Outskirts Rome – All our local tips

If you are a contemporary architecture buff, you may want to visit the Church of Dio Padre Misericordioso. This is the church that American architect Richard Meier designed for the Jubilee year 2000. It is in the Tor Tre Teste neighborhood or, for most of us, in the middle of nowhere (Tor Tre Teste inhabitants please forgive me). Yes, it may indeed be a tad difficult to get to this isolated neighborhood but the real architecture buff knows no obstacles!

Once there, you will be able to witness a true masterpiece of engineering and architecture. Meier, also creator of the controversial building enclosing the Ara Pacis, designed it as part of a 1995 international architecture competition. The first stone was laid in 1998 and the church was inaugurated in 2003. The structure is composed of three white sails, evocative of a boat and symbolizing the Church navigating into the third millennium.

There is lots more symbolism of course: three sails as in the Trinity, five bells as in the five continents… While the church has lots of glass, it is designed so as to never allow direct sunlight inside. Supposedly though, there is a period in the summertime when sun-rays can filter through to the altar through a small opening in the back.

A note of interest: the church is built with a special coating which is supposed to have self-cleaning and smog-eating properties. Perhaps most buildings in Rome’s historic center should be redone with this material!

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Dio Padre Misericordioso | Art & culture | Free
Via Francesco Tovaglieri | Outskirts | +39062315833
07:30 – 12:30 & 15:30 – 19:30 daily

Ceri is a medieval burg in the countryside some 30 kilometers north of the capital. I have always eaten very well in this little town north of Rome.

Mare e Monti is a restaurant located between Ceri and Etruscan Cerveteri, between the hills and the seaside. It is an escape from the hocus-pocus bogus of the frenetic metropolis ryhthm. A lunch here is not only amusing for a stressed out Roman, but it might be useful also to an already relaxed tourist who is curious to explore tranquil and genuine people of the Lazio region.

It is run by a family who once owned a well-known crowded restaurant in the center of Rome. As it got too hectic, they decided to slow down their pace and move where birds and wild animals live.

Here, you can have delicious ravioli with ricotta cheese and spinach filling, or fried calamari, other local fish or meat speciality, and homemade cakes: the caprese is mouthwatering. Watch out! I’m talking about “Caprese” the chocalate and almond cake, not the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese dish.

After your meal you might want to take a walk, the beach is one-kilometer away and other interesting places to see are nearby, like Cerveteri, Santa Severa and Santa Marinella, all pretty seaside resorts.

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Mare e Monti | Restaurants (Mediterranean) | Average meal € 20.00
Via di Ceri 29 00050 Cerveteri (Rome) | Outskirts | +39069908214
Thu – Tue 12:30 – 15:00 & 20:00 – 23:00