Some brief notes from experiences so far:
Despite claims of miserable weather, yesterday was pretty good - nice and clear, a little too warm for a sweater (what with all the walking around).
The sun hangs a little low in the sky.
Italians love driving. Compared to other cities in Europe, Rome is clogged with cars, but the Romans don't mind. To them, every flat surface is part of a lane, every opening an opportunity. The lane markings are merely suggestions, probably concocted at some EU meeting in a room far away from the reality of the streets. Being driven through the city in a taxi is a truly terrifying experience. Every car it seems bears the scars of past battles, and the drivers express their intent to engage again. When people miss or unfairly claim opportunity, there is wild honking and gesturing from surrounding motorists. I thought the rumors about Italian driving were a cliche, but no, these folk are in a different league from even New York.
As a pedestrian it can be a little scary, but you just need to find a small gap in the cars and breeze out into the pedestrian crossing and the cars will make room for you.
There are lots of police everywhere. The police come dressed in a pseudo-military style too, and there appear to be several different kinds of police. A motorcade swept past while we were at a cafe, with a big Maserati sedan and about 12 Mercedes Benz S600s. It was surrounded by countless police cars and motorcycles.
Traveller's Notes:
There is a different charge to buy something at a cafe or snack bar vs. having it served to you by a waiter. If you order from the waiter you need to get the bill from him!
The Metro system is awesome (although crowded, dirty and old, sort of like the NYC subway), 1 euro per direction.
Hope you had fun and ate some carbonara :)
You're right about the cars. Forget about taxis: if you want a truly roman experience should rent a scooter (possibly a "vespa") a wander around at 70Km/h while cars are stopped in the traffic.