Relaxing & parks – All our local tips

Let’s reCycle the city! Make the difference: let’s cycle around, and show local government that cycling has plenty of fans and it’s worth investing on it!

The service is now managed by ATAC, the local mobility company. Just get an ATAC Bikesharing Card, which you can purchase and recharge at the ATAC ticket counters at the Metro A stops of Lepanto, Spagna and Termini. The cost of the rechargeable card is € 5.00 with a minimum initial charge of € 5.00; you can recharge the card for any amount you want.

The service is available 24 hours a day, and you can take a bike for a maximum of 24 hours at a time. The rate is € 0,50/ half or part thereof.

Penalties: for theft of the bike € 250.00, for exceeding the time limit, a € 10.00 flat fee plus € 5.00 per hour, if you abandon the bike without calling the ATAC line (+390657003) € 30.00.

Location of bike stands:

Via del Corso, 1 (piazza del Popolo)
Piazza Madonna di Loreto (piazza Venezia)
Piazza del Parlamento
Piazza Colonna
Piazza di Spagna
Largo delle Stimmate (Argentina)
Piazza delle Cinque Lune (piazza Navona)
Via Santa Caterina da Siena (Pantheon)
Piazza del Biscione (campo de’ Fiori)
Piazza San Silvestro
Piazza Sforza Cesarini
Via della Panetteria (via del Tritone)
Piazza Sant’Andrea della Valle
Vicolo della Campana (via della Scrofa)
Largo Arenula
Piazza dell’Oratorio
Via di Santa Maria in Via (Fontana di Trevi) Piazza dell’Oro
Via dei Pontefici

More bikes are coming soon!

For information: ATAC dedicated line +39 06 57003 (24/7, including holidays) or visit www.atac-bikesharing.it

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“Bike sharing” | Relaxing | One-off fee € 5.00
Various locations | City center | +390657003
24 hours daily

I ran into this tiny little cafe and library because one of my co-workers had told me that she had her first painting exposition there so I thought it was neat. But the first time I expected an art gallery, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a cool little cafe with an intimate upstairs with couches and a separate small room where they hang the paintings. The paintings the first time I went were really neat but when they exchanged them after a while, they were still cool and they really went well with the decor of the place.

I decided to have a hot chocolate and my friend had coffee and it was cool to just sit and talk and if you love to read, you also have a good variety of books to choose from.

Then I went again and again and sometimes I bring my laptop so I can work in a relaxing environment while sipping a cappuccino or hot chocolate or some fruit juice.

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Agave Bistrot | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Hot chocolate € 3.00
Via di San Martino ai Monti 7/A | City center | +39064882134
18:00 – 00:00 daily

Had Back to the Future been filmed in Italy, the scene where Marty McFly and crazy Dr. Emmett Brown are trying to channel electricity from lightening to their car would certainly have been filmed in Piazza Damiano Sauli, in Garbatella. As far as the clock tower goes, rather than using that from a city-hall building, the spaghetti version would use the one from Elementary School “Cesare Battisti”.

I don’t know why but it just feels that way. Maybe it’s those large, spread-winged eagles that give this school this aura of institutional sobriety. Maybe it’s the fact that the ironworks clock tower would make a great conductor for electricity. Maybe it’s the fact that this school simply looks familiar and embodies the archetype of “School” for many Italians. Infact, many Italians may have already seen this school as part of the set for popular TV sit-com I Cesaroni. Others may have studied it as an example of Fascist architecture in textbooks.

In any case, if you’re ever in Garbatella, you may want to take a look at it. You will find the school on one side of the square. On the other side, you will see a church; in the middle, a pedestrian area with a small sculpture (with kids and old people congregating respectively on each side); and, in the backdrop, some brick archways that lead into the heart of old-town Garbatella, with its small cottages and gardens.

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Cesare Battisti | Art & culture, Relaxing
Piazza Damiano Sauli | Testaccio & Ostiense
24 hours daily

Are you Protestant, Jewish, or Christian Orthodox? If so, and if you happened to die while visiting Rome in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, perhaps of ‘mal-aria’ in the summer months, chances are that you would be buried in the Cimitero Acattolico near Piramide, aka as the Protestant Cemetery.

Catholic law in fact used to prohibit any non-Catholic from being buried in Catholic churches or cemeteries. Given that there were growing numbers Danes, Germans, English, Americans, Russians and Swedes who came to visit, study or live in Rome during in the 1800’s, the Cimitero Acattolico became the designated area to bury these ’stranieri’.

Now, it is the place where you can get away from it all while contemplating the graves of the Great. In what seems like a peaceful garden just meters away from the bustle of the Piramide area, you will find the tombs of Shelley, Keats, and Gramsci, to name the most famous of the many poets, historians, archaeologists, painters, sculptors, diplomats and intellectuals buried here. For a complete listing please visit the Cemetery’s website or the Cemetery’s Information Center.

In addition to Keats’ gravestone where you will be able to read the famous ‘here lies one whose name was writ in water’, a lovely gravestone is that of sculptor William Wetmore Story and his wife with the statue of the grieving angel.

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Cimitero Acattolico | Art & culture, Relaxing | Donation € 2.00
Via Caio Cestio 6 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065741900
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 17:00, Sun 09:00 – 13.00 (last entrance 16:30 & 12.30)

In times like these, when world capitalism is being questioned ever more so, an interesting place to visit is the Città dell’Altra Economia. This is an entire cultural center devoted to the promotion of an alternative type of economy: organic agriculture, fair trade, renewable energies, reuse and recycling, responsible tourism, and ethical finance.

CAE was inaugurated in September 2007 during the administration of Rome’s former mayor Walter Veltroni. It is located in a portion of Rome’s former slaughterhouse and cattle market in Testaccio. The buildings have been completely renovated so as to be eco-compatible and sustainable.

Within the center, you will find a “bio-restaurant” serving only organic food, a “bio-coffee shop” serving espresso, cappuccino and teas from fair trading partners, a fair-trade natural foods store as well as a reuse and recycle store selling objects and works of art made from recyclables.

There are also representatives from companies operating in the renewable energies, responsible tourism, and ethical finance sectors available to provide information and services. Last but not least, there is an “open communication” section focusing on the use of technologies and free-license software to foster the sharing of knowledge across peoples.

CAE offers a series of events, including book presentations, readings, concerts and fairs. Be sure to check CAE’s website regularly or subscribe to its newsletter. The bio-bar offers a Euro 5 after-hours “aperitivo” on Friday evenings from 19:30 – 21:30. The bio-restaurant offers a Euro 20 special three-course organic meal deal on Sundays at lunch.

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Citta’ dell’Altra Economia | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping, Restaurants (Organic)
Largo Dino Frisullo | Testaccio & Ostiense | +393488059332
Tue -Sat 10:00 – 20:00, Sun 10:00 – 19:00

CLOSED UNTIL MARCH – IF SUNNY (OR WARM ENOUGH) OPEN ON SAT AND SUN. If taking your kids with you, you’d better call in advance, and make sure it is not too humid…

Enjoy Rome from a different perspective…from the EUR lake! Ok, ok, it’s still pretty cold outside…but sunny days will come soon, and the EUR lake is the best place to be, then!

Floating picnic
Get your favourite take away, or ask the staff to take care of the food, get on board and…enjoy! You just have to spot your favourite lake’s corner, cast the anchor and relax…You don’t need to know how to handle the boat: they can tow you off wherever you like, and come back on request to pick you up.

Minimum rent: 30 minutes.

Just for two!
A lovely houseboat awaits you for the most romantic experience…whilst sipping your aperitivo on the deck, you’ll be taken to the most lovely spot on the EUR lake. A full dinner of your choice will be served, and the whole evening will be spent on board, under the roman starry sky. Perfect to propose, or just to let your other half know how much you care…

P.S. Happy Lake is also lake tour, kids entertainment and larger boat and houseboat for your parties.

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Floating Picnic | Relaxing | Per boat (1 hour) from € 50.00
Viale del Giappone, EUR Lake | EUR | +393334987476
11:00 – 00:00 daily in the warm season, or upon reservation

Something in between an hair saloon and a concept store, Paliotta Hair is must if you want to indulge into a real treat!

Located near Campo de’ Fiori, it offers to its guests far more than just a perfect hair fix: from clothing to accessories, from a collection of international magazines to russian reknown Kusmi teas, in their colorful, fancy metal boxes. And don’t forget to take with you one of the imported products containing cannabis and caviar: looks like they are the real best on the market for an healty scalp and glorious hair!

P.S. Giuseppe’s pet, Nuvola, is part of the decoration, and the overall experience!

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Giuseppe Paliotta Hair Saloon | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping
PIazza della Cancelleria, 70 | City center | +39066869154
Tue – Sat 10:00 -18:00

The Joia is one of the most popular clubs in the Testaccio area. The elegant and chic style, as demonstrated especially by the restaurant and lounge bar, where every evening we are likely to meet characters from the world of entertainment, footballers and celebrities.

The main colour of the club is white, but some small details of design and exotic plants scattered throughout the restaurant make the atmosphere very particular.

The club is on three floors: the lower hall is the largest room dedicated to the real disco for those who love dance.

The central hall, named “Vintage Room” is dedicated to all those who love the music of the years 70/80.

The upper room, called “Joiello” (a word game between Joia and Gioiello,which in Italian means gem), is dedicated mainly to the restaurant (15 euros with drinks and dinner buffet), opening at 21:00. After dinner at 00:00 it turns into a disco hall and becomes the coolest floor of the club, where only those who reserved the private room at the table or selected clients can enter.

This is the most beautiful room of the club: in fact the area reserved for piano is finely furnished with sofas and tables. The atmosphere is carefully guarded in all details, from the location of the air condition to sound, and wants to create a state of mental and physical relaxation, a fun necessary to clear the everyday working stress.

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Joia | Bars, Music, Relaxing, Restaurants (Oriental) | Drinks € 10.00
Via Galvani 20 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065740802
Tue – Sun 21:00 – 04:00

Lo Zodiaco is the highest spot of the city. I go up there to enjoy the largest and widest view Rome can offer. You get a 180 degrees view from this hill. It is breathtaking.

When I go there I make sure I don’t forget some coins for the monoculars (€0,50), because I never get tired of watching a close-up of the Tiber, the stadium, the zillion roof tops on the opposite end towards the heart of Rome, the obelisks, the churches, St.Peter’s and the Altare della Patria. I like swinging the monocular to the left and to the right and play child for a moment as if I were observing from a vedette.

The imaginary lasts a few minutes when it’s time for a snack, either in the small economic bar right in front of the marble meridian circle or the bigger one, also a restaurant, with tables and a view front. It’s always been a place for lovers and romancing, but it’s ideal even if you are a lone wolf or a group of friends.

Everytime I go up there I am glad to refresh my mind and ‘take shots’ with my eyes, clicking on one of the greatest live masterpieces in the world.

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Lo Zodiaco | Bars, Relaxing, Restaurants (International) | Sandwiches € 3.00
Via del Parco Mellini 88/92 | Cassia & Montemario
12:00 – 15:30 & 19:00 – 01:00 daily

If you want to immerse yourself in lush vegetation and be intrigued by thousands of different types of flowers, plants, bushes, and trees, Rome’s botanical garden is the place to visit. It is an open-air museum in the heart of Trastevere run by the Department of Plant Biology of Rome’s University “Sapienza”.

There is a 20-step itinerary within the garden which you can follow to admire all the different ‘holdings’ of the museum, or you can simply take a stroll and see where you end up. The itinerary is described in a pamphlet available in different languages at the entrance. I found it pretty well done and so: thank you, Prof. Loretta Gratani, (author of the pamphlet and director of the garden) you made our visit much more enjoyable.

I really enjoyed the Japanese garden, the sequoia (yes, we have one in Rome!!!) and ginko trees, the officinal herb garden, and the succulent plants greenhouse.

One of the challenges of visiting is actually trying to read out loud the names of the plants. Try pronouncing Brachychiton populneus or Chamaerops humilis or Nannirrhops ritchiana!

Note 1: If you happen to be in the garden at around mid-day, please brace yourself for the daily canon going off on the Gianicolo Hill. I was not prepared and almost had a heart-attack.

Note 2: Since this is not a proper park, please be sure to check the opening times. For instance, it is unfortunately NOT open on Sundays or on holidays. Also, the greenhouses close at 12:30.

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Orto Botanico | Art & culture, Relaxing | Entrance fee adults € 4.00
Largo Cristina di Svezia | Trastevere | +3949917107
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 17:30

Parco Pappacci is a park near my house and it is a nice park to go relax, bring your dog (there is a separate area just for your pets), run or bring your children.

I go mainly to relax and walk around and maybe sit down on a bench and catch up on some reading, I usually do this during the spring time where you can catch some rays of sunshine as well, while I read or do some people watching and take a break from work and home.

In March when spring time is close you can admire the trees blossoming and the daisies which make the park so much prettier. I keep on going during the summer as well because the shades of the trees makes the heat so much more bearable, even though there is less people watching to do.

There are always a lot of people in the park – from young children playing on the merry go rounds, to teenagers playing basketball and older adults walking and chatting (or maybe gossiping) or old couples holding hands…such a sweet sight!

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Parco Pappacci | Relaxing | Free
Via di Grottarossa 124 | Cassia & Montemario
05:00 – 22:00 daily

The city of Rome isn’t bike-friendly yet but luckily some of its parks are. One of these parks is the Parco Regionale dell’Appia Antica and, every once in a while, on Sundays, when it shuts down to traffic, I like to ride my bike there.

It has some excellent bike-routes which will allow you to get some good exercise while admiring beautiful sites of historical and artistic interest. You can choose to ride along the ‘queen of all roads’ the Appian Way, or along one of the different trails in the greener and wilder sections of the park, such as the Caffarella Valley or the Tormarancia estate.

On the Appia Antica, I think the most striking part is really the actual road –the cobblestones. They are simply amazing and beautiful. I also like the milestones. Here you really appreciate –physically understand- the true meaning of a milestone. If you choose one of the other trails, you will find yourself immersed in nature just at a stone’s throw from the city. In fact, you can watch the line where the buildings of the city stop and the green protected area begins.

Unlike Villa Borghese or Villa Pamphilj which are comely due to their aristocratic origin, the Caffarella and Tormarancia sections make this one of the more ‘natural’ parks of Rome. Here, you will find meadows, bushes, hills, ditches, hamlets, caves, a fully functional farmhouse, sheep, a river and springs –all interspersed with Roman ruins. Now, this is truly a bike ride!

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Parco Regionale | Art & culture, Relaxing | Bike for a day € 10.00
Via Appia Antica 42 | Appio Tuscolano | +39065135314
Park : sunrise – sunset daily | Bike rental: Sun & holidays 09:30 – 17:30

I stumbled across this piazza unexpectedly a few years ago. I was on my motorino, on the way to somewhere else and, all of sudden, among the tight-knit housing buildings, space opens up to a large square and an enormous church.

I stop and decide to take a look at this entirely new environment no one had ever told me about, after over three decades of being a Roman. The piazza has something of a déjà-vu feel. Its whole ‘feng shui’ is influenced by the colossal presence of the church with its dome. Then there are the Fascist-era looking buildings all around, cold and a bit gloomy.

All this, however, contrasts with the vitality I see in the gardens at the center: there are elderly people chatting on lawn chairs, mothers pushing strollers and kids playing football completely oblivious to their surroundings. I like this piazza and I recommend it.

Obviously, there are tons of churches and piazzas in Rome and most are of greater historical and artistic significance than Piazza Don Bosco and its church.

However, this is a good place to visit if you’d like a taste of life in the peripheries of Rome. Take a stroll here and sit on the park benches. A note on the area: this neighborhood sprung up with the creation of the Cinecittà Film Studios and the Don Bosco Church right after WWII.

The church was inaugurated in 1957. Fellini used this piazza as the setting for some scenes of La Dolce Vita since it was close to the studios and resembled the Rome’s EUR neighborhood.

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Piazza Don Bosco | Art & culture, Relaxing |
Piazza Don Bosco | Appio Tuscolano
Optimal time to visit: afternoon

Piazza Navona is definitely my favorite piazza or square, during any time during the year. I love the people, the architecture and the art of the square making it the most beautiful place in Rome.

I love it during the winter and especially Christmas time since they have stands all over and carnival like games. But it does not lose its fascination during the rest of the year with one of the barman always trying to persuade you for an iced tea or hot chocolate and the people that just stroll in the piazza admiring it.

I just had a friend visit me from the States and even though she is familiar with Piazza Navona, she is always in awe with the beauty, the architecture and the street art that you find. I find it interesting to see the city from a tourist point of view because when you live in a place you take a lot for granted.

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Piazza Navona | Art & culture, Relaxing
Piazza Navona | City center
24 hours daily

The Tiber is not an impressive river by all means. Any other river in other European capital is much more striking in terms of sheer size or width. Yet, the Tiber is an interesting river. It is not a boring  river that simply flows slowly through its city without doing anything! No, the Tiber is an eclectic little river which surprises you with rapids, low points, a small waterfall, vegetation on its sides, an island and lots of different bridges, including a broken one.

Yes, Ponte Rotto, literally Broken Bridge, is one of the small peculiarities which make the Tiber such an interesting little river. What other city river has a fragment of a bridge standing in its course? I  am told that the river in Genova does but that’s besides the point. Ponte Rotto is a small gem, often disregarded in Rome’s treasure trunk with more important jewels. Romans go by their busy day and rarely look at it,  tourists have more important sites to visit in their two-day tour of the city.

Yet, Ponte Rotto is well worth a small pause. It is there, useless, yet beautiful in its decadence. Stones at its feet, weeds springing from its cracks, it sits proud and glorious, even if younger, stronger, more efficient bridges have taken over the job. It is powerless, injured, yet alive and willing to speak to anyone bothering to take a moment to admire it.

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Ponte Rotto | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Best admired from Isola Tiberina | City center
Best time to admire: sunset

I had been told about the Magic Door when I was a child and its mysterious inscriptions and its odd placement in Piazza Vittorio had always intrigued me while growing up. I had almost forgotten about its existence until recently when I went to watch a movie in the open-air cinema which each summer occupies the piazza.

There it was, with its two guardians, pasted to a wall among some ancient ruins and closed off by a gate. Somehow, it looked less grand and mysterious than when my mother would take me to see it. Nonetheless, it is quite a curious thing and people who are intrigued by mysteries and esotericism might like take a look at it while strolling in the piazza.

Who knows, perhaps you can decipher its formulas and become rich, immortal or omniscient! The formulas on the door, in fact, are said to contain the secret to the philosopher’s stone. Yes, the Stone!

If you have seen the first Harry Potter movie, the philosopher’s stone is that which is guarded by that charming, loving three-headed dog. If you haven’t watched the movie, it is a substance that is allegedly capable of turning cheap metals into gold as well being an elixir of life to beat disease and achieve immortality and omniscience. It might well be worth trying. Why not give it a shot?

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Porta Magica | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Piazza Vittorio | City center
Sunrise – sunset

It would be reductive to see Italy’s “Gioco del Lotto” as merely a lottery. It is more like a ritual and an interpretation of life than mere compulsive gambling. As any true Lotto player knows, anything that happens to a person can be the inspiration for one’s numbers pick. You wake up with a toothache? That’s number 73. You have an exam tomorrow? Exam is 8, tomorrow is 44. You tread on dog-poop? That would be 86 for poop, 61 for dog and 27 for the act of stepping. How does one know the numbers? You can consult the “books” -which vary from North to South- or get help from an “expert”.

Serena is such an expert. For over twenty years, she and her dad have run this small, yet “lucky” ricevitoria in Trastevere. You tell her what happened to you and she will kindly suggest the most suitable numbers. Then, you’ll have to decide which draw-wheel you’d like from among the ten city and one national wheels available. Needless to say, if you dream of a dead relative offering you the winning Lotto numbers, those numbers should be played on the Bari wheel, as it is assigned to dead people talking.

The Lotto game also builds up into the Superenalotto which targets those who want to “win big”. While the Superenalotto is more recent, the Lotto game, the precursor to any state lottery, was invented in Genoa in the 1500’s. Both games are deeply-rooted among Italians, young and old.

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Ricevitoria 32 | Relaxing | Lotto ticket € 1.00
Via della Luce 72 | Trastevere | +390658333040
Mon – Sat 09:30-13:30 & 15:30 – 19:00

The complex of S.Spirito in Sassia is composed by two parts: the Hospital and the Historical National Museum of Health Art. The complex was created in 727 a.c, when the king Ina, king of Saxons, founded the so called “Schola Saxonum” (from which the word Sassia derives) as guest house for people who wanted to visit the tomb of the apostle Peter.

The Hospital, which still works, is one of the eldest in Europe. It was built by Pope Innocenzo the 3rd as a recovery point for old people, sick people and for abandoned children.

Children were entered as “filius m. ignotae”, where “m.” indicated “matris” (mother) but, because the dot wasn’t pronounced, it was read as “filius mignotae”, from which derives the bad world in Roman slang “mignotta”.

On the other side, the Museum was inaugurated in 1933 and inside there’s the eldest chariot of the Red Cross, very old surgical and obstetric instruments and a fetter from the 16th century used to tie down insane people. There is also a huge library with more than ten thousand books, which is very precious for the history of healthcare.

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S.Spirito in Sassia | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Lungotevere in Sassia 3 | Vatican & Prati
09:00 – 19:00 daily

The Olympic Stadium of Rome is the place where AS Roma and SS Lazio play their home matches of Serie A and UEFA European Cups.

If you go to watch a match, you have the opportunity to see some of the best players in the world: wonderful players like Francesco Totti, who won World Cup 2006, play for AS Roma. He’s one of Italian football legends of all times and one of the symbols of AS Roma, just like Daniele De Rossi and Simone Perrotta, who both won World Cup 2006 as well, and other great international players.

Then there are some good players also in Ss Lazio, like for example the argentinian forwards Mauro Zarate and Julio Ricardo Cruz.

If you wanna buy ticket,you can buy them in As Roma Store or Lazio point or more easily in tobacco shops (here you are sellers’list)

About places where to seat, remember that during As Roma’s matches the sector “Curva Sud” is always sold out because it’s the place of the hardcore fans (Ss Lazio’s hardcore fan sector is “Curva Nord” , but you can easily find tickets for it) and a nice trade-off between cheap ticket and nice view are the sectors “Distinti” or “Tribuna Tevere Laterale”.

To reach the stadium, the easiest way is to take red metro line until Flaminio, then tram number 2 until the last stop in Piazza Mancini, from where you have to walk for 500 metres to reach the entrance.

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Stadio Olimpico | Relaxing, Festivals & events | Ticket +/- € 20.00
Viale dei Gladiatori 2 | Parioli & Flaminio
When there are matches

I had never been to this park until lately. I had seen some of the aqueducts from the train when going south, but I never knew it was a park. Technically, the Parco degli Acquedotti is part of the Parco Regionale dell’Appia Antica but it isn’t all that immediate to think of it in that way since it is a bit removed and sandwiched in between Via Appia Nuova and Via Tuscolana. Anyway, its peculiarity -as its name suggests- are the numerous ruins of the various Roman aqueducts and these are simply breathtaking.

A stroll in this park, in addition to being extremely pleasant, can be the best way to rapidly review the last 2000 years of this city, almost a trip through time which will take you from the glory of the first years of the Roman Empire to the recent years of a neighborhood in the peripheries.

So, as one admires the ruins of the Aqueduct Claudio (52 AD), restored by Pope Hadrian I (776 AD), pillaged to obtain building material in the 15th century, one may happen to run into a pile of rocks with some flowers which may have been placed there by some dog-owner to commemorate some dog his pet (2006), or a flock of small parrots which have claimed this unusual habitat for them (2008).

Amongst old hamlets, ruins, meadows, flowers, common and less common people, relax and meditate on the interpretation of time, history and human nature that this park can inspire.

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The Acqueducts | Art & culture, Relaxing
Via Lemonia | Appio Tuscolano | +39065135314
Sunrise – sunset daily

Upter is the “People’s University of Rome”: Rome’s center for adult education. It is a great place for anyone who wants to learn something new and make new beginnings. Have you always wanted to learn still-life drawing? Use water colors like Roesler-Franz? Learn a new language? Get back in shape with Pilates or belly-dancing? Write your first novel? Upter is the place for you!

This organization offers thousands of classes -from the most obvious to the most exotic or incomprehensible (such as napkin folding)- at inexpensive prices, to anybody (no diplomas asked). Indeed, your Italian for foreigners course will cost you only € 8.40 per lesson and your Roman archaeology course only € 6.00 per lesson. Classes are small and teachers are very competent.

Upter offers classes that go for the entire academic year, semester-long classes, summer courses lasting only about a month and even one-shot deals like their cooking classes. The main center is Palazzo Englefield in downtown but there branches in the different neighborhoods.

The guide to the summer courses 2009 has just been published.

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Upter | Art & culture, Relaxing
Via Quattro Novembre 157 | City center | +39066920431
Registration office: Mon – Fri 09:00 – 19:30, Sat 09:00 – 13:00

I need a break between a dash and a sprint across heavy traffic. I relax here, in this small, public park with a breathtaking view. It is being restored, so it will soon be even nicer.

Wealthy families’ live-in nannies go there to stroll with babies in prams and walk their dogs. But it is also a teenage meeting point. The neighborhood youngsters have a drink and a drag together right after school while they show off their latest fashionable sunglasses or gold and steel Rolex. And they lazily kick a soccer ball to one another just to fraternize. Welcome to open-air Vogue.

At the end of this small green patch of grass, there’s a café. Go for a milk shake or a frappè, a salty croissant with prosciutto or a deluxe gelato Italian creamy ice-cream), whatever you pick is good.

If you need the toilet, ask the barman at the café: he keeps the keys to a private bathroom in the back. I like relaxing on one of the benches and watch the trees sway to the wind and observe busy ants working laboriously under my feet. Instead of an i-pod I enjoy listening to the birds chirping, eagerly trying to grab the crumbs of my tramezzino (Italian sandwich) falling from my mouth, or maybe a pedigreed Bulldog will snort at me craving for the last bite of my snack or a pug wanting to lick what remains of my frappè.

I sometimes take a nap like an élite clochard and wake up to the barking of a Jack Russell panting after a ball rolling passed my bench.

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Villa Balestra | Bars, Relaxing | Milk shakes € 6.00
Via Bartolomeo Ammannati | Parioli & Flaminio | +39063214387
Apr – Oct 08:00 – 00:30, Nov – Mar 07:00 – 20:00

This is a great big park situated in the middle of the center of Rome, with easy access from the Spanish Steps or Piazzale Flaminio. It is a wonderful place for a relaxing picnic weather permitting or to go biking (you can rent bikes near Porta Pinciana) or you can rent little boats to go around the little lake. Villa Borghese is the third largest park in Rome.

I feel like I need a break and need to go relax, I get a few friends and organize a simple picnic at the park, and then when I am ready to go take a short nap on a bench some of my more “sporty” friends rent some bikes and go around the park.

On a hot summer day, you can go a little bit further to Il Pincio hill, where there is usually a nice breeze and you can admire the city view as well.

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Villa Borghese | Relaxing | Borghese Gallery € 8.25
Villa Borghese | City center
Bike rentals: 10:00 – 19:00 | Boat rental: 09:30 – 18:00

The Amazon forest has been deemed the “green lung” of the world. Similarly, Villa Pamphilj is the “green lung” of Rome. It is Rome’s largest park and a shot of oxygen when life in Rome gets too stressful and smoggy. Indeed, Villa Pamphilj is an all-time favorite for Romans to go running, go for a bike ride, take a stroll, walk their dog, or have a picnic.

Like many other city parks, Villa Pamphilj was originally the countryside estate of a noble Roman family, which in more recent times became property of the Rome Council. It is an interesting, diversified park, with beauties of historical and artistic interest, as well as areas of naturalistic interest. An intriguing, curved bridge over the busy traffic of the Via Olimpica connects the two spirits of this park.

On the eastern side, you will find the civilized, historical part with the villa, its statues, fountains and landscaped gardens. On the western side, you will find the wilder and more natural section with its striking vegetation and unexpected fauna.
Additionally, Villa Pamphilj has one of the most active runners’ communities in Rome.

Every time I go, I tell myself that it would be nice to join the groups of joggers of every age who run here on a daily basis. There is even a gathering point and center with showers and dressing rooms. Needless to say, this thought remains one of my New Year’s resolutions and, for the time being, I join the myriads of other Romans who simply lie in the sun or watch the fish swim in the small lake.

You can enter the park via: Via Aurelia Antica, Via Leone XIII (Olimpica), Via della Nocetta, Via Vitellia & Via di Porta S. Pancrazio

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Villa Doria Pamphilj | Art & culture, Relaxing
Via Leone XIII (Olimpica) | Vatican & Prati
Sunrise – sunset