Villa Doria Pamphili is known for its sprawling villa and a vast park that covers 180 hectares. This green oasis serves as a major recreation area for Rome’s residents and is especially popular among joggers, who make good use of its wide, shaded paths and open lawns.
Among the park’s many features, the area around the lake stands out for its lively wildlife. One unusual inhabitant is the coypu, also known as the swamp beaver. These animals are not native to Italy; their origins trace back to South America. The colony found here today descends from a group that managed to escape a local fur farm, adapting to their new home with surprising ease.
Coypus are now a regular sight around the lake in Villa Doria Pamphili. Visitors can often spot them swimming or sunning themselves near the water. The presence of these animals adds an unexpected twist to the park’s natural environment, creating a unique and memorable experience for nature lovers and families. Similar colonies of coypus can also be found by the banks of the Tiber River, further highlighting the adaptability of these curious creatures.
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Doria_Pamphili
This impressive villa covers 23 hectares. It can be accessed from the Via Appia Nuova (Bus 118) or through Via Appia Antica 251. Parts can be seen from the Appian Way at around the 5th mile just after No 251. The villa was built by Maximus and Condinus Quintilii. The emperor Commudus liked it so much that he put the brothers to death in 182 AD and took it for himself. A museum has friezes and sculptures from the villa. The nypheum, the tepidarium and the baths may also be visited. At Appia Antica 251 is Santa Maria Nova, a farmhouse that has undergone many reincarnations since being built on top of a Roman cistern that was probably used by Villa dei Quintilii.
Home of the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation and Benedictine monks studying in Rome. Visit the monastic produce shop and listen to the best Gregorian chant in Rome during Vespers (19:15 each evening).
It was immortalised in 1960 by the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita. It is also the location of the US Embassy, in the massive Palazzo Margherita. Via Veneto went into a period of decline in the 1980s but has returned to popularity and the roadside cafes are the place to be seen if you are into that sort of thing.
Unusual and fascinating round church dedicated to St. Stephen. It is the national church of Hungary in Rome. Dating from the 5th Century this is believed to be the largest round church in the world. Charles Dickens described its wall paintings of martyrdom and butchery as "hideous". A good starting point to visit the attractions of the Celio Hill (see Rome/Aventino-Testaccio).
In addition to Santa Maria in Cosmedin there is a lot to be seen around this piazza. Opposite the church is the round temple dedicated to Hercules Invictus (the Unconquered Hercules), and not far from that the rectangular Fortuna Virilis, both constructed in the 1st Century. Opposite, to the back of the piazza is the Arch of Argentari and behind that the church of San Giorgio in Velabro, the front of which was repaired after being damaged by a terrorist bomb in July 1993.
This is not, contrary to popular belief, one of the original seven hills that Rome was founded on. It is the second highest after Monte Mario, though, and offers incredible panoramic views of the city as long as the authorities remember to prune the trees on the hillside (if they are too tall you can walk a few meters down the hill for views that are just as good). On the other side of the piazza there is also a nice view of the dome of St. Peter's. The Piazza and the street leading up the hill are dedicated to Giuseppe Garibaldi who led Italian troops against the French here in 1849. There are also several commemorative statues.
Contains the tomb of Pope Hadrian IV, the last non-Italian pope before Pope John Paul I.
The house in which the famous English poet John Keats succumbed to consumption, now preserved as a memorial to his life and that of his friend Shelley, both of whom are buried in Rome's Protestant Cemetery (see Testaccio).
The palace was built by the architect Baldassare Peruzzi on behalf of the Massimo family. The former palace was destroyed during the pillage of Rome in 1527. The Massimo family can be traced back to Quintus Fabius Maximus who defeated Hannibal in the 3rd century BC. The building is open to the public on March 16, only in order to commemorate the miraculous reanimation of Paolo Massimo by St. Philip Neri in 1538.
The Collegio Romano was a college of the Jesuit order. Many popes, cardinals and bishops were educated here. Since 1870 it has been a secular (non-monastic) school. The coat of arms on the doorway is that of Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585). The tower was erected in 1787 and served as an observatory. Until 1925 all clocks in Rome were set after that of the Collegio Romano.
Rome's museum of contemporary art, housed in a former industrial complex. Rotating exhibitions, each one usually lasting about 4 months. The MACRO Testaccio exhibition space is located in Aventino-Testaccio.
The most extensive collection of Etruscan art and artifacts anywhere. Fantastic collection and well worth the admission charge. A difficult museum to find, but a lovely display in a beautiful villa setting.
A 5th-century basilica, simply and attractively decorated. The wooden door, of which 18 carved panels of scenes from the Bible survive, is believed to date from the church's construction.
According to the legendary passio, two brothers, John and Paul, who were officials at the imperial court, suffered martyrdom in 362 in their home on the Caelian hill, during the reign of emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus. This basilica dedicated to these two Roman officers was erected starting from 398 and was used first as a domus ecclesiae by the Christian community.