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Gotta admit people, Romebuddy ain't much into sports. See, he's more of a computer potato. Rather than getting out there huntin', shootin' and fishin' or throwing ball, Romebuddy is pretty much in front of a computer screen all day. But then, how else could he gather all this wealth of information for ya? Somebody has to sacrifice the great outdoors life, so that you can enjoy it when you come over here on your vacation. So here's a few srubbishs of information about where and how you can go sweat and get healthy in and around Rome.
I promise however that we will add to it and expand the venue lists soon. Keep checking back.

First up is a glossary of Italian words for different sports and outdoor pursuits. That way, when you search in your Italian phone book you'll know what words to look for when looking for local sports centres and stuff:

romebuddy's glossary of
italian sports terms

more notes on sports
availability in Rome:

          golf
          riding
          beach
          tennis        
          surfing
          cycling
          hunting
          bowling
          camping
          shooting
          racetrack
          volleyball         
          swimming
          watersports
          rollerskating
          fitness gyms
          ultimate frisbee
          snooker and pool

Italy of course has a terrific heritage of competitive cycle racing and touring. For cycling equipment, try emailing fratellilazzaretti@libero.it (aren't you so glad you can just click on it, instead of having to type out all those 'l's, 'z's and 't's yourself? Where would you be without your romebuddy, huh?)

For purchasing camping stuff, in the Rome area, try Faress, they're on Via Antonio Carruccio, just south off junction 24 of the Grande Raccorda Annulare beltway, the Ardeatina turn-off.

Thirty miles north of Rome is a big lake called Bracciano. Just east of that is a much smaller lake in a place called Martignano, and on the south side of that nestles a water sports and horseback riding club and school. Jump in your car and check it out, it's a nice place with a good rustic Italian lunch restaurant too. There are plenty of other riding clubs around.

In Rome and southern Italy, summer lasts from April to November, so sophisticated Roman Italians are generally quite fit and fashionable, they are outdoors people who enjoy lapping up all the sun and healthy mediterranean foods and fruits that abound here for most of the year. Thus they tend to take a pride and care of their bodies and appearance, it's kind of a Californian atmosphere, so there's a good selection of sports clubs (palestre) all over, with body-fitness gyms and often beauty salons ('estetici') attached, plus all the usual hi-octane sports like tennis, squash and volleyball.

But because most public money in big Italian cities like Rome is fiddled away by corrupt poiticians and inefficient bureaucrats, there are very few municipal or city public sports facilities at subsidised rates. Most such public amenities in Rome, (including stuff like local public libraries) in small regional suburbs are either non-existent or left to rot.

One big sports place that is fairly central in Rome, though commercial, is the old Olympic stadium complex on the north bank of the river, just east of the centre of town and it has lots of activities going on for all the family.

On the Via Ostiense about ten miles west of Rome is a roller-skating rink, and just a couple of miles further west along the same road you come to the Cineland Multiplex movie complex at Ostia Lido, which also contains a ten-pin bowling alley, pool and snooker tables. Under the same roof are arcade games, shops and fast-food restaurants, as well as the movie theatres of course, and all in all you can have a pretty good night out there and almost forget that you're stuck in Italy, apart from that the movies are in Italian. Oh well, can't win 'em all. Anyway, this is supposed to be the sports page, what'cha doin' sitting in the cinema munching popcorn, you big maggot?!
There are other bowling alleys around Rome, a notable one being quite central in Via Nomentana.

For other sports clubs and amenities, check your Rome Yellow Pages phone book and search on the words given in our glossary above, or check all listings under the heading 'Associazione e Federazione Sportive'. That gets you all the sports clubs of different types, and most that are listed with the word 'Circolo' in front are probably private, members only, not places you can stroll into for a game. But try 'em out, they might squeeze you in if you can demonstrate you're a serious player. And the more Italian you can speak, the better. The good thing is that Italians are not as snobbish and stand-offish towards foreigners as, say, the French, (or even the English) so you may stand quite a good chance of being welcomed into even the most exclusive clubs. Money usually talks as well.

Play it by ear though. Italians are not used to commercial, consumer-led thinking. They don't understand about giving service, and that the customer is always right. In other words, don't breeze in throwing cash around expecting it to get you an instant round of golf or rubber of squash. Don't expect well-kept facilities or attentive staff. As with anything in Italy, we at Romebuddy stress that the best way to get involved with interesting pursuits and leisure activities is to learn the language and make freinds here. Get involved with the Italians you know, and accept all social invitations. An Italian friend is a good friend. Italians will bend over backwards to help a friend, but they will do almost nothing to assist a stranger, not even if it's their job to do so.

You may find golf slightly expensive here. It's not such a big thing in southern Italy, more popular in the north around places like Milan, but more exclusive and elitist than you're probably used to. There's about four or five golf clubs in and around Rome. Try the Circolo del Golf Roma at 716 Via Appia Nuova. That's just south-east of central Rome, slightly east of the San Sebastiano catacombs area.
Give 'em a bell on 06 7885 1922.
Visitors to Rome can also purchase a Golf Card, a pass allowing you one week’s access (week-days only) to any of four selected golf clubs in the Rome area (at Castelgandolfo, Olgiata, Guidonia and Sutri) and also gets you some selected discounts in some of these clubs’ restaurants, shops and amenities.
The card (actually called ‘The Roma Caput Mundi Itinere Golf Card’) comes with full details of directions and descriptions of each golf course, costs about 180 Euros and is valid for one person only. For further information try emailing itinere@mclink.it, phone (0039)06 8069 0198 or go to their website.

If you like swimming, what many visitors to Rome don't realise is how near the beach Rome actually is. Ostia Lido and Castel Fusano are popular seaside spots just half an hour west of Rome by car, bus or subway. Ostia Lido is a town in itself, a full-blown beach resort, if a little seedy, with plenty of stores, Mcdonalds, little amusement parks and arcades, cinemas, ice-cream bars, and both free and pay beaches. Castel Fusano is just pure beach, with the barest of amenities, but on a good day, even if it gets a little crowded sometimes, it can feel quite tropical, even if the sewage does run out near there, the sea is still blue.

Being a small, kind of inland sea, the Mediterranean around the Rome coast has almost no tidal movement compared to the Atlantic or Pacific, and thus Italians are traditionally kind of squeamish about tides and rough seas. Many regard a ten-inch wave as dangerous, and tend to be a bit over-protective with their beachguard service. They'll fly the red 'danger no swimming' flag all day sometimes for only a two-foot swell. They've also built artificial reefs around a hundred yards out from each beach, so seaside bathing here is usually ultra safe and almost wave-free. Most typical Italian beach-goers prefer to cavort with various ball-games on the sand, rather than actually swim at the beach and guys only usually go into the water for a whizz or to throw their girlfriends in, which is considered a huge joke here, and happens every two minutes.

However, everything changes in late autumn and winter, when the Mediterranean starts to rough up a bit. Although it never gets really cold in winter, all the tourists and most of the local Italians desert the beaches, which rather nicely leaves things clear for some quite respectable surfing. Yes, in Italy these days, particularly in the Rome and Lazio area, (Lazio is the 'county' Rome is in), surfing is on the increase. In recent years, with the rise in popularity of extreme sports, European tourists have earnestly sought out beaches for the oldest extreme sport of them all, thus Italians too are now joining in the rush to find the perfect wave.
You can get a little bit of surfing done closest to Rome at beaches at or near Ostia and Fiumicino, but it can get crowded with a high gremmie content.
For better spots, you need to travel further south down the coast to Anzio or Torre Paola near Sabaudia, though both these venues are sheltered by marinas and have gentle waves favoured for training and novices. There’s also a surf gear store at Anzio called Kua Aina’s Surfer, it’s at Via Gramsci 58, phone 06 983 0636.
For more serious surfing, head further south still, a couple of hour’s drive almost as far as Naples, to the town of Gaeta, which has two sandy beaches, Sant’Agostino and Serapo, where the waves can reach six or seven feet.
If you want bigger stuff, an hour north of Rome is where you should be, as things can get a little hairy at Santa Marinella, just south of Civitavecchia, where strong but variable winds often prevail, and long, powerful waves can reach ten feet. Watch out for your feet at this beach though, the bed is covered in sea urchins. They call this spot the Italian Banzai and it’s such a draw that some guys have got together to form the Banzai Surf Club, based at Via G. Lucina 50, telephone 0766 510720.
Click here for a map indicating where all the above-mentioned surfing beaches are.
Finally, in central Rome, in the winding labyrinth of ancient narrow cobbled streets between Piazza Navona and the river, there isn’t much surf, but you can still get together with an international crowd of other surfers and extreme sporters at ‘Insane’, a bar built specially for the breed. It’s at Via Dei Filippini 5, telephone 06 6880 2447.

On most beaches there's usually a public, (ie, 'free') volleyball court scratched in the sand, although the beach it's on is generally a pay-beach. You pay around five dollars per person for a day at a pay-beach. Some of the better ones have showers, changing rooms, and a fresh-water swimming pool just off the beach, and most have a snack bar and maybe some electronic arcade games when the kids get bored. The volleyball court is usually hogged by the local kids, but stick around and you can probably play on a first-come first-served basis, or join in with them. There are also little five-a-side football matches played on the beach, local teams play mini elimination tournaments at night (when it's cooler), and it's fun to watch even if you can't join in.

Italians are keen hunters. Unlike England where most hunting of wild field animals is illegal and frowned upon, Italy is much more relaxed and akin to America. Sportsmen here shoot plenty of wild game and there's also a bit of falconry. But naturally, you must check where you are shooting first. Don't go out hunting or fishing alone, if you stray onto someone's land you could end up being the hunted. Obey usual precautions and hunting etiquette. I'll see what I can find out abut gun permits. Meantime, check out the phone book for field sports clubs, or make friends with Romans with rural connections, and go along with them or a local gamesman.

There are two major racetracks (horses) that I know of, one on the Via del Mare calld Tor di Valle, about five miles south-west of Rome, and another to the south-east of the city near Ciampino airport. They race buggies here.

There's now an expatriate group in Rome who meet to play ultimate frisbee at 3 pm every Sunday in winter (or at 5 pm during summer) on the soccer field in the Villa Doria Pamphili gardens, (click here for map). During summer they also meet on Wednesdays

The ultimate frisbee gang take a breather at Villa Doria Pamphili

Anyone of any nationality is welcome to go along to watch or join in free, but if you plan to play, bring training shoes and sports clothing, and perhaps a bottle of water too, as it can get quite hot in Rome, even on winter afternoons, and especially in summer of course. There are some ground rules to the game, but on the whole it's easy and fun, and they'll be keeping things light, for now at least. Bring a few euros with you too, as participants may also go for a drink and snack together locally somewhere afterwards. Romebuddy went along to the 'inaugural' game a couple of years ago and it certainly looks like an exciting and fun expat event that's worth getting involved with. There's even some professionals who turn up, but whatever your ability, come along and join in the fun.
They also have a website, or you can email romeultimate@yahoo.com now for more details of playing Ultimate Frisbee with fellow tourists and expatriates in Rome.

Check back into this page soon for more useful sports activity links and ideas for expatriates and tourists in Rome, and don't forget that any Rome yellow pages and telephone directory is a rich source of locations for sports centres and activities. Just run through the listings using the Italian words for sports activities we've listed above.