Roman Holiday

I recently got back from a two-week vacation in Italy . While I was in Rome , I got mugged on the street. Here’s what happened… I was on a street called Via Caio Cestio near the Piramide metro stop. It started to drizzle a little so I went under a brick archway along the street to get out of the rain. The street was empty… no one around… then a guy walks up to me and said a few things (that of course I didn’t understand – I’m not even sure if he was speaking Italian)… he seemed semi-normal until he said simply ‘5 euros’ with his hand out. I said ‘no, no’ and started walking back towards the metro stop and he grabbed me by the throat. I pushed him away and said ‘OK, OK, 5 euros… no problem’. Then I motioned to him that we walk to the corner and I’d give him the 5 euros. He said “no problem, no problem”. We start walking towards the corner and after just a few meters he grabbed me again. Again I pushed him off and said “OK, OK”. As you might imagine, I was a bit unnerved. Sort of a combination of fear and adrenaline. The guy wasn’t very big (actually, a little shorter than me), but I had no interest in getting in a physical confrontation. So I pulled out my wallet – with the intention of giving him all my cash and getting out of the situation – then before I can even reach into my wallet he lunges at me and grabs my wallet. I instinctively pulled my wallet away from him, and now I have my wallet in my hand and he’s standing just inches from me. So what did I do next? I ran. He chased after me, but I was pulling away from him and he gave up after about 50 meters or so. He must have felt pretty lame – he was much younger than me, yet got outsprinted. Ouch. Well, the good news is I did not get hurt. It was a rather frightful experience, but it all worked out.

Michael T.