A guide to Rome's hidden gardens
Floral wonders thrive in the ancient city, if you know where to look.
When I moved to Rome last spring, I found there were flowers even in this city of hard, old stone.
Daffodils appeared among the Forum's broken capitals, purple azaleas blossomed on the Spanish Steps and roses preened on Aventine Hill. Pink-flowering capers pushed up from seemingly inhospitable cracks in the pavement, and delicate, yellow-orange zucchini blossoms that were headed for the frying pan decorated the markets.
Although I planned to spend all my spare time studying Rome's dark ruins and churches, I started seeking out its gardens. I found some lovely ones, but you have to know where to look. (Note: To call from the U.S., dial 011 [international dialing code] and 39 [country code for Italy].)
AVENTINE ROSE GARDEN
The Aventine, one of Rome's heralded seven hills, rises at the edge of the Forum and Circus Maximus. Its north flank is the site of a 2.5-acre Commune of Rome garden planted in 1,000 varieties of roses. It's open to visitors in May and June when it stages the Premio Roma, an international rose competition.
American-born Countess Mary Gayley Senni was the force behind the garden's creation, which lines both sides of the Via di Valle Murcia, formerly the site of a Jewish cemetery. The graves were moved in the 1930s, but the paths in the upper part of the garden were designed in the shape of a menorah to help remember the graves. Roseto Comunale di Roma, 06-57-46-810, www.comune.roma.it.
BASILICA OF THE HOLY CROSS IN JERUSALEM
The facade of this ancient church, built by the Emperor Constantine to enshrine relics of the true cross, was redesigned in the Baroque era, but the walled garden next door tells an older story. Around AD 200 it was a private imperial amphitheater, like the Coliseum. Its curving grandstands, which later became part of the city's walls, are now draped with flowering clematis and capers, enclosing one of Rome's loveliest gardens
Tended by a community of Cistercian monks who live at the church complex, the garden is devoted to organic fruits and vegetables, sold from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. To see the garden, visitors must book a guided tour through Friends of the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, 06-70-14-769, www.basilicasantacroce.com.
ORTI FARNESIANI
