After a reasonable night's sleep and a quite satisfactory breakfast, it was time for a walk - a morning walk before it became too hot! The approximate path is shown on this map. Although on my third visit to Rome, I had not seen this part of the city before. The major attractions (St. Peter's, Colosseum etc.) are south/south west of Termini. So it was time to conquer new territory! The route on the map is somewhat approximate, as I don't exactly recall how I travelled from the hotel to the Villa Torlonia. But from there on it's probably fairly accurate.
The Hotel Ateneo Garden, as seen from Piazza de Siculi. There's no parking
garage, but I doubt that's a problem for most of their guests. There is
quite a bit of parking (some of it very creative) around the piazza, which
has a green area in the middle.
The courtyard. My room was at ground level on the right of this photo.
The room had a patio with table and chairs, facing onto this area. It
was very pleasant.
The first interesting stop was in Villa Torlonia.
From the above map, the building is number 5, the
Teatro
and the column is number 20, identified as
Colonne Onorarie.
The gentelman who is filling a water bottle came over and asked me
about the catacombs in this area. I said I was a visitor, and didn't
know about them. Interesting that a person from South Africa would ask
somebody from Australia/USA about a feature of a Roman park. What a wonderful
world we live in. I did see a tunnel entrance a little later, but it
was blocked off. Indeed, the theatre itself, clearly in a poor state,
was blocked off by a fence, as was the building labelled 2, the
Palazzo principale.
This is number 4 on the map of Villa Torlonia, shown as the
Casina delle Civette
which appears to be some sort of a cross between a museum and a
location for staging intimate musical events. It looks as though it
may have been a private residence at some stage, although one with
a somewhat eccentric design!
Number 15 on the map is the Temple of Saturn. Quite an imposing
structure from Roman times. The vines seem to be winning at present,
but I expect that will be cured in a few years when its turn comes for
cleaning up and restoration.
This is number 13 on the map - some sort of obelisk. It is covered with
hieroglyphics,
which I presume to be Egyptian (given the other
obelisks around Rome, and Rome's conquering of Egypt).
A view through the chain link fence surrounding the work going on (I
presume, I don't recall seeing anything actually happening) showing
the obelisk from above, together with a view of the building behind it
(number 2 on the map) surrounded by scaffolding.
Just a normal Roman park. But it was nice to sit in the shade for a few
minutes and enjoy the world going past.
More creative parking, Roman style, at the northern exit of Parco di Villa Paganini!
Italy In July
Roman Street Scenes
