The Unknown Places of Rome

Tourists come from all over the world to visit Rome’s many popular destinations like squares, museums and ancient ruins.

Rome is so beautiful that one always has the desire to be able to go back, this desire can lead you to another very famous tourist place, to the “Fontana di Trevi.” Stand with your back facing the fountain and throw a coin behind you … according to tradition this gesture will ensure that you can return to the Eternal City.

It is now a tradition for everyone to do it, tourists and non-tourists alike.

What few know, however, even among Italians, are the most hidden destinations of the “secret Rome.”

Let’s discover together some truly remarkable ones.

•Giardino degli aranci:

It is located in a park overlooking the Tiber, not far away there is a door of the Priory of the Knights of Malta, through the keyhole you can see the Dome gathered in the center of a luxuriant outline. It is known among the Romans as a very romantic place, but among the tourists it is not so well known.

•Porta Alchemica di Piazza Vittorio:

Near the Esquiline hill stood a majestic villa, Villa Palombara, of which today we can admire the remains of a door surrounded by statues and esoteric symbols. Legend says that the door was connected to the philosopher’s stone and to the eccentric studies of the well-known alchemist who owned the villa.

•Biblioteca Angelica:

Near Piazza Navona, we find this building which contains the first public library in Italy and the second in Europe after Oxford. In addition to the wonderful scenographic aspect of the library, we will be able to observe engravings, hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts, ancient Greek and Latin books.

•La Fontana dei Libri:

As a tribute to the old headquarters of the Sapienza university, a fountain was built in 1927 made up of four ancient books placed on marble shelves, with a deer’s head in the center representing the symbol of the district, and bookmark-shaped spouts from which water comes out.

To admire it we should go to the Sant’Eustachio district, but not only that, after visiting the fountain we could taste one of the best coffees in Rome in Piazza Sant’Eustachio. The bar, which bears the name of the square, boasts many blends having in common the exceptional water deriving from the ancient Roman aqueduct, still functioning today.

•Orologio ad Acqua:

A park very dear to the Romans is undoubtedly the Pincio, where you can enjoy a spectacular view of Rome, but much less known in this park is certainly the water clock from the mid-nineteenth century.

Its mechanism is powered directly by the water from the fountain and everything is visible thanks to the glass structure.

There would still be so many places to discover, so go to the Trevi Fountain, throw your coin, so you can go back to Rome to see everything else.