There are lots of lots of beautiful and famous parks and gardens dotted all over Italy from the gardens attached to palaces like the Boboli Gardens and the gardens at Villa Toepliz in Varese, to great botanic gardens like the Hanbury Botanic Gardens attached to Genoa's University, to magical gems like the Giardino di Ninfa, a once abandoned gem in a Medieval ghost town. Amongst amongst these incredible beauties, however, there is one public park and garden that cannot go unmentioned: Rome's lovely Rose Garden. If you love blooms, beautiful settings, and gardening and you have found a luxury villa in Rome, then it truly is a must-see.
Located on the eastern side of the Aventine hill, the gardens date back to 1931 when an American countess named Mary Gayley Senni managed to secure a site near the Colosseum from the city authorities for a municipal rose garden and planted it with around 300 flowers. This original iteration was, sadly, destroyed during WWII but was reborn and given a new home in its current location, the former site of a Jewish graveyard that had been transferred to the cemetery at Campo Verano in 1934.
Located on the eastern side of the Aventine hill, the gardens date back to 1931 when an American countess named Mary Gayley Senni managed to secure a site near the Colosseum from the city authorities for a municipal rose garden and planted it with around 300 flowers. This original iteration was, sadly, destroyed during WWII but was reborn and given a new home in its current location, the former site of a Jewish graveyard that had been transferred to the cemetery at Campo Verano in 1934.
Today, it is home to around 1,000 different varieties of rose and is open to the public, free of charge, for the three months of the year that the flowers are in bloom, beginning on the 21st of April, Rome's birthday. It is also where, on one day of the season, usually in May, the gardens are closed to allow for the Premio Roma, an annual international competition to choose the most beautiful rose in the capital.
The higher section of the gardens features a permanent collection of classic specimens while the lower part houses the year's competition entries and the layout of the gardens has been arranged to pay tribute to the site's history, with paths forming symbols including a Menorah. A stunning backdrop occupied by the Palatine ruins and the open space of the Circo Massimo, the benches dotted around, and the pretty flower-covered trellises make it an ideal spot to take in Rome, get some nice photos and to simply sit back and enjoy the magic of the city.
The higher section of the gardens features a permanent collection of classic specimens while the lower part houses the year's competition entries and the layout of the gardens has been arranged to pay tribute to the site's history, with paths forming symbols including a Menorah. A stunning backdrop occupied by the Palatine ruins and the open space of the Circo Massimo, the benches dotted around, and the pretty flower-covered trellises make it an ideal spot to take in Rome, get some nice photos and to simply sit back and enjoy the magic of the city.
