Originally Posted by
stefanaccio
I have a house in Abruzzo and pass through Rome times a year. My very cautious Italian friend had his backpack cut open and wallet nicked on the metro just last year. Glad to say I have not had this experience myself. Kind of hard to prove but on a 1/2 dozen or so occasions I have Rome barista's attempt to pull one over on me. The scam arises when you buy a coffee and/or sandwich or such and give the barista a 20 euro note. The barista reaches into the cash register and pulls out change as if you had given him/her 10 euros. After giving you change for 10 euros the barista will initiate some other activity at the bar while watching you out of the corner of their eye. If you remain at the bar the barista will return to the register, grab a 10 euro note and hand it to you. BUT....should you walk away from the bar the barista will quickly pocket the 10 euro note for his/her self. This to me is a rather clever maneuver and one which I would think is relatively low risk for the barista. Since this has happened to me almost exclusively in Rome I am convinced that this "furto" is probably taught in the course "Tourist Scams 101" at the local barista training school.
I spend a couple of months a year in Rome for the last eight years, and there are no people in the train slashing people's backpacks. Perhaps this happened once or twice in history, and has become an urban legend. New York City is one of the safest cities in the USA, and not too long ago started to be have a large increase in random stabbings, face slashing, and young gangs playing the, "knockout game," where they come behind you on the train and sucker punch you to knock you out. And that is the safest, or one of the safest cities in the USA.
Rome is a placid country town compared to Baltimore, Orlando, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Washington DC, Orlando, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Rochester, or just about anywhere in the USA. It has about the same crime rate as Regina, or Winnipeg, Canada. Back pack slashing are myths. Of course there is petty crime and you can get your purse snatched, wallet pickpocketed, but it's more likely to happen to you where you came from, than in Rome. Being careless with your passport and other things can invite crime, but back pack slashing and such things are myths. Anything can happen anywhere, sometime. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so yes, crime can happen. But painting Rome like this is false.
And bartenders selling you coffee and ripping you off is another myth. Not giving you all of your change back and hesitating for a few seconds to see if you realize it happens frequently all over the USA, and around the world. Short-changing is an old carnival trick. It's hard to be a victim of such a crime unless you don't count your change. Counting your change becomes a habit when you are young, like memorizing your zip code or phone number, unless you like being scammed. It's not a Roman problem.
I agree with KLouis. In Rome and most other cities in Italy (curiously, not in Venice), money is considered too dirty for people who prepare food or beverages to touch. In the USA you pay after you drink your coffee. In Rome you pay before you get your coffee, except in small, non-busy places. When you go inside of a coffee shop you go to a booth and pay there . They give you a receipt, you take it to the bar, and you show it to the person who is going to make the coffee. They usually rip it so that you can't use the same receipt twice. Roman baristas are not taught Tourist Scamming 101. There is a coffee culture in Italy, especially in Rome, and they are hubs of conviviality.
The fact is, on average if you are in Rome or almost anywhere in Italy, you are safer than you were when you were at home unless you do careless things like carry your cell phone in the back pocket of your jeans, and do things like that. The crime rate in Rome is far below the USA national average. Italy is the 35th safest country in the world, just a little behind Japan, whereas the USA is 55th, slightly less safe than Equatorial Guinea, and just slightly safer than Cambodia.