ART on the walls, as in paintings, does nothing much to me, but leave me footloose and fancy free in cities like Rome and I am ecstatic. I love sculptures. Stone, marble, bronze. Statues, fountains, columns and pillars, architectural wonders. Rome inspires awe. Its imposing ruins and monuments take you through the classical and imperial, Christian and medieval, renaissance and baroque, through to the present day. In Rome you walk with your head tilted upwards. That is if you are not fortunate enough as I, to be zooming around the city on a huge BMW motorbike, with a confident, worldly, Roman about town.

Meet Signor Gianni Haver, erstwhile banker, my friend and guide around town. Eating is one of life's great pleasures for all Italians. All you do is be adventurous, not get intimidated by eccentric waiters or indecipherable menus, and you will find yourself agreeing with the locals that no where else in the world can you eat as well as in their city. I have nostalgic memories of the Scalinata di Spagna (the Spanish Steps), so that's where we headed first. In the Piazza di Spagna I drank water flowing from the mouth of a fish in Berninis's boat-shaped fountain. Then I ambled down the Via Condotti, which is right opposite the steps. Stopped and drank coffee at the most famous cafi in Italy, the 250-year-old Caffe Greco (it is one of the two oldest cafis in Europe).

I sat on a velvet chair with a marble table in front of me, exactly as Byron, Keats, Shelley (all three lived nearby), the composers Wagner, Liszt, Bizet, and Goethe, and even Casanova had done before me. The Via Condotti leaves you gasping. On it, and in the warren of streets around it, are shops purveying a surfeit of luxury goods. Hermes and Bulgari, Prada and Polidori, Max Mara and Missoni, Armani and Valentino, Ferragamo and Tanino Crisci, Cucci and Gucci, Biagotti and Battistoni, Fendi and Ferre. The things money can buy! But my mind was these days on more mundane activities. Like buying roast chestnuts from the roadside as we would chana in a pudi here in India. Mmmm, delightful.

We strolled towards the Pantheon, a magnificent 2000-year-old structure with a great dome and a circular opening on top, open to the elements. It is awesome, the best preserved of ancient monuments. We sat in an outdoor trattoria in the piazza, facing the Pantheon, and had breakfast. From there we walked to the Fontana di Trevi. To turn your back on this masterpiece is sacrilege, but to make a wish and toss a coin over your head you have to do this, that's the only way of ensuring your return to Rome. If after this you have another wish, you toss another coin.

We then leisurely walked to the Trinita dei Monti, on top of the Spanish Steps, next to the Villa Medici and the Borghese gardens.

The Hotel Hassler is located here, and if you can afford it (US $500 per night) this is where you should stay. Take a room with a balcony. You have the most stunning view of the whole of Rome while having breakfast or sipping a drink. At least have a Bellini or when white peaches are not in season, a Ticiano (made with fresh grapes) in the open-to-the-sky garden bar on the ground floor. We sat in very romantic canopied sofas for two, while contemplating lunch, also served here. I walked back to my hotel, the Excelsior on the Via Veneto, made famous by Fellini in La Dolce Vita. At night Gianni took us to the Piazza Farnese, with its magnificent palazzo, whose facade was designed by Michelangelo. Behind it, towards the river, is a restaurant frequented only by locals, the Ristorante Pierluigi.

We dined al fresco. I thought I was the only foreigner. Until I saw a little Bangladeshi boy gently coaxing the customers to buy the longest stemmed, deepest red roses I have seen. I ate Zuppa di Vongole Veraci (fresh clam soup). Served not in a bowl but in a huge oval platter, when you get to the bottom of it and dunk pieces of bread to soak up the soup, and put them in your mouth, you begin to understand what nirvana may be all about. Like a true Indian I tasted from the dishes ordered by the others: Risotto alla Crema Scampi (Arboro rice with shrimp sauce), Scallopine al Pepe Rosa (veal cutlet with hot pepper), Melazane alla Parmagiana (eggplant with Parmesan cheese), Carpaccio con rucola (paper thin slices of beef), and Spaghetti alla Vongole (with fresh clams). What looked good but I didn't eat was Prosciutto e Melone (thin slices of ham with melon). All lightly made, home style food here.

After that we strolled through the Piazza Campo di Fiore (the Field of Flowers), the flowers and vegetable market, to the beautiful Piazza Navona. The fun of life in Rome is to sit outdoors at a cafi and watch the world go by. We sat on the edge of Berninis� massive fountain of the rivers, licking gelato, and looking at street performers; musicians, jugglers, dancers, and some who stood still as statues, till a coin was dropped near their feet, when they bent slowly to thank the person, and took their pose again.

The next day we went for lunch to Tullio, a short walk from the hotel, past Barberinis wonderful Fontana dl Tritone. Gianni had recommended it very highly. It's a 50-year-old place with good food traditions. The elderly owner personally supervised proceedings. Prices are on the uppish side. We had the Funghi Porcini Arrosto (roast wild mushrooms), Pasta e Fagioli, (a hearty pasta and bean soup), Abbachio al Formo con Patate (roast baby lamb with potatoes), all excellent. Tullio also offers, cooked in different ways, Cervello or calf's brain, which used to be a favourite of Busybee. Definitely for the adventurous and not squeamish. I usually have fruit instead of dessert. Wild strawberries (Fragoline di Bosco), and raspberries (Lamponi), and musk melon (Melone) were in season, all to die for.

Incidentally for all the great food we ate at Tullio we found an error of impressive size in the handwritten bill. Always check the itemised bill with the waiter while consulting the menu. After pointing out the error, the bill was reduced by as much as 33 per cent!. This could be because my colleague Asit Chandmal was delighted to find two super Tuscan wines on the menu, listed well below retail prices in shops.

He promptly bought them, a Tignanello 97 and a Farnito Carpineto, also 97, a truly magnificent vintage.

In the evening Gianni drove me around the city, passing the Collisseum and the Forum, the Capitol, the hills above Rome, the Vatican and finally to the Trastevere (which literally means across the Tiber, the river that runs through Rome). It is one of the oldest, continuously inhabited parts of the city, full of narrow cobbled streets lined with cafes and trattoria.

Everywhere you get honest food at reasonable prices. Everyone heads for the Piazza di Santa Maria to gaze at the church of the same name. We found a trattoria nearby, Cavacanem. Our attractive waitress was dressed like a slave girl. We kept ordering more and more dishes, too much. It must have been the side effect of the call from back home gravely informing us that America had started bombing Afghanistan.

The news cast a gloom on the proceedings. It was worse because we were to fly from Dubai to Bombay the next night, the flight path being through the guided (hopefully) missiles and warplanes. In Rome, like elsewhere in Italy, you find cafe'-bars in every corner. The quality of coffee is usually very high, and what varies is the elegance of the cafe'-bar, its charm, and also the way customers are allowed to have beverages.

Italians in fact usually have a quick coffee at the counter, while sitting and having drinks at the table is consistently more expensive, and it is possible only in quality cafe'-bars.