It helps to approach it with a flexible attitude. You may not always be able to achieve what you set out to do (museums, shops, restaurants and even occasionally banks sometimes close suddenly for one reason or another), but don't worry. There are plenty of other things to do and even the streetlife, with its constantly changing parade of locals and visitors alike, is worth watching from a pavement or piazza bar. There are intriguing juxtapositions everywhere: in narrow winding streets of terracotta buildings clothes boutiques nestle among family-run grocers, craft studios, art galleries and restaurants.

The weather helps create a relaxed way of life in which even the most simple transaction may need far more time than you would have thought possible. On the other hand, lunch can take all afternoon so you'll probably soon stop worrying that the overseas post takes rather longer than expected. There is notorious bureaucracy and time-consuming public service (but these are improving), but once you adjust to the pace of life, you realise how much of Rome functions extremely efficiently, including the bus service, which gets you where you want in central Rome more or less when you want.

The beauty of Rome is a magnet to artists, tourists and students, many of whom never quite manage to leave it.