"Going in and around the older parts of the city on a motorcycle is the best. It's hard to get around in a car. With a bike, you can break all the rules and get places much quicker - going down stairs and through one-way streets. I did it on a motorcycle in the romantic summer of my pregnancy. Up and down all the little streets the wrong way. I must say that the parking rules are crazy. You park up on sidewalks. It's just a free-for-all. Parking is impossible, and with a car you're stuck in traffic. You really do better on foot."

DINNER
"The hottest place in town is 'Gusto near Piazza Augusto Imperatore. It's a very successful L.A./New York-style trendy restaurant. It's quite big, with tables tight under the columns of this modern-looking square. We used to go to the Tuscan restaurant Nino with Gore Vidal. It's right at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. We would sit there all night long and have a fabulous dinner, and then everybody would start singing. There are a lot of places where you never see tourists, where the Romans live: Prati, a residential area comparable to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which has Cesare, a really, really wonderful Tuscan fish and meat place. Il Matriciano is a very special place, one of the top five restaurants in town. The owner, Alberto and his sister, Rosetta, know everything about everybody. If you want something known, you go to the restaurant and tell them about it. A week later, everybody will know."

NIGHTLIFE
"Goa is a great club in the Ostiense area. One of my favorite areas, besides the old part of the city, is Trastevere. It's very much like the SoHo of Rome. There are galleries and pubs, and it's funky and quite international. But the real Roman rite is to get a pizza after the theater or the movies. One of my favorite pizzerias is Nuova Fiorentina in the center of Prati. Amazing pizza, amazing food - not too big, not too small, just right - and you're sure to run into writers or intellectuals or someone you know from television or the movies."