Rome

This Month in Rome:

Shopping: Regola 71, Emanuela Corbo's elegant shop, is tailored more for the older woman, maybe a little bigger in the waist. It is modern but not too trendy, with a range of classical European designer clothes and accessories (71 Via dei Cappellari, tel: 06 683 2169).

Sightseeing: The Palazzo delle Esposizioni on Via Nazionale is showing the works of Arturo Ghergo, the "photographer of the stars" (human not heavenly ones!) Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10am-8pm.

Key areas: If you walk into the Colle Oppio park next to the Colosseum, you can picnic or sleep on the grass, or maybe go to the outdoor café and catch the motorcycle carabinieri riding up for their ice cream and coffee break. It also contains the remains of the Domus Aurea, a villa built by the Emperor Nero, after the great fire in AD 64 had razed the dwellings on the slopes of the Palatine Hill.

Day trips: Frascati is a hill town south of the city renowned for its lovely white wine and great restaurants. It is worth a trip out for lunch.

Rome News & Gossip

Travel While You Learn

Self improvement is on many of our minds this time of year. Here, Celeste Kinginger, language-study expert and author of Language Learning and Study Abroad, recommends the best trips for budding linguists.

STARTING OUT

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE, MADRID
The method For those whose skills are elementary or non-existent, formal language schools are the best way to learn, as they will understand and accommodate beginners' needs.
Book with International House (ih) has 147 schools in 53 countries and has been going since 1953. Choose from Intensive (20 hours a week), Super Intensive (30 hours) and Intensive Plus (includes one-to-one tuition).
Try this one ih Madrid (ihmadrid.com) is expanding across the city, with nine centres. Enjoy the authentic student experience with a stay in halls close by.
Fly to Madrid (20-minute drive).

IMPROVING SKILLS

EUROLINGUA, PESCARA
The method A home-stay approach allows those who already have basic knowledge to immerse themselves in local life and develop their social interactive abilities. This is a sure-fi re way to make friends, as well as learn the way people really speak.
Book with Eurolingua (eurolingua.com) offers homestays for wannabe English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Swedish speakers.
Try this one You'll stay as a guest of an experienced, native Italian tutor, sharing meals and activities at their villa in Pescara.
Fly to Rome (two-hour drive).

ADVANCED LEARNERS

GOLEARNTO.COM, NICE
The method People who have some language ability and want to develop their vocabulary in a specific area (ie, cookery or dance) will get the most out of language and skill courses.
Book with Golearnto.com has a wide range of combination holidays, so you can choose lessons in Spanish and dance, Arabic and painting or even Portuguese and surfi ng.
Try this one An eight-day food, wine and language course on the Côte d'Azur, including wine tasting and vineyard visit, five hours of cooking and 10 one-to-one language lessons.
Fly to Nice (30-minute drive).

Rome Trivia

• May: The Vatican may be the world's smallest country but it houses one of the world's largest museums.

• April: There are almost no public lavatories in the city, but don't worry, you have a legal right to use the bathroom in any café or restaurant even if you are not a client. So there's no need to apologise!

• March: The weird and extravagant Caligula was mad about gold. He gave it to dinner guests, showered people in the streets with it, and, most strangely, liked rolling around in piles of it himself.

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