesque women of the night. Loving it all seems quite deviant. Why am I bringing this up? Because my thoughts seem to be confirmed by Eamonn Fitzgerald, who asks in his Rainy Day archive - Italy's dark, alluring heart, "The more grotesque Italy appears, the more people feel drawn to it. Is it because there's too much order and not enough chaos in our own lives?"

Yeah, but just why is it that way? If you have a sufficiently passionate response to this question (or even if you don't) you can log in and post it to our forums. I, for one, have stopped giving it much though unless I'm pressed--chaos rules, especially in my office. Still, Rome afficionados can take a gander at a Rome Map, my thoughts on Wild Old Rome, look at some Italy Pictures, or just contemplate the statue's nose cleaner over there on the upper right.

What's the first thing I'd do in Rome? Hey, I'd head over to that gigantic hill of broken up amphoras in the neighborhood called Testaccio--known, of all things, for its consumption of "organ meats"--and dig into a big plate of assorted innards at Agustarello's. It's a matter of taste, isn't it?