No matter which guidebook you use, there'll be a long list of what to avoid for safety. Sad but humorous, it's all obviously there as if a scripted part of the daily side show! Bands of women with ruffian broods could be seen "working" the Colosseum area causing distractions for pickpocketing. Begging ladies and fortune telling gypsies tried to get too close too quick. I saw police apprehend juveniles who'd snatched a purse. Why repeat this news again? Because we can ALL be "clueless tourists" at times or else the success of such criminals wouldn't make them akin to Betty Crocker - "They'll always come back for more"!
Cashiers, especially in eateries, seemed more prone to fulfill the "short-changing" act of which I got taken a couple of times. Give them a 10,000 bill for a 3,000 meal; they vehemently swear you only gave 5,000.
As someone who live's in a large city, I admit "we've" still not learned to keep from biting the hand that feeds us...no matter how many seem to constantly be waving in our faces. Rome, like NY and other meccas, have year-round tourist influxes that can be pretty overwhelming, unwanted at times. My understanding and tolerance of these locals' questionable hospitality/doings, warranted or not, came from countless times I've contributed to perceptions about "rude New Yorkers"! Struggling to live a daily life beyond, yet amid the Tourist Traps is something one only grasps if they've lived it. Since most of the traveling population most likely hasn't, there's an innocent ignorance that reaps hostility from AND for us all.
NY is melting pot of the world; ethnicity NOT a valid clue/hint for who visitors might be but actions sure are! Rome was different - often finding myself wondering where the Romans and Italians were? Aside from tourists, it would seem Rome's legacy has come full-circle. After conquering most of the world, tables have turned with large number of immigrants descending upon the Eternal City fulfilling roles all but stereotypically no different than NYC. Ristorantes post bouncers to prohibit Orientals selling flowers, trinkets, nonsense. Africans/Arabs drive cabs and run sidewalk businesses since shopkeepers pride themselves banding together, keeping them from buying all the stores like in Barcelona. However, their greatest contempts were justified against a problem so out of hand, even police have all but given up.
Indian immigrants have nomadically saturated the streets selling every kind of worthless junk imaginable. I'll never forget images of blue plastic bags hanging over dark-skinned arms as they chased/harrassed people everywhere. My well-polished "Back off!" NY-look kept them at a distance, but yet I found my heart going out to them wondering how bad former lives must have been if they considered this a better life? Perhaps you'll feel sorry for them, too...but not enough to make a purchase. Once a sucker - always a sucker!