Listed below are embassies of the main English-speaking countries. Except where indicated, consular offices, which provide most services of use to tourists and the general public, share the same address as embassies.

American Embassy
Australian Embassy
British Embassy
Canadian Embassy
Irish Embassy
New Zealand Embassy
South African Embassy

American Embassy
Via Vittorio Veneto, 119
Tel: 06 46 741

Metro Barberini/bus to Piazza Barberini or Via Veneto.
Emergency duty officer 24 hours daily.

Australian Embassy
Via Alessandria, 215
Tel: 06 852 721

Bus to Via Nomentana.

British Embassy
Via XX Settembre, 80a
Tel: 06 482 5551 / 06 482 5441
Fax: 06 4890 3073

Bus to Piazzale Porta Pia.

Canadian Embassy
Via G B de Rossi, 27
Tel: 06 445 981

ConsulatE: rome@myvillage.com Via Zara, 30
Tel: 06 445 981

Bus to Viale Regina Margherita.

Irish Embassy
Piazza Campitelli, 3
Tel: 06 697 9121

Bus to Piazza Venezia.

New Zealand Embassy
Via Zara, 28
Tel: 06 441 7171

Bus to Viale Regina Margherita.

South African Embassy
Via Tanaro, 14
Tel: 06 852 541

Bus to Piazza Buenos Aires or Via Tagliamento.

Italians have an enduring fondness for cash, but persuading them to take plastic has become considerably easier in the last few years. Nearly all hotels of two stars and above now accept at least some of the major credit cards, and Eurocheques are also accepted - albeit grudgingly - with the necessary guarantee card.

If you lose a credit or charge card, phone one of the emergency numbers listed below. All lines are freephone numbers, have English-speaking staff and are open 24 hours a day.

• American Express Tel: 800 864 046
• Diner's Club Tel: 800 864 064
• Eurocard/Carta Si (including Mastercard and Visa) Tel:800 018 548
• MasterCard (800 870 866)
• Visa Tel: 800 877 232

For information on business facillities in Rome click here

First, a few notes about Rome, which on one hand is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and on the other is one of the most frustrating. Romans do a lot of complaining about the weather but generally the climate is mild, although during the very hot weeks of the summer air conditioning is not considered a necessity. Actually, Italians tend to shun it, feeling that it provokes colds, aches, and pains.

The following are special holidays where most museums, shops, etc. are closed:

• January 6
• Easter Monday
• April 25
• May 1
• June 29
• August 15
• November 2
• December 8 and December 26

Also, most general shops like clothing boutiques are closed Monday mornings all year except for summer when they close Saturday afternoons. Other shops, considered "technical" like camera, stationery, optical stores, and such are closed Saturday afternoon and open Monday morning year-round. Except for downtown, where some large stores are open throughout lunch, others close from 1pm to 3:30pm. Food shops (closed 1:30 to 5pm) are closed Thursday afternoons except for the summer when they close Saturday afternoon. There are supermarkets that stay open all day, a few even on Sunday mornings.

Ten new information centres for tourists with convenient locations dispense information: They offer a free monthly magazine in English called "Where Rome" with a calendar of events, tips on shopping, restaurants, maps, and other pamphlets about RomE: rome@myvillage.com

• Largo Goldoni (corner Via del Corso and Via Condotti), Tel: 06 68136061
• Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, Tel: 06 77203598
• Lungotevere Castel Sant'Angelo (Piazza Pia), Tel: 06 68809707
• Piazza del Tempio della Pace (Foro Imperiali), Tel: 06 69924307
• Grandi Magazzini "La Rinascente" Via del Tritone, Tel: 06 69200435
• Via Nazionale "Palazzo delle Esposizione", Tel: 06 47824525
• Stazione Termini = Galleria Gommata, Tel: 06 48906300
• Azienda Promozione Turistica di Roma, Via Parigi 5, Tel: 06 488991

For last-minute culturual events not listed in the brochure the attendant prints a schedule on the computer. A calendar with photographs of Romes historic monuments, and books about Rome are available to buy.

The offices of Rome's tourist board, APT, and the state tourist board, ENIT, have English-speaking staff. The Rome city council now has well-stocked green-painted tourist information kiosks in:

• Castel Sant'Angelo, Piazza Pia, Tel: 06 6880 9707
• Largo Goldoni, Tel: 06 6813 6061
• Piazza delle Cinque Lune (by Piazza San Agostino) Tel: 06 6880 9240
• Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, Tel: 06 7720 3535
• Piazza Sonnino, Tel: 06 5833 3457

For more personal service, the private agency Enjoy Rome can be recommended: their English-speaking staff are friendly and well-informed. The local press is another useful source of information.

• Santa Maria Maggiore, Via del Olmata, Tel: 06 4688 0294
• Stazione Termini, Piazza del Cinquecento, Tel: 06 4782 5194)
• Via dei Fori Imperiali, Piazza del Tempio della Pace, Tel: 06 6992 4307
• Via Nazionale (by the Palazzo delle Esposizioni) Tel: 06 4782 4525

Azienda Provinciale per il Turismo di Roma (APT)
Head officE: rome@myvillage.com Via Parigi, 11 Tel: 06 488 991

Metro Repubblica/bus or tram to Piazza della Repubblica.
Open 8.15am-7.15pm Mon-Fri; 8.15am-1.45pm Sat.

Information from: Via Parigi, 5 Tel: 06 4889 9253 / 06 4889 9255
Open 8.15am-7.15pm Mon-Fri; 8.15am-1.45pm Sat.

Offices Stazione Termini, Tel: 06 487 1270 / 06 482 4078
Metro Termini/ bus or tram to Termini.
Open 8.15am-7.15pm daily.

Fiumicino Airport, Tel: 06 6595 6074 / 06 6595 4471
Open 8.15am-7.15pm daily.

The APT provides free brochures on various attractions and events in Rome and Lazio, and a rather basic map. No hotel booking service.

Enjoy Rome
Via Varese, 39
Tel: 06 445 1843
Fax: 06 445 0734
Email: info@enjoyrome.com
www.enjoyrome.com

Metro Termini/bus to Termini.
Open 8.30am-1pm, 3.30-7pm, Mon-Fri; 8.30am-2pm Sat.

This friendly English-speaking company is a very handy place for information and advice. The office is just east of Termini railway station, and provides an accommodation-booking service and left luggage facilities, both for free. They also arrange walking tours (three-hour tours in RomE: rome@myvillage.com L25,000 under-26, L30,000 over-26) and Pompeii (L70,000).

Ufficio Informazioni Pellegrini e Turisti
Piazza San Pietro
Tel: 06 6988 4466

Bus to Piazza Risorgimento.
Open 8.30am-7pm Mon-Sat.

The Vatican's own tourist office. Its English-speaking staff will give you all the information you need on the Holy See, plus a free pamphlet.

TELEPHONE
The prefix for Italy is 39, the prefix for Rome is 06.
The phone company has changed things - even when making local calls you must first dial the area code (06 for Rome) and when calling Italy from abroad you must place a zero (0) after the 39 for the country code.

Italian mobile phone numbers are dialed without the zero.

Public phones take tokens, coins, and phone cards which can be bought at tobacco stores.

There's no denying that Rome is a difficult city for disabled people, especially for anybody in a wheelchair. You'll almost certainly have to depend on other people more than you would at home. But if you're prepared to accept its shortfalls and considerable obstacles, a stay in Rome can prove a rewarding challenge. It won't take long to understand why you don't see many people in wheelchairs in central Rome, and why those you do see are nearly always accompanied. Narrow streets make life difficult for those who can't flatten themselves against a wall to let passing vehicles by, while the cobblestones turn even wheelchairs with excellent suspension into bone-rattlers. Getting onto pavements - and off again at the other end - is made well-nigh impossible by bumper-to-bumper parked cars. Once off the streets, you're faced with the problems of old buildings with narrow corridors, lifts that, if they're there at all, are too small, and toilets at the top or bottom of impossibly steep staircases.

Blind and partially sighted people, meanwhile, often find that there's no curb at all between the road proper and that bit of street that pedestrians are entitled to walk along (the one exception is a smooth brick walkway laid into the cobblestones leading from the Trevi Fountain to Piazza Navona, along which braille notes on bronze plaques give historical explanations of landmarks en route).

There have been improvements. Lifts, ramps and special toilets are being installed in museums, stations and public offices, and although willingness has not always been matched by careful thinking (you may be expected to levitate up a couple of steps to reach that brand-new toilet or lift), these days you're more likely to be treated like a human being.

The Enjoy Rome agency and, if you're lucky, the official APT tourist office, have a selection of information for disabled people.

Public toilets accessible to wheelchair users are very scarce. The most central are near the boating pond in Villa Borghese, by Colosseum metro station, and in Via Ripetta in the Tridente.

They can also be found in Termini, Tiburtina and Ostiense stations. Bear in mind too that most McDonald's have wheelchair-friendly loos.

COINtel
tel:06 2326 7695 Open 24 hours daily.
WebsitE: rome@myvillage.com http://andi.casaccia.enea.it/ hometur.htm
A phone information line run by CO.IN and Rome city council. Staff speak Italian and English and answer questions on accessibility in hotels, buildings and monuments. CO.IN also has an information service in Italian and English for the whole country. The toll-free number (800 271027) can only be dialed from within Italy.

CO.IN
Via Enrico Giglioli, 54a
tel/fax: 06 2326 7504
email: coin@inroma.roma.it
Open 9am-5pm Mon-Fri.
CO.IN (short for Consorzio Cooperative Integrate) publish a multilingual guide, Roma Accessibile, which should be available (but often is not) at the APT and lists disabled facilities at museums, restaurants, stores, theatres, stations, hotels and so on, and has a map of Rome showing disabled parking places. It has been fully revised for 2000. To be sure of obtaining a copy, contact CO.IN directly and have it sent to you; the guide is free but you will be asked to pay postage. The consorzio will also organise guided tours in Rome and all over Italy, and transport for disabled people.

Ortopedia Colosseo
Via San Giovanni in Laterano, 16
tel:06 700 5709/06 700 1727
fax: l'ufficio ortopedico 06 709 6331

Open 8.30am-1pm, 2.30pm-7pm, Mon-Fri; 8.30am-1pm Sat.
Ortopedia Colosseo rents wheelchairs of all kinds - including antiques - starting at L45,000 per day. No delivery, but the shop does have special arrangements with some of Rome's larger hotels.

Rome is in the process of making the whole of its bus network accessible to wheelchairs. The specially-adapted red and silver buses are already a common sight. They have extra-large central doors and an access ramp; inside, there is a space where a wheelchair can be secured. Rome's disabled have been slow to take advantage of this boost to their mobility, so be prepared for some surprise from other bus users if you actually use the facilities. At time of writing, the routes served by these buses were as follows. Note that not all buses on these routes are wheelchair-friendly; disabled passengers should resign themselves to letting a couple of old-style buses go by before an appropriate one arrives.

H Piazza dei Cinquecento (Termini station)-Via Nazionale-Piazza Venezia-Viale Trastevere-Casaletto.

23 Piazzale Clodio-Piazza Risorgimento (Vatican Museums, Saint Peter's)-Lungotevere-Via Marmorata-Piramide (metro B)-Via Ostiense-San Paolo fuori le mura.

31 Piazzale Clodio-Villa Pamphili-Piazza Isaac Newton.

44 Piazza Venezia-Piazza Bocca della Verità-Via Dandolo (Villa Sciarra)-Piazza Ottavilla (Villa Pamphili)-Piazza San Giovanni da Dio-Monteverde Nuovo.

64 Termini-Via Nazionale-Piazza Venezia-Corso Vittorio Emanuele-Vatican.

75 Piazza Indipendenza-Via Cavour-Colosseum (metro B)-Viale Aventino-Piramide (metro B)-Via Marmorata-Via Dandolo-Monteverde Vecchio.

157 Eastern suburbs-Porta Maggiore-Termini.

170 Termini-Via Nazionale- Piazza Bocca della Verità-Testaccio-Trastevere station- Viale Marconi EUR.

280 Piazza Mancini (Stadio Olimpico)-Piazza Mazzini-Lepanto (metro A)-Piazza Cavour-Lungotevere-Via Marmorata-Piramide (metro B)-Ostiense station.

590 follows the route of metro A between Prati and Cinecittà.

913 Piazza Augusto Imperatore-Piazza Cavour-Lepanto (metro A)-Via Andrea Doria-Via Trionfale.

116, 117, 118, 119 The electric buses that serve the Centro Storico.

Tram 8 Largo Argentina-Viale Trastevere-Casaletto.

On the metro, line A is something of a no-go area, although to compensate there is the 590 service. All stations on line B have lifts, disabled WCs and special parking spaces, with the exception of Circo Massimo, Colosseo and Cavour (southbound).

Most taxi drivers will carry wheelchairs (they have to be folded); if possible, phone and book a cab rather than hail one in the street.

The state railway (FS) is introducing some special easy-access carriages. To ascertain which trains have wheelchair facilities, call (or go to) the Ufficio disabili ('office for the disabled') at the station from which you plan to depart (Termini, beside platform 1, 06 488 1726; Ostiense 06 4730 5066; Tiburtina 06 4730 7184), or consult the official timetable, which shows a wheelchair symbol next to accessible trains. Twenty-four hours prior to departure, the disabled traveller or someone representing him/her must go to the Ufficio disabili in the appropriate station to fill in a form requesting assistance. Reserve a place, also, when buying a ticket, and make sure you arrive three quarters of an hour before departure time.

This procedure also applies to all train services to and from Fiumicino airport. When coming to Rome, you should, in theory, call Fiumicino Airport station (06 4730 5300) to arrange for help the day before your arrival; in practise, you'll be helped onto the train anyway.

Both Rome's airports have facilities such as adapted toilets. Inform your airline of your needs: they will contact the office at Fiumicino or Ciampino, where you will be able to use special facilities and waiting rooms on arrival and departure.