You're more likely to return without your wallet if you visit Chicago or Miami than Rome. There are pickpockets, of course. But people are still living in a stereotype of Rome that no longer exists. There haven't been two thieves riding on a Vespa, with the passenger armed with a knife who could cut the strap of a woman's purse and make off with it without slowing down for over a quarter of a century. The streets of Rome are not full of thieves who are targeting locked backpacks or purses by using boxcutters to cut through the fabric. You don't have to get pick pocketed, and you don't have to get your wallet stolen from your purse.

Thieves can spot a tourist, but they are more interested in spotting a clueless tourist who looks like this is their first time out of the country, and is thoughtless about their surroundings. It's really very simple. It just takes basic precautions. It most often happens on the street when you are approached by someone with an open map, newspaper, jacket over their arm. They just want to cover their hand so you can't see it. When I need to ask for directions, I stay at least 5 feet away so that the person doesn't get alarmed. Similarly, if someone approaches close enough to touch me, I become aware of it.

The hot spots are trains and buses, because you can't avoid being touched. So have your wallet in your front pocket, and keep your hand there. Have your zippered purse in front of you. They are not looking to pick the lock on your purse or backpack, or use a boxcutter on the train to cut into it. They're looking for someone who is easy enough to steal from that they can do it between the time the train doors open and close, or they might wait until just before the doors open at the next stop and do it in those few seconds. Don't be the easy target. Of the 100 largest cities in the USA, I'd bet that only a few if any, have a lower crime rate than Rome. If you take even simple precautions, especially in crowded areas of public transportation, you are far more likely to lose your wallet than be pick pocketed.

Take a look at this video. It is an unsuccessful attempt to rob a clueless tourist (the guy in the pink shirt) with the giant camera, his wallet in his back pocket, oblivious to the fact that there is a woman carrying a plastic baby, and two other women crowding him as he squeeze past to get on a train. Keeping your wallet in your back pocket in a crowd, you might as well hold it in your hand. Then in the next video look at the Japanese woman in the black coat carrying an open, giant white purse behind her, and the attempt to take her wallet out of it as they board the train. In both cases, the victims were picked out as easy targets.


About that backpack. Why? Who needs to walk around hot and humid Rome all day with a backpack? On any street, on any train, you will see many people with backpacks, and the chance of any of them getting robbed is very small. But I still don't get it. Are you bringing lots of gifts from the USA that you are delivering to someone, so that you need to travel with a backpack? Thin out your wallet. There is no reason to carry a Nordstrom credit card to Italy. There is no reason to have your drivers license in your wallet either, it just increases the nuisance if by some bad luck you do lose your wallet, or less likely have it stolen. That should be in the hotel safe with other valuables. There is no reason to carry your passport with you. That also belongs in the safe. You need to have some form of ID. Make a photocopy of it, and carry that.

I don't get what would be so big and heavy that you'd have to carry it around on your back all day. Someone using a knife to cut through the fabric to get at your wallet is an outdated stereotype. It's probably happened to 1 in 100 million tourists. You'd have to obviously be carrying something special in there like drugs, transporting diamonds or cash, or something extremely valuable that someone saw you put in there, for them to want to slash open your backpack with a knife.

You don't need a backpack to carry around your thinned out wallet with some bills and one credit card, and nothing else. It fits into your pocket, as does your phone. Rome is not so hot that you need to inconvenience yourself by carrying around a personal supply of water everywhere you go. If you get thirsty just stop at a store and buy a bottle of water. You can refill it from the public fountains that are everywhere in Rome. Rome is a major city. If any need need arises you will be able to buy it in a store. I understand if you are a photographer and you need to carry light monitors, tripods, special lenses for the nighttime, etc., but why would a tourist need a backpack for wallet, phone and water? If it rains, like magic before the first drop falls people will appear on street corners everywhere selling umbrellas for 5 euros, less if you want to bargain.

I'm a very light packer, and only bring a carry-on suitcase, no matter how long the trip, but sometimes for a short trip to Venice since there are so many bridges with steps, I'll bring my stuff in a backpack instead so I don't have to lug the suitcase up and down stairs. Once I get to the hotel that is where the backpack stays. There is no way I'm going to carry a pack on my back and lug it around while I'm trying to enjoy the city. I'm not going on a hike or an expedition.

Maybe if you have a small child or something, but then you'd probably have a stroller with you that has pockets for diapers and things. To each their own, everybody has there own style, but when going to a major city, to me it's not like going camping where I need a backpack and have to carry supplies. I don't bring a back pack with me when I go to New York City, Boston, or Chicago, so why would I want to lug one around while I'm walking in Rome?