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The Best View in Rome
The Janiculum Hill (Gianicolo) is one my favorite spots in all of Rome, Italy
Rising above Trastevere, south of the Vatican, is a long ridge paralleling the Tiber called the Gianicolo (Janiculum), which is famously not one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
There are a few sights up here, but the most attractive feature is simply the sweeping view of Rome across the river, taking in everything from the Pincio gardens of the Villa Borghese on the left past the domes of the city center beyond the curve of the Colosseum on the right.
A Distant View
Lest you think my labeling this "one of my favorite spots in all of Rome" is mere frivolous hyperbole, I submit to you the purplest piece of prose I've ever penned, a veritable love letter to the view from up here at night that I wrote back in college, when I was about to leave life in Rome behind for a second time. It's called "A Distant View."
This panorama is thrilling by day and beautiful by night, when the Gianicolo doubles as Rome's Lover's Lane (lots of steamy Fiat windows and lip-locked lovers stationed every ten feet along the vista-kissed walls).
Toward the Gianicolo's southerly end is the Acqua Paola fountain, a gargantuan 17th-century basin and fountain made from marble taken from the Forum that serves as both the outlet for Trajan's aqueduct and the requisite backdrop for all Roman newlyweds' wedding photos.
Halfway down the hill from here off Via Garibaldi is the church of San Pietro in Montorio, whose courtyard houses Bramante's Tempietto, the epitome of Classically inspired Renaissance architecture in miniature, a tiny round Doric temple built over the spot where, back in 1508, popular belief erroneously held that St. Peter had been crucified. (When the courtyard is open, you can walk around the Tempietto to the back, descend a tiny and tight staircase into its base, and see the altar with its traditional upside-down cross—no, it's not Satanists; this is the cross of St. Peter.)
On Piazzale del Gianicolo, the Teatrino di Pulcinella al Gianicolo (tel. 06-582-7767) is an open-air puppet theater featuring the Neapolitan hand-puppet Pulcinella (known to Americans as Punch, of Punch and Judy fame). Shows of this traditional Italian entertainment run every afternoon between 3 and 8pm (whenever enough kids show up), and Sunday mornings as well. It's free, but you're welcome to leave a donation.
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This article was last updated in January 2007. All information was accurate at the time.
Copyright © 1998–2008 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
