Ten things that make Fisico Roman

While the media coverage focuses on Fernando’s championship battle, it’s easy to overlook the fact that his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella is locked in a major battle of his own. Not only is he looking to seize back third place in the championship from Felipe Massa, but he will also be driving hard to support Fernando – and help Renault win the constructors’ championship.

But who is the man inside the helmet? Here, he tells us about his personality and his home city, in his own words…

Rome is great city. I was born there, so I’m bound to say that and I’ve lived there all my life apart from a few years in Monte Carlo. When I’m away for a few weeks I really miss it. I miss the special atmosphere of Rome and the way it feels. I miss my house and family and the feeling I get from being there, even if there is way too much traffic sometimes.

If you’re from Rome you have to love football. It’s part of the life of the city. We have Lazio and AS Roma and I have always been a Roma fan. I love the club and I have been training with them a few times. Not heavy stuff, but a good kick-around. Quite a few of the guys are big F1 fans, too, so they come to Monza. FrancescoTotti loves Formula 1 and he likes to ask me what’s really going on. I ask him the same about Roma. The funny thing is I live in the north of the city close to Lazio, when really I should live further south nearer to Roma, but I like my home too much to move!

Ah the food is great in Roma, of course. The pasta is fabulous and there are two or three restaurants I love to go to when I’m at home. The pasta carbonara is a really classic Roman dish and I think everyone knows that. There’s also Agnello allo scottadito, which is kind of flash-fried lamb. That’s a beautiful dish. But really there is so much good food in Rome, it’s not a problem finding somewhere good to eat.

Ha! Some people have joked that I must have learned to drive fast because I’m from Rome. These days I try to drive because the traffic can be so bad it can take you an hour to do a mile and that’s pretty crazy. I prefer to use my Harley to get in and out. It’s a V-Road, with a 1.2-litre engine and it’s cool. Not too noisy.

Romans are very friendly. We are used to having people coming to visit our city, so I think that makes us used to being open and approachable, sometimes maybe it’s a bit too friendly and you could do with a little more space, but it’s better that way than being unapproachable. Friendship is a very important part of being Roman.

We have our own special slang in Rome, which marks you out straight away from any other Italian. We think it’s quite funny and it’s still pretty easy to understand. It works by cutting a couple of letters off the end of words and it makes it sound quite funny. It’s still Italian, but uniquely Roman, too.

If you’re Roman you have to love the sunshine. The climate in Rome is beautiful. Really warm in summer with lots of sunshine and even though it’s much cooler in winter it’s never really, you know, bitter. It snows occasionally but only a few times in the past few years. We never get covered.

Fashion is a big thing in Rome – it is anywhere in Italy, but especially in Rome as the capital city. There’s a bit of competition with Milan, which is Italy’s fashion capital, but we Romans still reckon we get the new designs as fast as they do in Milan. The Via del Corso is where you really have to go for all the big names: D&G, Prada, Gucci – it’s all there. As much fashion as you could want.

One of the treats of being Roman is being surrounded by so many beautiful buildings. And they’re not just beautiful, so many of them are historic – like the Colosseum or the Piazza Venezia and the Vatican of course. I feel quite proud when I walk around town and I’m always happy to see so many tourists having a good time and smiling and enjoying Rome’s many delightful surprises.

We love music and the arts in Rome and it’s a great place for getting world-class events. Madonna played the Olympic Stadium a couple of weeks ago and my friends told me she was fantastic. I was really sad to have missed her.

Rome is full of many very beautiful women – and I have my own beautiful girlfriend, Luna, too, of course.