Tips from Christmas week in Rome

My youngest son and his girlfriend spent a week in Rome around Christmas, and here are their tips:

• Cinema Metropoline near Piazza del Popolo has shut down.
• Warner Brothers Village Cinema at Piazza della Repubblica has reopened under a different name and ownership. It no longer screens films in their original version, unless it's Italian.
• We highly recommend the 'Risotto con radice' (Risotto with root vegetables) at Nonna Betta Restaurant. It's perfect: Al dente, juicy and the precise consistency.
• The official guided tours of the Vatican Museums worth more than the 5 Euros they cost. Make sure you reserve them at the real Vatican website, and don't fall for any fake site, let alone the "guides" hanging around the entrance. Aim for the afternoon hours (14:30) as it's emptier then. At the end of the guided tour in the Museums, you can continue directly to San Peter's Basilica, thereby bypassing its security lines.
• Avoid the guided tours and audioguides sold at San Peter's Basilica. The first is long and expensive, while the other is annoying.
• Paba Hotel (Via Cavour 266) is well situated next to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Its owner, Alberta, is very friendly, helpful and considerate. The rooms are large and quiet (our window faced an internal yard but we were fine with that). If you don't like stiff pillows, the soft ones are in the closet.
• MAXXI museum is just splendid. They host several large exhibitions in their five galleries and three hours may not be time enough to cover all of them. Don't miss it despite its distance from the city center, just fetch the tram or take a cab. Entrance costs 11 Euros, or 9 EUR for students.
• MACRO costs 11 Euros and it didn't have as much to offer as MAXXI, but perhaps that was because they were setting up some new exhibitions.
• Don't miss the ice cream Giolloto, to the north of the Pantheon. Especially the pine nut flavour (pinoli).
• Some of the artifacts at the Roman Forum are difficult to find. You know they're there, but you're not sure exactly where. Consider taking a human guide, or at least photos of the things you're looking for. The Eyewitness Guide could do the job for this one.
• Porta Portese market is huge and you could basically find there cheaper prices for every piece of tourist crap sold elsewhere, as long as you're willing to bargain. Keep your cash deep in your inner pockets as pick pockets are numerous.