Rome really is the Eternal City if even after five visits I still discover new things about it.

Obviously, being slightly useless at reading maps helps.

Eat at:

Shop at:

• Ai Monasteri, a treasure trove of beauty products, jams, honey, wines and liquers supplied by monasteries from all over Italy. Who would have thought that monks produced 'love potions' and anti-cellulite cream? I had a long discussion with the girls behind the counter about the differences between the Franciscan vs Benedictine olive oil (I bought both).  
• Porta Portese, Trastevere's mammoth flea market every Sunday morning,. Prepare to fight with the battleaxe matrons for vintage clothes. I still regret not buying that sequinned mini dress!
• The little boutiques along Via del Governo Vecchio, just off Piazza Navona. I bought a cream wool coat for 5 euros from a green jewel box of a vintage store, presided by a flame-headed doyenne.
• Cartoleria Pantheon. Cheaper and more unique than Il Papiro, a dimly lit shop piled from floor to ceiling with delightful Italian stationary.

Make sure you:

• Throw a coin over your shoulder at the Trevi Fountain to ensure that you'll return to Rome. Hey, it's worked for me so far....I'm looking forward to my 6th visit!
• Hire a bicycle and enjoy the Villa Borghese park with your 50s style Audrey Hepburn dress flying behind you.
• Avoid the Vatican crowds and visit Galleria Doria Pamphilj.  This aristocratic family's palace is filled with gorgeous paintings because the owner decreed in his will that the collection was to remain intact forever and never sold off. There's an incredibly lifelike portrait of the Pamphilj pope by Velaquez. It sits next to a bust of the same pope by Bernini, apparently finished in a week (after the first bust cracked) as he wanted to show off how talented he was.
• Look carefully at the mosaics inside Santa Maria in Trastevere. Bizarrely, Jesus has his arm draped casually over the Virgin Mary, like they're taking a holiday snap.

Memorable moments:

Watching two nuns in at the Porta Portese holding up enormous beige underpants - presumably discussing the merits of each brand's stomach-sucking qualities.

Stumbling on a random Roman column in the middle of a tiny misshapen cobblestone square....which had been turned into a carpark piled high with Fiats.