Villa Ada, in my eyes, represents the green side of Rome.

Everyone knows that Rome is chaotic and that it has many traffic problems but it also has several public parks where the locals go, usually on sunny weekends, to have a picnic, walk their dogs, play football, volleyball and other sports or just lay down and read a book under the gigantic pines (around 20 meters high) which, for me, identify Rome’s majesty.

The area the locals frequent more often is Il Pratone, which you will find by entering near Priscilla’s catacomb on Via Salaria. You could get lost in Villa Ada, both on its long footpaths surrounded with flowers and trees and in its history: there are important old buildings around the area, my favourites being Savoia’s Refuge and the WWII bunker.

While it’s still very nice to visit in winter time, obviously the best period is in the summer, when every year there’s a world music festival taking place around the lake called Roma Incontra Il Mondo that is just amazing.