Rome City

Date of visit: January 2016

I have experience of challenges around: moving around

Overall Rating

Having arranged a hire scooter for a long weekend in Rome to see all the major sites of interest, I was extremely disappointed to find the pavements and roads are not wheelchair/scooter friendly. Many roads are cobbled or have uneven surfaces with pot holes, the same can be said for the pavements. The scooter was a GO GO which do not work well on uneven ground (I had one at home but changed). The hotel kindly loaned a wheelchair and informed me Rome is not a suitable place for disabled people; I was told there are only 8 taxis capable of carrying a scooter and these have to be booked 24 hour in advance. Our visit was hard, my wife pushing me everywhere, but we saw all sites and they are worth seeing. Beware potholes everywhere and people having disregard for wheelchair users. I do not want people not to go however, be warned.

Disabled Access In and Around

I saw no signage for disabled access but some sites had metal ramps for disabled users. At the Vatican all wheelchair users were given priority access through metal detectors.

Parking & Transport

0

Disabled bays are very small and few. Not all venues can be accessed without leaving wheelchair/scooter and walking. Did not use transport but was informed it is difficult in many cases to get on/off public transport. Also informed there are only 8 taxis with ability to carry scooters (this as of Jan '16)

Accessible Toilets

0

All accessible toilets, of which there were a limited number, all required an access key.

Staff

Vatican staff/police were all helpful, there was no help anywhere else.

Additional Information

I would not like to put people off going to Rome, but you need to be aware of the problems. My wife pushed me for many miles to see the sites and this had its toll, however we did have a good tme.

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