How to Get Off the Beaten Track with 9 unusual Things to Do in Rome

Rome is a huge city, full of wonders and secrets to discover. A month would not be enough to discover all its beauties. Even just visiting its iconic monuments such as the Colosseum, St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican Museums, the Pantheon, Trinità del Monti, Piazza Navona, etc. requires a great deal of commitment that leads tourists to take long walks. This is why it really makes sense to throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, since every tourist hopes to be able to return to Rome to complete an itinerary or live again the emotion of visiting iconic places without haste. Yet it must be said that many of Rome’s beauties are still unknown to most visitors, despite often being within reach. Moving from one monument to another, you only touch upon little-known wonders. If they were in any other city in the world, they on their own would be worth the entire trip. So, let’s see together 9 unusual things to do in Rome! Read to the end, the last ones are amazing!

1) The Botanical Garden of Rome (Orto Botanico)

In the Trastevere neighborhood, famous for its popular character that inspires artists and students, there is one of the most beautiful city parks in Rome: the Botanical Garden of Rome (Orto Botanico). It is located on the slopes of the Gianicolo Hill, the one you probably know for the magnificent view you can enjoy over the city and for the cannon that fires at midday. It is the ideal place for a quiet and peaceful walk among fabulous colors and scents. It is a lively and constantly evolving place, today managed by the plant biology department of the Sapienza University of Rome, but which also includes Renaissance sections. In fact, it is located behind Palazzo Corsini. In this garden there are more than 3,000 species of trees, herbs and flowers, often protected in dedicated greenhouses, such as the one for succulents. The visit is ideal for individuals, groups and families with children. You will find a French garden, an English garden, a Japanese garden, a rose garden, a citrus grove, a bamboo forest and many other wonders. You will also find ponds, streams and fountains. Do you want to visit it?

Trastevere is one of the most evocative and representative neighborhoods of Rome and of Romanity, the perfect setting for a food tour dedicated to taste and tradition. Walking through the streets of Trastevere is one of the most loved experiences by Romans. During the Trastevere food tour organized by Insideat, you can taste the thin Roman pizza prepared in an old-style bakery, but also the famous and stringy supplì (fried rice balls with mozzarella and ragù). With the help of our expert guides, you can listen to and read poems and quotes from ancient poets, along the Tiber. The tour will end with a fabulous artisanal gelato prepared by one of the best gelateria in the capital, perfect for the grand finale!

Take part in our Trastevere Food tour in the center of Rome.

Orto Botanico di Roma, Largo Cristina di Svezia, 23/A-24, Roma.

2) The Vespa Museum

Walking around Rome it is impossible not to notice how crowded the city traffic is with scooters and motorcycles. In fact, Romans are often forced to use two wheels to avoid traffic jams. This tradition dates back to the 50s when the Piaggio Vespa and the Lambretta appeared on the market, both two-wheeled vehicles that have become iconic. Even today the Vespa is produced and sold in thousands of units and still has an enormous charm thanks to its Italian design and colors. In Via Cavour, near the Imperial Forums and the Colosseum you can visit a permanent exhibition under a bicycle rental shop “Bici & Baci”. Here vintage models and clothes with the Vespa brand are kept, as well as a collection of photographs of movie stars riding a Vespa. The exhibition is open to the public from 8.00 am to 7.00 pm and is free. 

Museo della Vespa, Via Cavour, 302 – Rome, museo@bicibaci.com

3) Sciarra Gallery

A magnificent place, one of those that make you keep your nose in the air and your mouth open in amazement, is Galleria Sciarra. It is a Liberty style courtyard (Art Nouveau) with a glass roof that is located a stone’s throw from the Trevi Fountain, near Via del Corso. On the walls there are richly decorated and colorful frescoes. It was built in 1800 because it was intended to house a small shopping gallery. Come and visit this wonder at sunset and enjoy the most beautiful colors of Rome.

Galleria Sciarra, entrance from via Marco Minghetti 10 or from Piazza dell’Oratorio 72, Roma 

4) The ceiling of Sant’Ignazio di Loyola

Anyone who looks at a panorama of Rome can notice that it is full of domes of splendid churches. Domes were a characteristic of Renaissance and Baroque churches. When noble families and congregations built a new church, they competed to see who could build the largest and most beautiful dome. Architects such as Bernini and Borromini challenged each other to build the most beautiful and architecturally advanced domes. Even the church of Sant’Ignazio di Loyola, the main church of the Jesuit congregation, was supposed to have a grandiose dome, but something went wrong. Between technical problems and lack of funds, they had to give up on completing the church with a dome. This architectural element was supposed to create a magnificent scenographic effect in the eyes of those who visited the church. What to do then? In 1642 the Jesuit friar Andrea Pozzo had an idea, that is, to paint the vault of the barrel ceiling with an enormous painting that would give those who were underneath it the illusion of being under a dome. It would have been a deception for the eyes of the visitors, but also a magnificent masterpiece of perspective art, since the effect would have been visible only if one were to look at the work from a certain angle. It took almost 10 years to complete the painting (from 1685 to 1694), but it was worth it!

Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola, Piazza di Sant’Ignazio, Roma

5) Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte

Every religion has among its characteristics that of establishing an important cult of the dead and death in general. The memory of the deceased is a value for many people and the cult of the afterlife often serves to create awareness of eternal life for believers and dissuade sinners from committing sinful acts in life. All this is remembered by anyone who passes by or visits the church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte located in Via Giulia. This church was established in 1576 to mercifully house the corpses abandoned in the streets of Rome. Imagine that once there were rooms with more than 8,000 skeletons! In fact, even the external plaques show skulls and skeletons in marble that can easily intrigue and scare those who pass by. But other wonders await those who decide to enter the church. For those who make a small donation, the doors of the crypt will be opened for you where you can go down accompanied by a nun who will show you a room full of skeletons, ossuaries and macabre carvings. The nun will accompany you down a short flight of stairs and leave you alone, surrounded by skeletons. You will be surprised by the chandeliers made of human bones and a scythe placed near the altar, symbol of the Grim Reaper. 

Chiesa di Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte, via Giulia 262, Roma

6) The Criminological Museum

Not far from the Church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte there is another very unusual place that few would expect to find in the historic center of Rome. It is the Criminological Museum managed by the Italian Federal Penitentiary Administration. It is not every day that you can visit an exhibition of real objects and testimonies of ancient methods of imprisonment and torture and criminal anthropology. The Italian Government opened the museum to the public only in 1994. Previously this collection, since the time of fascism (1931), had been reserved only for officials of the administration. The collection was started in 1873 with the aim of collecting the methods of investigation and torture available to the police forces of the new Italian state. 

If you want to visit the historic center of Rome, Insideat has a food tour of Rome to offer you. By participating in this food tour you will be able to discover an authentic and genuine Rome, tasting the food and wine specialties of the city while visiting the places frequented by real Romans. The tour consists of a walk to discover the rarities, history and secrets of the Eternal City through the alleys of Trastevere, the historic Jewish quarter (Ghetto) and the suggestive views of Campo de’ Fiori. Here are some typical foods that you can taste: the crunchy artichoke alla Giudia, pizza with mortadella and one of the best artisanal gelato in the city.

Take part in our food tour in Rome and eat like a Roman!

Museo Criminologico, via del Gonfalone 29, Roma

7) Villa Doria Pamphili

We have previously spoken about the Botanical Garden of Rome, which is located on the eastern side of the Gianicolo. On the other side of the hill is the largest city park in Rome, after the Appian Way Park, one of the largest in Europe: Villa Doria Pamphilj. It is a huge park that was created in the seventeenth century by the noble Roman Pamphili family just outside the Gianicolensi walls of Rome, those that separated the ancient Papal city from the countryside. Its perimeter included and still includes today an aqueduct and a monumental arch. The park is full of statues, fountains, a large pine forest, wild woods full of vegetation and wild animals, but also a canal that carries water from the Fontana del Giglio to a small lake. Villa Doria Pamphilj also includes the Villino Algardi (Casino del Bel Respiro), a representative villa of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, where the Italian Prime Minister often hosts foreign heads of state. Right next to the Casino Algardi is one of the most beautiful geometric gardens in Italy which, in addition to statues and fountains, also includes a pool with aquatic plants called the Peschiera and the Fontana dell’Annunziata.

Villa Doria Pamphilj – Access possible from the following streets:

• Via di San Pancrazio;
• Via Vitellia;
• Via Aurelia Antica;
• Via Leone XIII;
• Via della Nocetta.

8) Mound Testaccio

Rome is famous for the 7 hills that made up the original site on which the city was founded in 753 BC and for the other hills on which the city expanded over the centuries, such as the Pincio and the Gianicolo. But there is another very famous hill in Rome, the most unusual of all, which, perhaps even a little ironically, is still called Monte today: Monte Testaccio (Mound Testaccio). Unlike the natural hills of Rome, created by the geomorphology of the territory near the bed of the Tiber River, Monte Testaccio is an artificial hill. Not only in the sense that it was created by men, but also because the material it is made of has been somehow shaped, used and reused by men. It is in fact a huge deposit of shards of ancient Roman amphorae that, once used to bring oil and other foods to Rome through the ancient navigable routes of the Tiber, were broken (or broke during the journeys and the loading and unloading phases from the boats) and deposited in a more or less orderly manner on this area not far from the river. It is estimated that about 80 million amphorae were disposed of in this place for about 250 years. The pile of shards became so high and welded so well, thanks to the organic materials and the earth, that once vegetation began to grow on it, it really took on the shape of a hill. From that moment on, the population began to walk on it, from its summit the sentries could scan the horizon to manage the defense of the city, and even the congregations and parishes of the neighborhood could use it in the representations of the Via Crucis during the Holy Week for the scenes of Mount Golgotha ​​and the Crucifixion. Just think that in 1849 Garibaldi tried to defend the city of Rome from the French, installing cannons on Monte Testaccio and digging caves on its slopes. It was by exploiting these caves that buildings were built in which houses, bars and restaurants are still located today.

If you decide to visit Monte Testaccio, you should know that Insideat accompanies guests to discover the hidden culinary treasures of the neighborhood. Here you can taste real Roman supplì (fried rice balls with mozzarella and ragu), but also taste excellent cured meats and cheeses. There will be no shortage of pasta, which you can try served with typical sauces. We will also offer you a local dessert and much more. All this in the splendid scenic setting created by the Pyramid of Cestius and the lively Testaccio market where you can encounter the merchants and residents of the area who go there every day to do their shopping. Book your Testaccio food tour now to live an unforgettable experience with Insideat!

Monte Testaccio, via di Monte Testaccio, Rome

9) Passetto di Borgo (Borgo Passage)

Have you ever heard of the Landsknecht (Lanzichenecchi in Italian)? They were German mercenary soldiers who descended down Italy between 1524 and 1527 to plunder the cities and countryside. On May 6, 1527, as many as 35,000 Lanzichenecchi invaded Rome, putting the life of Pope Clement VII at risk. The latter, entrenched in St. Peter’s Basilica, was defended only by a handful of Roman soldiers and the Swiss Guards, who, however, were unable to hold out against the waves of Lanzichenecchi who penetrated the city all the way to the Vatican. It was then that the pope decided to escape through a secret passage, to take refuge in the fortress of Castel Sant’Angelo, about 875 meters away. Many Swiss Guards were killed, but the pope managed to save himself, although forced to live as a prisoner inside Castel Sant’Angelo. The city of Rome was plundered. Even today this secret passage is open and can be visited, it is called Passetto di Borgo and is hidden in what appears to be an aqueduct supported by brick arches that connects the Vatican to the Castle. Its construction began in 850, then in 1277 it reached its current form, to then find its definitive layout in 1492. On the occasion of the Jubilee of 2000 the Passetto was renovated and reopened and is now accessible with guided tours, available in Italian and English. Did you know that the Passetto di Borgo is mentioned in the film Angels and Demons, based on the book by Dan Brown? It is presented in a famous scene of the film as a secret passage used to access Castel Sant’Angelo. If you want to see the Passetto di Borgo up close, you can take part in the Angels & Demons walking tour, a walk in the historic center of Rome that touches wonderful places such as Piazza Navona, St. Peter’s, the Pantheon and Castel Sant’Angelo, mentioned in Dan Brown’s book, to end with a Roman dinner at our location near the Vatican Museums. One overnight stay in a 4-star hotel is included (breakfast not included).

In this same location Insideat holds its cooking classes, if you want to participate in these lessons, click on this link.

If you want to take a tour inside, you should know that the Passetto di Borgo is open from Monday to Sunday, from 9 am to 7 pm.

Guided tours include 3 options:

• Guided daytime tour integrated with the ordinary entrance to Castel Sant’Angelo
• Guided daytime tour of the Passetto and Bastione San Marco only.
• Special nighttime tour that includes a guided tour of the Passetto and a suggestive walk inside Castel Sant’Angelo between the Bastions and Sala Paolina.

Tickets:

Tickets can be purchased online or at Castel Sant’Angelo.

Guided tours are mandatory and available in both Italian and English.

• Full day ticket: €16 including mandatory guided tour
• Full night ticket €28 including mandatory guided tour
• Integrated full ticket (Passetto + Castel Sant’Angelo) €26 including mandatory guided tour of the Passetto
• Reduced for all three types: 2 euros for children under 18
• Free for all three types: children under 6 and on the first Sunday of the month.

Insideat offers its guests the opportunity to visit the center of Rome during immersive food tours dedicated to Italian food and wine excellence; for the complete offer, you can consult the catalog on the website https://www.insideat.eu and subscribe to the newsletter.

For personalized itineraries and events, you can receive more information by writing to: info@insideat.eu