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Flaminio, Rome: MAXXI, the Teatro Olimpico and the left bank of the Tiber

Flaminio, Rome

Flaminio is a quartiere on the left bank of the Tiber, outside the Aurelian Walls. Rome numbers its quartieri and Flaminio is Q. I, the first in that series, with the toponymic code 201; it takes its name from the via Flaminia, the consular road that forms its eastern edge. A quartiere is a far larger unit than a rione, and this one is a wedge with a road on one side and a river on the other, which is why several things visitors file under Flaminio stand on the far side of one or the other. What is genuinely here: MAXXI, the national museum of 21st-century art and architecture; the Teatro Olimpico; the sculptor Hendrik Christian Andersen's studio-house, now a state museum; the Navy's Palazzo Marina; the basilica of Santa Croce a Via Flaminia; a disused 19th-century river landing; and three bridges across the Tiber.

  1. Zaha Hadid's scheme was chosen from 273 competition entries at the end of February 1999 and the museum opened in 2010, on the site of the ex caserma Montello.

  2. MAXXI's forecourt is free and stays open to the public outside the museum's opening hours, with works displayed in it.

  3. The sculptor's own palazzina and studio of 1922 to 1925, left to the state at his death in 1940 and opened as a museum on 19 December 1999.

  4. A 1,410-seat theatre of 1935 to 1936, home to the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, where Pierre Boulez conducted Stravinsky's Elegy for J.F.K. on 4 March 1965.

  5. Aristide Leonori built it for Pius X to mark the sixteenth centenary of the Edict of Milan; it opened on 29 December 1913 and adjoins MAXXI.

  6. Giulio Magni's Navy ministry of 1912, inaugurated on 28 October 1928; the river entrance is flanked by the anchors of the Tegetthoff and the Viribus Unitis.

  7. About 2,500 square metres of a suburban villa occupied from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD, found in 1995; the Sovrintendenza gives entry as free.

  8. Iorio Vivarelli's bronze spire, unveiled in 1974 on the fiftieth anniversary of the killing of the socialist deputy seized on 10 June 1924.

  9. A disused river landing built at the end of the 19th century to replace the Porto di Ripetta, reproducing Alessandro Specchi's 18th-century design.

  10. An elliptical square with two travertine dolphin fountains, laid out in the 1920s with the ICP Flaminio II housing and pedestrianised in 2019.

  11. The embankment from via Ferdinando di Savoia to ponte Matteotti, through the rione Campo Marzio and the quartiere Flaminio, carrying the Scalo de Pinedo.

  12. Porcheddu built it on Hennebique's patent in 1909 to 1911 and Ernesto Nathan inaugurated it on 11 May 1911; four inscriptions are cast into its parapets.

  13. Vignola built this votive chapel about 1553 for Julius III, inside the grounds of his suburban villa, to mark the pope's escape from the Sack of 1527.

  14. A 15th-century oratory built beside the aedicule Pius II raised for the arrival of the head of the apostle Andrew on 11 April 1462.

The borders of the quartiere

The quartiere's own article gives its borders line by line, and every one of them is a road or the river. To the north and west is Q. XV Della Vittoria, separated by the Tiber in the stretch from ponte Matteotti to ponte Milvio. To the east are Q. II Parioli, separated by piazzale Cardinal Consalvi and by via Flaminia as far as viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, and Q. III Pinciano, separated by via Flaminia from viale Maresciallo Pilsudski to piazzale Flaminio. To the south is the rione Campo Marzio, separated by the Aurelian Walls along via Luisa di Savoia, from piazzale Flaminio to the river at ponte Matteotti. Via Flaminia is that eastern boundary along its whole length.

Flaminio is therefore a left-bank quartiere. The Foro Italico, the Stadio dei Marmi and the Stadio Olimpico are across the river in Della Vittoria. Two buildings that carry the name stand outside it as well: the Stadio Flaminio, whose own article says that despite the name the stadium belongs administratively to the quartiere Parioli, and the Palazzetto dello Sport, whose own article says it stands in the quartiere Parioli. The Auditorium Parco della Musica is in Parioli too. One thing under it is not: the Sovrintendenza Capitolina, which runs the site's museum, opens its own account with the words «Nel quartiere Flaminio, durante i lavori per la realizzazione dell'Auditorium progettato da Renzo Piano, nel 1995 vennero alla luce i resti di una grande villa suburbana».

Piazzale Flaminio is described by its own source as a square divided between the quartieri Pinciano and Flaminio, so no zone owns it. Porta del Popolo, Piazza del Popolo, the fountains around it, the Obelisco Flaminio and Santa Maria del Popolo are in the rione Campo Marzio. Ponte Milvio is at the northern limit, and via Flaminia runs to it.

Getting there

No source states a metro station or a bus route inside this quartiere, and no walking times or distances are given here. Piazzale Flaminio, where the metro station carrying the quartiere's name stands, is a square divided between Pinciano and Flaminio. Steer by addresses instead.

MAXXI is at via Guido Reni 4/A, 00196, with a second entrance at via Guido Reni 8 serving the bookshop and café; the basilica of Santa Croce a Via Flaminia is on the same street and the two buildings adjoin. The Teatro Olimpico is at piazza Gentile da Fabriano 17, 00196, in a block bounded by piazza Gentile da Fabriano, lungotevere Flaminio, viale del Vignola and via Giorgio Vasari. The Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen is at via Pasquale Stanislao Mancini 20. Palazzo Marina has two main entrances, one on piazza della Marina off via Flaminia and one on lungotevere delle Navi, with a service entrance on via Domenico Alberto Azuni. Piazza Perin del Vaga, 00196, runs between piazza Melozzo da Forlì and the junction of via Girolamo Muziano with via Masolino da Panicale.

Four embankment roads carry most of the addresses on the river side, and each has a stated run. Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia runs from via Ferdinando di Savoia to ponte Matteotti, through the rione Campo Marzio and the quartiere Flaminio; the Monumento a Giacomo Matteotti and the Scalo de Pinedo are both addressed to it. Lungotevere delle Navi runs from ponte Giacomo Matteotti to piazzale delle Belle Arti. Lungotevere Flaminio runs from piazzale delle Belle Arti to ponte Duca d'Aosta. Lungotevere Grande Ammiraglio Thaon di Revel runs from ponte Duca d'Aosta to via Flaminia.

Tickets and opening hours

MAXXI's own site gives Tuesday to Sunday 11.00 to 19.00, closed Monday, with the ticket desk closing an hour before the museum. Its published admission is 15 euro at the desk and 14 euro online, 12 euro and 11 euro reduced for ages 18 to 25 and for groups of fifteen or more, and free under 18; a fifteen-day MAXXI Replay ticket costs the same as a full ticket and an open ticket valid a year costs 18 euro. Audio guides are 3 euro, in Italian and English, and the museum is in the Roma Pass circuit. The Piazza Alighiero Boetti, the museum's forecourt, is a separate matter: the same site states that it stays open to the public free of charge, outside the museum's opening hours as well as during them, with works displayed in it.

The Teatro Olimpico's own site gives box-office hours of 9.30 to 13.00 and 14.00 to 18.30, Monday to Friday, and a summer closure from 25 July to 23 August. The Sovrintendenza Capitolina gives free entry, ingresso libero, for the archaeological museum of the villa romana dell'Auditorium.

No current source states the Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen's opening hours or admission prices, so none are given here; the figures that circulate for it come from a ministry page archived in 2007. No source states opening hours for the basilica of Santa Croce a Via Flaminia, for the church of Sant'Andrea del Vignola or for the Oratorio di Sant'Andrea a Ponte Milvio. Palazzo Marina is a working ministry building and no source states public opening hours for it either.

Frequently asked questions

Is MAXXI in Flaminio, and what does it cost?
Yes. MAXXI, the national museum of 21st-century art and architecture, is at via Guido Reni 4/A, 00196, and its second entrance at via Guido Reni 8 serves the bookshop and café. Its own site gives Tuesday to Sunday 11.00 to 19.00, closed Monday, with the ticket desk closing an hour earlier, and admission of 15 euro at the desk or 14 euro online, 12 euro and 11 euro reduced for ages 18 to 25 and groups of fifteen or more, free under 18. An open ticket valid a year costs 18 euro and audio guides are 3 euro. The museum is in the Roma Pass circuit.
Are the Auditorium Parco della Musica and the Stadio Flaminio in this quartiere?
No. The Auditorium Parco della Musica is in Parioli, and so is the Stadio Flaminio: the stadium's own article states that despite the name it belongs administratively to the quartiere Parioli. The Palazzetto dello Sport is Parioli's on the same kind of evidence. One site in that group does belong here — the Roman villa found in 1995 during the works for the Auditorium, whose museum is run by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina, and whose own page begins by placing it in the quartiere Flaminio.
Which bridges are in Flaminio?
Three: ponte Duca d'Aosta, ponte della Musica-Armando Trovajoli and ponte del Risorgimento. Each of them lies in two quartieri, Flaminio on the left bank and Q. XV Della Vittoria on the right. Two others touch the quartiere: ponte Giacomo Matteotti and ponte Pietro Nenni, which cross to the rione Prati, and ponte Milvio, at the northern limit.
Can you go inside Palazzo Marina?
It is a working ministry building, owned by the Ministry of Defence and housing the Navy's central library, and no source states public opening hours, so none are given here. From the street, the river-front entrance on lungotevere delle Navi is flanked by the anchors of the Austro-Hungarian battleships Tegetthoff, on the left, and Viribus Unitis, on the right, and the building runs 142 metres long and 28 metres high in brick and travertine.
Is anything here free?
Several things. The Piazza Alighiero Boetti at MAXXI is free and stays open outside the museum's own hours, with works displayed in it. The Sovrintendenza Capitolina gives free entry to the archaeological museum of the villa romana dell'Auditorium. And the outdoor part of the quartiere costs nothing: the four embankment roads, the Monumento a Giacomo Matteotti and the Scalo de Pinedo beside it on lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia, the elliptical pedestrian square of piazza Perin del Vaga with its two travertine dolphin fountains, and the three bridges.

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