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Authentic Roman carbonara is pasta with guanciale (cured pork cheek), eggs, Pecorino Romano and black pepper, with no cream, bacon or garlic. Cacio e pepe is even simpler: Pecorino, pepper and starchy pasta water. Together with gricia and amatriciana, they form Rome’s four classic pastas, built on the same few ingredients.

The Vittoriano, also called the Altare della Patria, is the huge white marble monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of united Italy, in Piazza Venezia. Entry to the monument and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is free, every day 9:30–19:30. The panoramic elevator to the terrace, 70 meters (230 feet) up, needs the €18 VIVE ticket.

The Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità) is a large ancient marble disc carved with a bearded face, probably a Roman drain cover, in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. A medieval legend says it bites the hand of anyone who lies. You can see it every day from 9:30 to 17:50, except January 1.

The best gelato in Rome usually comes from shops that make it fresh: look for natural colors, seasonal fruit flavors and flat or covered metal tubs, not towering mounds. Order a cup or a cone with two or three flavors. Well-known places to try in the center include Giolitti, Gelateria del Teatro and Fassi.

La Befana is the old woman on a broomstick who, on the night between January 5 and 6, fills children’s stockings with sweets, or coal if they misbehaved. In Rome, January 6 is a public holiday with the Pope’s Epiphany Mass in St. Peter’s and a costumed parade on Via della Conciliazione, while the Vatican Museums are closed.

Rome is hilly, cobbled and spread out, so plan short days and ride between areas instead of walking. The Colosseum and the Vatican Museums have lifts, accessible routes and wheelchairs to borrow, under-18s enter Italian state museums free, and a taxi, a private driver or a golf cart tour covers the long distances.

Choose a vintage Fiat 500 tour if you want to sit back with your group and take photos while a driver handles Rome’s traffic. Choose a Vespa tour if you love two wheels. On a Vespa you ride behind a driver or, with the right license, ride yourself. Fiat 500 tours take children from age 3, scooters from 5.

On a rainy day in Rome, go indoors: the Vatican Museums (closed on most Sundays), the Capitoline Museums, Galleria Borghese (booking required) or the National Roman Museum. Watch the rain fall through the Pantheon’s oculus, go underground at San Clemente or the catacombs, or take a cooking class. Our golf cart tours run in the rain, with covers.

For most first-time visitors with a day or two, yes: a golf cart covers in 3 hours what would take most of a day on foot, with the sights seen from the outside. Shared tours start at €35 per person and private ones at €350 for up to 3 people. If you are fit and on a budget, walk.

Romans eat a meatless Christmas Eve dinner of fish and fried vegetables: marinated eel, skate broth, spaghetti with clams, fried salt cod, broccoli and artichokes. Christmas Day brings pasta in broth, capon and lamb. The sweets are pangiallo, torrone, panettone and pandoro, and on New Year’s Eve Romans eat cotechino with lentils for luck.