Rome's showcase park, its finest small art museum, modern-art landmarks and the affluent residential streets of Parioli, all an easy escape from the crowds of the centre.
עודכן לאחרונה 23 באוגוסט 2026
In a nutshell: Northern Rome is the city's green, cultured fringe. At its heart lies Villa Borghese, Rome's most famous park, wrapped around the peerless Galleria Borghese and several smaller museums. Step beyond the gates and the map opens up: the Etruscan treasures of Villa Giulia, the modern masters of La Galleria Nazionale, the contemporary-art landmarks MAXXI and MACRO, Renzo Piano's Auditorium concert complex and the wooded villas of Ada and Torlonia. There are few ancient ruins here and far fewer tourists than in the centre; the payoff is space, culture and the polished affluence of Parioli, Rome's most expensive residential district and the origin of 'pariolini', the local put-down for its designer-dressed rich kids.
Rome's big classical museums can overwhelm. The Galleria Borghese is the opposite: a lavishly decorated villa holding a collection so focused that two hours is the ideal primer on Renaissance and baroque art. The roster of masterpieces includes staggering Bernini sculptures and landmark canvases by Caravaggio, Titian, Raphael and Rubens.
The collection grew out of the passion of Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1577-1633), the influential nephew of Pope Paul V. It first hung in his residence near St Peter's, then in the 1620s he moved it to the villa he had built, where it remains today. The building has been remodelled repeatedly over the centuries, above all at the end of the 1700s, when most of its lavish neoclassical decoration appeared. The ground floor holds the famous sculpture rooms, with their superb statuary, rich marble fittings and hypnotic frescoes; upstairs, the painting gallery was in the middle of a major restoration when this guide was researched.
In the basement you will find the ticket area, coat check, cafe and bookshop, plus audio guides for €5. Stairs rise to the grand entrance hall, the Sala di Mariano Rossi, named for the 18th-century artist who frescoed its ceiling; the room is floored with 4th-century mosaics showing gladiators in combat and holds a 2nd-century Satiro combattente (Fighting Satyr). High on the wall hangs a breathtaking bas-relief that seems to defy gravity: a horse and rider plunging into a void, Pietro Bernini's Marco Curzio si getta nella voragine (Marcus Curtius Throws Himself into the Chasm, 1617). Pietro was Gian Lorenzo Bernini's father.
The undisputed showstopper of Sala I is Canova's daring portrait of Napoleon's sister Paolina Bonaparte Borghese, reclining topless as Venere vincitrice (Venus Victrix, 1804-08). The suggestive pose and sheer technical skill, study the cushion, are hallmarks of Canova's graceful, faintly erotic brand of neoclassicism.
The next rooms parade Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture, beginning with his David (1623-24) in Sala II. His willowy Apollo e Dafne (1622-25) freezes the precise instant Daphne's fingers begin to turn into leaves, while the astonishing Ratto di Proserpina (Rape of Proserpine, 1621-22) shows off his virtuosity: note how Pluto's fingers sink into the apparently yielding flesh of Persephone's thigh.
Scipione Borghese was among the most unscrupulous art collectors of the Roman baroque. He patronised artists of the calibre of Caravaggio, Bernini, Domenichino, Rubens and Guido Reni, but he also played dirty: he is said to have locked artists up to get his hands on their canvases, and to have seized artworks in place of unpaid taxes.
Caravaggio fans should make straight for Sala VIII, the Sala del Sileno, which holds six paintings by the tormented master: the dissipated-looking self-portrait Bacchino malato (Young Sick Bacchus, c.1595), the strangely beautiful La Madonna dei palafrenieri (Madonna with the Serpent, 1605), San Girolamo (St Jerome, c.1606), San Giovanni Battista (St John the Baptist, 1609-10), the much-loved Ragazzo col canestro di frutta (Boy with a Basket of Fruit, c.1595) and the dramatic Davide con la testa di Golia (David with the Head of Goliath, 1605-10), whose severed head of Goliath is supposedly a self-portrait.
Upstairs, twelve rooms offer a marvellous sweep of Renaissance painting. Sala IX, the Sala del Didone, mixes Tuscan and Umbrian painters with two Raphaels: the extraordinary La deposizione di Cristo (The Deposition, 1507) and Dama con liocorno (Lady with a Unicorn, 1506-09). The Sala di Ercole next door pairs a splendid ceiling fresco by Tyrolean painter Christoph Unterberger with Correggio's masterpiece Danäe (1530-31). Further on, the frescoed Loggia di Lanfranco displays two Bernini busts of Cardinal Scipione, and Sala XX, the Sala di Psiche, holds Titian's early masterwork Amor sacro e amor profano (Sacred and Profane Love, 1515-16), among the collection's most treasured pieces.
Renaissance and baroque masterpieces in a lavishly decorated villa: Bernini's Apollo e Dafne and Ratto di Proserpina, Canova's Paolina Borghese, six Caravaggios, plus Raphael, Titian and Rubens.
Tip: Audio guides cost €5 at the basement ticket area; bring photo ID for ticket pickup.
For an unhurried walk, a family cycle or a spot of outdoor yoga, Villa Borghese is the answer. The grounds began life as the private estate of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, one of the most powerful men of the 17th century; today they are a leafy, 80-hectare expanse of woods, planted gardens and grassy slopes. Inside you will find a little boating lake, a terrace with panoramic views and several intriguing museums.
The park's biggest cultural draw is the unrivalled Galleria Borghese itself. Little can compare, but you can also see an Andy Warhol at the Museo Carlo Bilotti, free, in the Aranciera di Villa Borghese, the villa's orangery. This small museum displays the collection amassed by Carlo Bilotti, a billionaire cosmetics tycoon: eighteen pieces by Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), among Italy's most important modern painters, plus a Warhol portrait of Bilotti's wife and daughter.
Nearby, the Museo Pietro Canonica, also free, shows marbles, bronzes and drawings by the early-20th-century sculptor in the rooms where he used to exhibit.
A few minutes' stroll from the Museo Pietro Canonica lands you at Piazza di Siena, an arena ringed by slim cypresses and tall umbrella pines that stages the city's leading showjumping competition every May. Laid out at the end of the 1700s on the orders of Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese, it borrows its name from the town the Borgheses originally came from.
Boaters should head to the Giardino del Lago, a leafy garden from the 1700s revolving around a modest artificial lake where you can rent a rowing boat for €5 per person per 20 minutes. Beyond the water, the picture-book Tempietto di Esculapio, an 18th-century copy of an antique temple, sits in romantic isolation.
For more romance, the neighbouring Pincio Hill Gardens end in an unforgettable lookout terrace. Settle against the balustrade and drink in the panorama that sweeps from Piazza del Popolo across to St Peter's and the Gianicolo Hill. Expect buskers; whether their loud pop classics add to the moment is a matter of taste.
All over the park you will encounter fountains, sculptures and monuments to famous poets, among them Goethe, Lord Byron, Victor Hugo, Alexander Pushkin and the Persian poet Ferdousi. Close to the Pincio, keep an eye out for the celebrated Orologio ad Acqua, an elaborate water clock devised by a Dominican friar back in 1867 and first exhibited at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
The park is a fine place to let children run free, though keep an eye out for the occasional car on the asphalted lanes. Rome's zoo, the Bioparco (adult/reduced €19/14), is a guaranteed hit: spread over 17 hectares next to the Galleria Borghese, it cares for around 150 species from five continents, from reptiles and birds to mammals. Other family options include the Teatro San Carlino (adult/reduced €11/10), a little puppet theatre, and the Cinema dei Piccoli (tickets from €3.50), a pint-sized picture house that counts among the world's most diminutive cinemas.
For something more energetic, bicycles and four-seater electric bikes can be hired at points across the park, from €4 an hour for a standard bike.
Film buffs should make for Piazzale San Paolo del Brasile, where the Casa del Cinema runs a regular programme of film events. For theatre fans, catching a show at the Gigi Proietti Globe Theatre, a life-size replica of London's original Globe, is an experience to remember.
Rome's zoo, set on 17 hectares near the Galleria Borghese with around 150 species of reptiles, birds and mammals from five continents.
Tip: Free toilets just inside the entrance gate on the left; combine with the park itself for a full family day.
The park's famous viewing terrace, with panoramic views from Piazza del Popolo to St Peter's and the Gianicolo, plus statues of poets and the 1867 water clock.
Tip: Reach it from Piazza del Popolo up a short, steep path, or stroll through the park.
The Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia occupies a 16th-century papal villa beside Villa Borghese, yet it feels far removed from the capital's clamour and crowds. The stately villa and its tended gardens make a fitting home for the country's most important Etruscan collection, a rare look into that enigmatic pre-Roman world.
Exhibits are clearly labelled and many were excavated from tombs around Lazio: bronze statuettes, black bucchero pottery, temple ornaments, terracotta vases and jewellery of dazzling refinement.
Standouts among the wealth of material include a terracotta Apollo from Veio, the Etruscan town just north of Rome; the Testa di Leucotea (Head of Leucotea), a terracotta head from the 6th century BCE that once decorated a temple relief; and a striking reconstruction of a frescoed Tarquinian tomb.
Equally remarkable are the Lamine di Pyrgi (Pyrgi Tablets): three gold leaves found in digs at Pyrgi, the ancient port of Cerveteri. Dating from the late 6th century BCE, they carry inscriptions in both Etruscan and Phoenician.
The showpiece, however, is the Sarcofago degli sposi (Sarcophagus of the Spouses), a 6th-century-BCE sarcophagus found in a tomb at Cerveteri that shows a married couple reclining on a stone dining couch, side by side.
Objects connected with the Umbri and Latin peoples are displayed at the neighbouring Villa Poniatowski, open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons from May through October.
From the 8th to the 4th centuries BCE the Etruscans ruled much of west central Italy. Their homeland, Etruria, was a confederation of twelve city-states lying between the Arno and the Tiber. Where they came from is debated, with theories ranging from migration out of Asia Minor to local roots. No one argues, though, about their sophistication: farming, trade and mining underpinned their world. They were accomplished builders, and although their structures are mostly gone, archaeologists have traced aqueducts, bridges, sewers and temples. Artistically they excelled at jewellery and lavish tomb decoration, as the Villa Giulia showcases reveal.
Italy's premier Etruscan collection in a 16th-century papal villa: the Apollo of Veio, the Pyrgi Tablets and the Sarcophagus of the Spouses.
Tip: Walk on to the Villa Poniatowski (Fri-Sun afternoons, May-Oct) for finds of the Umbri and Latin peoples.
When you tire of classical art, La Galleria Nazionale is the cure. Known locally by its acronym GNAM (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea), it is one of Rome's under-appreciated institutions, with a superb collection of modern and contemporary pieces spanning a who's who of 19th- and 20th-century names.
From neoclassical sculpture and impressionist canvases to Dadaist provocations and current installations, the holdings amount to a broad cross-section of every major movement of the modern era. Unusually, works are hung by theme rather than by date, arranged to set up dialogues: a pride of bronze lions sprawls across the grand entrance staircase, their jaunty playfulness undercutting the solemn pomposity of the vast neoclassical palace.
A case in point is the Sala dell'Ercole, where Canova's three-metre Ercole e Lica (Hercules and Lichas, 1795-1815) squares off against a 1960s water-bath piece by Pino Pascali.
Bright, airy galleries hold the big Italian names: the macchiaioli, futurists Boccioni and Balla, Modigliani, de Chirico and Guttuso. International icons are more familiar still: Monet's Ninfee rosa (Pink Water Lilies, 1897-99), Klimt's Le tre età della donna (The Three Ages of Woman, 1905) and Mondrian's Composizione A (Composition A, 1919-20). Then there is Duchamp's famous Fountain of 1917, in fact a porcelain urinal, guaranteed to provoke debate on modern art's merits.
Modern and contemporary art from neoclassicism to Duchamp's Fountain, hung by theme in a vast neoclassical palace guarded by bronze lions.
Tip: End with an aperitivo at Caffè delle Arti, open 8am-11pm (to 9pm in winter).
Even without a concert ticket, the capital's flagship cultural centre merits a look. Conceived by star architect Renzo Piano and opened in 2002, it pairs three grey, pod-shaped concert halls with an open-air amphitheatre, an audacious piece of contemporary design. Guided tours go behind the scenes, taking in the remains of an ancient Roman villa.
The three giant pods that define the complex hold its main auditoriums. Biggest is the 2744-seat Sala Santa Cecilia, named for the acclaimed Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, which is resident here and performs regularly. Clad in cherry wood and praised for their acoustics, the halls, along with the Cavea, a 3000-seat open-air arena, stage everything from classical and jazz to rock and pop, plus public lectures, festival programmes and film screenings.
Inside, three small museums are free to visit. The Museo Archeologico shows finds from the Roman villa uncovered while the complex was being built, along with fragments of the villa itself. The Museo Aristaios displays a valuable hoard of ancient Mediterranean pottery, including fine Attic vases. Different again, the Museo degli Strumenti Musicali gathers more than 500 instruments, among them a treasured 1690 Stradivarius violin.
The complex has borne Ennio Morricone's name since 2020. Born in 1928, he trained at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia and went on to become a film-score superstar, best remembered for teaming up with old schoolmate Sergio Leone on a trio of spaghetti westerns capped by Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 1966). Across his career he scored as many as 500 films and series, collected Oscars in 2007 and 2016, won four Grammys and sold over 70 million records. Morricone passed away in Rome on 6 July 2020.
Renzo Piano's pod-like concert complex with superb acoustics, guided tours past ancient Roman ruins and three free archaeology and music museums.
Tip: Check the website for upcoming concerts, festivals and screenings.
Roman art is not all classical sculpture and Old Masters. The city nurtures a compact but lively contemporary scene, with a growing crop of forward-looking galleries and venues. At its head stands MAXXI (adult/reduced €15/12), Rome's premier contemporary-art museum, in Zaha Hadid's eye-catching 2010 building in the middle of Flaminio. A rotating pick of the permanent collection is always up, yet the temporary shows by established names and rising talents are usually the highlight.
Second venue MACRO (adult/reduced €6/4) runs exhibitions, installations and events from a sleek steel-and-glass former brewery redesigned by French architect Odile Decq, in the Salario district east of the park.
Rome's leading contemporary-art museum in a Zaha Hadid landmark in Flaminio, with a rotating permanent collection and major temporary shows.
Tip: Pair it with the Auditorium a short walk away on Viale Pietro de Coubertin.
Exhibitions, installations and events in Odile Decq's steel-and-glass conversion of a former brewery in the Salario district, east of Villa Borghese.
Barely a kilometre separates them, yet Ponte Milvio and the Ponte della Musica tell wildly different stories. Ponte Milvio, a cobbled footbridge at the start of Via Flaminia, counts among the city's most historic crossings and witnessed a famous battle. First raised in 109 BCE, it stood intact until 1849, when Garibaldi's men blew up part of it to block the advancing French; Pope Pius IX had it rebuilt the following year.
Downriver, the steel-arched Ponte della Musica belongs to the wave of modern bridges thrown up in the 2000s. Pedestrian-only like its elderly neighbour, it honours the Roman composer Armando Trovajoli, who died in 2013.
Constantine's rout of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312 CE ranks among Rome's most famous victories. It capped a tangled seven-year contest for the Western Roman Empire and is wrapped in Christian legend: one story has Constantine seeing a vision of the cross on the eve of battle, with the words 'In this sign, conquer'. Apocryphal or not, his victory was total: Maxentius died, Rome lay open, and the groundwork was laid for Christianity to sweep the Roman world.
With a little spare time and a taste for the odd, hunt out the Quartiere Coppedè. Dreamed up and constructed by the obscure Florentine architect Gino Coppedè from 1913 to 1926, the tiny quarter is among Rome's strangest: instead of ruins and Renaissance palazzi, expect Tuscan turrets, Liberty-inspired sculptures, Moorish arches, Gothic gargoyles, painted facades and gardens shaded by palms. Enter through the archway off Via Tagliamento onto the main square, Piazza Mincio, where the froggy Fontana delle Rane reinterprets the Fontana delle Tartarughe of the Jewish Ghetto.
Locals love Villa Torlonia, a green pocket just off Via Nomentana. The walled grounds are compact, yet with towering pines, moody palms, an obelisk and scattered villas they suit a picnic, a slow walk or an evening jog. There is culture here too: the group of museums known as the Musei di Villa Torlonia centres on the neoclassical Casino Nobile (adult/reduced €9/6.50), whose opulent rooms hold classically inspired sculpture and early-20th-century Roman painting. Beneath the villa lies the bunker Mussolini had constructed while in residence during WWII (adult/reduced €12/6; booking required).
Also in the grounds: the Casina delle Civette (adult/reduced €9/7.50), an oddly styled house with a museum of stained glass, and the Serra Moresca (adult/reduced €6/5), an elegant Moorish-style greenhouse full of plants and trees.
Benito Mussolini spent much of his rule at Villa Torlonia. In 1925 the dictator accepted Prince Giovanni Torlonia's invitation and moved into the Casino Nobile for a token rent of one lira a year, bringing his wife Rachele and their five children. In residence, the Duce marked daughter Edda's wedding in 1930, received Mahatma Gandhi in 1931 and presided over countless tennis matches, ceremonies and private parties. World War II ended all that: in July 1943 the family fled, and from 1944 the Allied High Command occupied the Casino until 1947.
Porta Pia, the monumental gate designed by Michelangelo at the head of Via Nomentana, is famous nationwide as the scene of la breccia, 'the breach'. On 20 September 1870 government troops blasted a hole in the Aurelian Walls and marched into Rome, then the capital of Pius IX's Papal States. The pope had consistently refused to recognise the new Italian state, and his roughly 15,000 defenders lost heart once the walls gave way; the city fell almost at once. In February 1871 Rome was proclaimed capital of Italy.
A leafy park off Via Nomentana wrapped around four museums: the neoclassical Casino Nobile, Mussolini's bunker, a stained-glass house and a Moorish greenhouse.
Tip: Book the bunker in advance; the park is a favourite local spot for picnics and evening workouts.
For those drawn underground, the Catacombe di Priscilla (adult/reduced €10/7) are among the oldest and loveliest of Rome's catacombs. Hewn out between the 2nd and 5th centuries, the 'Queen of Catacombs' stretches 13 km and shelters as many as 40,000 burials, including seven early popes and countless martyrs. Guided tours last 45 minutes and cover the essentials: a Greek chapel from the 3rd century CE and a crude fresco of the Virgin and Child from around 230 CE, believed to be the oldest surviving image of Mary anywhere.
13 km of 2nd- to 5th-century tunnels with up to 40,000 tombs, seven early popes and the oldest known image of the Virgin Mary, seen on 45-minute guided tours.
The trek out to the Basilica di Sant'Agnese Fuori le Mura pays off in its glorious apse mosaic. Showing St Agnes between popes Honorius and Symmachus, the 4th-century work ranks among the finest Byzantine art in the capital. Tradition holds that Agnes, martyred at thirteen on Piazza Navona, was buried in the catacombs running beneath the church (guided visits adult/reduced €10/7).
Next to the present complex, remains of the original 4th-century basilica survive in an open field; it was built for Costanza, daughter of the emperor Constantine, abandoned in the 7th century and replaced by the current church, heavily altered over the ages. Above the basilica stands the Mausoleo di Santa Costanza, a low rotunda whose dome rests on twelve pairs of granite columns; its vaulted ambulatory glows with lovely 4th-century mosaics.
A 4th-century apse mosaic of St Agnes, one of Rome's finest Byzantine works, plus the circular mausoleum of Santa Costanza with its famous mosaics.
Football stirs Roman passions like little else, and a match at the Stadio Olimpico is the most direct way to feel it. From late August to May there is usually a fixture most Sundays featuring one of the city's two Serie A sides, Roma or Lazio. Get the colours right: Roma wear red and yellow and their support packs the Curva Sud, while sky-blue Lazio's tifosi dominate the Curva Nord. Tickets go on sale via the clubs' own websites and agencies such as TicketOne.
The 70,000-seat stadium at the foot of Monte Mario, shared by Roma and Lazio, and centrepiece of the Foro Italico sports complex from 1932.
Tip: Roma fans sit in the Curva Sud; Lazio's tifosi fill the Curva Nord.
For festival energy, head to Villa Ada, a sprawling, densely wooded park that once belonged to King Vittorio Emanuele III as a private estate. Between June and early August the Villa Ada Festival takes over, running concerts by Italian and international stars. Cinephiles, meanwhile, get their red-carpet moment at the Festa del Cinema di Roma each October: the Auditorium is the hub, but for ten days films screen all over town.
For a night of music, Flaminio is the neighbourhood. As well as performances at the Auditorium, the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, a longstanding organisation, puts on a season of concerts, mostly classical but also opera, ballet and jazz, at its base at Via Flaminia 18 and at the Teatro Olimpico.
Explora is one of the few museums where children are positively encouraged to handle everything on display. Built for the under-12s, it offers a hands-on, feet-on adventure, and a free public park lies just outside. The entrance is timed: booking is advised and compulsory at weekends.
An interactive, touch-everything museum for under-12s, with a free park outside.
Tip: Book ahead: timed entry is recommended and booking is required at weekends.
Coolly casual restaurant with seafood and updated Roman classics.
A popular lunch spot known for its abundant buffet of original vegan dishes.
Italian regional cuisine gets a makeover at this Michelin-starred restaurant in a five-star hotel.
Contemporary decor and Italo-Japanese fusion close to the MAXXI museum.
No-frills pizza a taglio (sliced pizza) takeaway, ideal for a quick bite.
Casual and popular, with wood-fired pizzas made from organic flour and seasonal toppings.
A culinary all-rounder: wood-fired pizza, focaccia, calzoni, fried starters and cured meats.
Outpost in Rome of a legendary pizzeria from Naples, serving its deep-pan pizzas.
Renowned gelateria with classic flavours made from high-quality seasonal ingredients; ideal after MAXXI.
Bright gelateria with giant scoops of refreshing fruit gelato.
Sleek pasticceria-cafe frequented for aperitifs and exquisite pastries.
Charming cake shop with vintage tables; baked delights range from muffins to seasonal fruit-inspired cakes.
Local spot with top-shelf wines and tapas-style dishes.
Modish restaurant-cafe known for its abundant aperitif buffet (€15), plus cocktails, brunch and pizza.
Kiosk bar that draws young crowds; excellent cocktails.
The neoclassical splendour of the Galleria Nazionale's cafe is a memorable backdrop for aperitivi and cocktails.
The area's hotels tend towards the boutique and the quietly upmarket. Options include Casa Montani, Hotel Villa Linneo, the Hoxton, My Guest Roma B&B and the Palm Gallery Hotel, spread between the park, Flaminio and Parioli.
Yes. Visitors are admitted at two-hourly intervals, so you must pre-book a timed entry, even with a Roma Pass. Allow 30 to 45 minutes to collect your ticket at the basement entrance and bring photo ID.
The park stays open, but every major museum in the area closes on Monday, so a museum crawl here is best saved for other days.
Take metro line A to Flaminio or Spagna, or buses 53 and 160. Inside the park you can rent bikes from €4 per hour, including four-seater electric bikes.
The Museo Carlo Bilotti and Museo Pietro Canonica in the park are free, as are the three small museums inside the Auditorium. Villa Giulia is free on the first Sunday of the month.