getting things repaired in rome

If you're only holidaying in Rome for a couple of weeks, then hopefully you won't have much need for this section of Romebuddy, but if you're here for longer or are trying to build a home here, or get stuff repaired, this is the page where we discuss how to get things in fixed in Rome, or Italy in general.

Do it Yourself:

You may be an accomplished DIY'er at home, but here in Italy the problem you're gonna find is the lack of an extensive technical vocabulary in order to find what you want to buy. For example, what's the word for 'nail' in Italian? How do you say 'chainsaw'?
If you're Italian is not good, where do you start explaining how the washing machine seemed to be okay on the pre-rinse cycle, but as soon as you put the conditioner in and closed the hatch, the machine made a funny noise and the water didn't heat up?
See what we mean?
The other problem is that not many Italian stores have a 'self-service' way of doing things - A lot of what they sell is kept behind the counter so you can't just pick it up for yourself and examine it before taking it to the checkout. You have to first know what to ask for, and if you're a picky customer (like me), you'll need to be pretty fluent in Italian to be able to haggle or debate over the quality or applicable merits of the tool or washing machine part that you want.

In addition, some things are just completely different in the way Italians make stuff. In England for instance, we're used to choosing from a huge colour range of household paints. English paint doesn't cost much because Brits regularly repaint their house interiors in different colour schemes. - Here in Italy though, many DIY stores only stock a paint range of about ten colours - Most Italians only paint their walls or woodwork white, beige or brown, and when they do it, they do it to last so the paint is top quality and therefore appears unnecessarily expensive to us Brits. Stuff like this can be frustrating if you were thinking of going for a soft semi-satin eggshell cornflower blue emulsion Laura Ashley look in your new Trastevere loft.
There are professional interior designers and decorating firms here that can do you something special, but at a price, and they won't tell you where they're getting the stuff. DIY is frowned on here, because interior decoration, like most things in Italy is just another racket. They don't actually want you doing it yourself, because it goes against the entire traditional setup of their whole parochial snail's pace service industry and domestic economy.

The really good news is that IKEA has now arrived in Italy - They've had a store open in Rome for a couple of years now. The Italians have found IKEA absolutely mind-blowing; being able to wander freely among thousands of household decor items, touching and comparing products has absolutely knocked them for six, the store is absolutely packed with customers from dawn till dusk.
When IKEA first opened its doors here, and local Italian furniture storekeepers got their first glimpse of how things were gonna be from now on, they were so jealous and scared of the competition that they banded together to try to get IKEA immediately closed down again on a trumped-up building infingement charge. Thankfully they failed, and the miffed Italian storekeepers have had to finally learn the painfully strange new lesson that you have to give good service in retailing, or die.
You'll need to be an accomplished Roman driver to get to IKEA though, as it's just off the dreaded, dangerous and pompously named 'Grand Raccorda Annulare' high-speed beltway, about ten miles south of central Rome.

For do-it-yourself, we can recommend 'Bricofer' (pronounced Bree-coh-fair), as perhaps the closest thing you'll find to a British or American-style DIY store. They have branches all over the suburbs - Check your phone book. Keep watching this space for a list of tourist-friendly, bilingual repair centres and DIY stores and suppliers.

If your camera breaks while you're on holiday here, and you need it repairing, we advise you not to entrust a local Italian repairer with it. It will probably not be fixed in time before you have to fly home again (in spite of promises to the contrary), and the language barrier means that the repair guy will probably fix what wasn't broke and ignore what was, or he may also use the language misunderstanding as an excuse to do more maintenance work than necessary and overcharge you, figuring you for a rich American tourist sucker who can afford it anyway. I've lived here five years, and here are my conclusions on this subject:

1. Never give an Italian tradesman the benefit of the doubt.
2. Italians will always let you down.
3. Italians never stick to deadlines.
4. For all of the above reasons, never put yourself into a position where you are truly, absolutely, irrevocably dependent on an Italian.

Does that sound racist? No, not at all. I'm just a consumer trying to get by in a country that has no concept of customer service, and I'm warning you, fellow countryman, so that you don't have to fall into the same traps of poor, tardy or just plain dishonest service that I have so often suffered during my time in Italy. Something like Jesus, I've been burned already, so that you don't have to be. Heed Romebuddy's advice, and you will live to fight another day. Ignore this advice at your peril.

So it's best to wait and have a repair agent back at home fix your camera, and try to get by with a disposable until then. For this reason, on vacation here, try to get all your serious photography of key sights done in the first day or two, leaving the remainder of your trip free for casual street-wandering without having the pressure of needing to get the shots you should have got before your camera broke, or was stolen. Make sense?

If living here though, for camera repairs, try asking Fotoforniture Guido Sabatini on Via Germanico, 168/a, 00192 Roma, probably the biggest, professional-supplying photography equipment dealers in Rome. If they can't do it, they ought to know someone who will.