Looking for a few spots in Rome that are off the beaten-path? Take a fifteen-minute walk from the Colosseum and find yourself at the Aventine Hill. This beautiful and quiet area is one of my favorite vantage-points in Rome. Walking from the Colosseum you will pass the Circus Maximus and reach your first destination on the Aventine Hill in just five minutes. This area is quiet, enchanting, and often times overlooked by tourists!! Wonder off the beaten path a little and find one of the most romantic spots in the Eternal City!
Rose Garden of Rome
At the bottom of the Aventine Hill you will first reach the beautiful rose gardens of Rome. The Rose gardens are divided into two large gated areas where you can sit and admire the beautiful blooms or walk around and smell each one. There are over 1100 different varieties of roses throughout the garden! This beautiful garden is the perfect spot for you and your loved one to sit amongst the flowers and rest from a long day of touring.
Next, exit the rose gardens and continue up hill on Via di Santa Sabina.
Santa Sabina
After walking for ten minutes you will see a parking lot on your right with a drinking fountain in the back right corner. Stop for a drink of water or cross the lot and wonder inside the Church of Santa Sabina halfway up the Aventine Hill. The Church is rich with history and dates back to 422 AD. Check out the outside door of the church under the colonnade, this original wooden 5th century door displays beautiful, authentic early Christian art.
When you exit the church, head over to the gate next to the water fountain and walk through it!
Orange Garden
You will then have arrived in the Eternal City’s Orange Garden, one of the most beautiful vantage points in Rome. Walk into the Garden and turn left, you will reach the viewpoint where you can see everything from the neighborhood of Testaccio on the left to the Victor Emmanuel Monument on the right. I love this area because you can see almost all that Rome has to offer, from the Gianicolo Hill to the Dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica, from the Pantheon to Castel Sant’Angelo, and so much more! This beautiful area is not just quiet and intimate during the day, but if you are visiting the Aventine Hill at sunset you will find yourself visiting arguably one of the most romantic spots in all of Italy!
When you have finished looking over the skyline in Rome exit the garden and continue on up Via di Santa Sabina.
The Keyhole of the Knights of Malta
After walking for another five minutes you will have reached the Complex and Square of the Knights of Malta. In the square you might five or ten people lined up to see through the keyhole and you might find the square empty. Nevertheless, either wait in line or walk up to the main, green door on the right hand side and take a glance through he keyhole! You will see one of the most spectacular views of the Dome of Saint Peter’s. Through the keyhole, the dome is framed perfectly by a barrel vault of hedges.
After you have seen all of the beauty that the Aventine Hill has to offer, walk back down the way you came and turn left when you reach the rose garden. Venture just another ten-minute walk from the bottom of the Aventine Hill to reach your last stop! Keep walking down the hill until you reach Via di Santa Maria in Cosmedin. When you reach the rode cross to the right (as if walking along Via di Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
Mouth of Truth
The Mouth of Truth, when you cross the street you will reach the church Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Enter along the gated area on the same street and wait in a line of about fifteen people to take your turn putting your hand in the Mouth of Truth, a mythological stone carving of a man’s face!