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RE: traveling from FCO to Trastevere...follow the "Treno" signs in the terminal to the train station at the airport. Take the F1 train (listed as "Fara Sabina" for its end station)...departs about every 1/2 hour. You can buy a ticket from a machine or from a person (machine is easy enough)...stamp your ticket at the machine before you get on the train. While you wait for the train, get an espresso at the train station coffee bar and wonder why every hole in the wall in Italy can turn out a decent espresso at 1.50 euro but Starbucks can't manage it at twice the price.....

Get off the train at Trastevere station....exit the station (a couple flights of stairs, IIRC). Depending on where you are staying in Trastevere, you will probably need to walk through the drop off area in front of the station and go out to the middle of the street opposite the station to catch the #8 tram line (going toward the right if you stand w/your back toward the station). A tram ticket is 1 euro; you can buy one from the little store at the train station. Validate the tram ticket once you board the tram...the machine might be at front, or it might be midway down the tram car. Definitely stamp your ticket--the fine for riding w/o a validated ticket is fat (like 100 Eu). To determine which stop is closest to your lodging, use the ATAC website in English: you can look up your destination and plot the best stop: LINK . If you stay on until the Tiber river, you've gone too far.

This is good advice. If you are staying in Trastevere for a few days, I'd get a 1 or 3 day metrebus pass that covers the Roman public transportation system, though it does not extend to some outskirts, to Fiumicino, or to Ostia Antica. But for your purposes, you shouldn't be going outside its bounds. It gives you unlimited access to the metro, bus, trams, and local trains. They are much cheaper than you'd end up spending on cabs, or you can plan on a significant amount of walking. Try the Taste of Trastevere tour with Eataly near the beginning of your trip, so you can eat at your favorite neighborhood place on your tour on your last night. Trastevere and the neighborhood across the river from it, Testaccio, have excellent restaurants that also aren't packed with tourists. If you like history, Flavio al Velavevodetto is a must.