Rewies taxi in Rome

If you are staying at a hotel and are in need of a taxi (obviously) the door man will hail you a cab. Before you get into the cab, ask the doorman what the fare should be. He will usually be able to give you a "ballpark" answer. The reason I give this advise is because on my last trip to Rome, my sister, daughter and I stayed at the Cavalieri and needed a cab to go to the vatican. A cab was hailed and we hopped in. It wasn't until we were almost there that I noticed that the meter wasn't on. When we stopped the driver pushed a button and the meter read "25". He tried to charge us 25 euros. We argued with him for a while and eventually paid him 15 but we were both very angry. That night when we got back to the hotel we asked the doorman how much it should cost and he said not more than 8 or 9 euros. At that point we told him what had happened. Unfortunetly we didn't get the name of the driver or the cab number so we couldn't report him. Always ask someone if you can!!!!!!!!!!