As I return, again and again, to Rome, my locus of interest continually moves outward. My feet first touched the city’s sampietrini (iconic cobblestones) 15 years ago, when I was a student on a semester abroad. In that era, I was a centro person.

I stayed near Termini, Via Nazionale was my daily commute, and Trajan’s column told me I had arrived. I threw centesimi in the Trevi Fountain and gaped at the Pantheon. Years later, as a newlywed, Trastevere was my neighborhood of choice, with its charming medieval streets by day and its thudding bass by night. Now, I travel with a double stroller in neighborhoods outside the center, like Testaccio, EUR, San Lorenzo, Prati, Monteverde Vecchio, and Garbatella.