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Parioli, Rome: Villa Ada, the Auditorium and the 1960 Olympic quarter

Parioli, Rome

Parioli is the second quartiere of Rome, numbered Q. II, and it lies outside the Aurelian Walls in Municipio Roma II. It is not one of the twenty-two rioni of the historic centre: it is a residential quartiere laid out mostly in the twentieth century, and an address matters here more than a neighbourhood name. Inside its boundaries stand the Auditorium Parco della Musica with two museums in it; Villa Ada Savoia, a hundred and sixty hectares of former royal park with a fort, the remains of a town of Latium vetus, a wartime bunker and two catacombs under it; Villa Glori, made into a memorial park in 1924; the village and two Nervi venues built for the 1960 Olympics; the Grande Moschea di Roma; three twentieth-century parish churches; and three bridges, one of them Ponte Milvio.

  1. Renzo Piano's three lead-clad halls round an open-air cavea, built 1995 to 2002 and named for Ennio Morricone by a council resolution in 2020.

  2. The 161 Greek and Italic works from Giuseppe Sinopoli's collection, opened in December 2012 in the Auditorium's Sala del Peduncolo, with free entry at weekends.

  3. About 130 instruments, among them the Stradivari of 1690 known as the Toscano, shown beside a working luthiers' workshop that visitors can see into.

  4. A hundred and sixty hectares of former royal park with a four-kilometre ring path and panels; the king had Mussolini arrested here on 25 July 1943.

  5. The royal family's air-raid shelter of 1940 to 1942, cut into the tufa with a drive-in entrance, open to visitors since April 2016 through the Associazione Roma Sotterranea.

  6. The remains of a town of Latium vetus on Monte Antenne, identified by Antonio Nibby in 1834 and dug in 1878, 1978 and 1986.

  7. One of the fifteen forts built round Rome between 1877 and 1891, two and a half hectares on Monte Antenne, abandoned and given as not visitable.

  8. Twenty-five hectares laid out by Raffaele de Vico and opened on 18 May 1924, on the hill where the papal zouaves overran the Cairoli volunteers in October 1867.

  9. A ferruginous spring that Paul V had analysed in 1613; the exedra with three niches and the Chigi arms was commissioned by Alexander VII.

  10. A votive fountain of the fourth century BC found in 1999 under a car park, which fixed the site of the sacred grove Ovid names in the Fasti; visits are by booking.

  11. Antonio and Pier Luigi Nervi's stadium for the 1960 Olympic football tournament, inaugurated on 19 March 1959 and built for 42,000 places.

  12. Housing built in 1958 and 1959 by Cafiero, Libera, Luccichenti, Monaco and Moretti for the XVII Olympiad, on the site of the wartime campo Parioli.

  13. Timber in Livy's account of 207 BC and rebuilt in masonry by the censor Marcus Aemilius Scaurus in 110 to 109 BC; closed to vehicles since 1978.

  14. Designed by Portoghesi, Gigliotti, Mousawi and Tozzo, begun in 1984 and opened on 21 June 1995; no visiting hours are published.

What is in Parioli, and what is not

Parioli's edges are rivers and named streets, and it.wikipedia's article on the quartiere gives them exactly. To the north it meets Q. XVIII Tor di Quinto across the Tiber, from Ponte Milvio to the mouth of the Aniene, and Z. I Val Melaina across the Aniene, from that confluence to Ponte Salario. To the east it meets Q. XVII Trieste across via Salaria, from Ponte Salario to viale Liegi. To the south it meets Q. III Pinciano along the whole of viale Liegi, the whole of viale dei Parioli and the whole of viale Maresciallo Pilsudski as far as via Flaminia. To the west it meets Q. I Flaminio along via Flaminia, from viale Maresciallo Pilsudski to piazzale Cardinal Consalvi at Ponte Milvio.

That matters because several things a visitor would file under Parioli sit on the far side of one of those lines. The catacombs of Priscilla, the complex of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura and the mausoleum of Santa Costanza are all across via Salaria, in Q. XVII Trieste; Villa Torlonia is in Q. V Nomentano; Villa Balestra and the recording studios and theatre at piazza Euclide are Pinciano's; the Roman villa excavated during the Auditorium's building works is in Flaminio, although it stands on the same site and adjoins the complex. Via Flaminia itself is a boundary for the whole length of Flaminio's eastern edge. Its history still belongs to this corner of Rome: the consular road was laid out in 220 to 219 BC by Gaius Flaminius Nepos and ran from Porta Flaminia to Ariminum, and Porta Flaminia is the gate known today as Porta del Popolo, which stands in the rione Campo Marzio.

Two names are traps. The Stadio Flaminio is in Parioli despite its name: it.wikipedia states in terms that the stadium belongs administratively to the quartiere Parioli, at whose western end it stands, viale Tiziano running alongside the administrative boundary with Flaminio. And the Villaggio Olimpico is a zona urbanistica inside Parioli rather than a unit of its own.

Getting there

No source states a metro station for this quartiere. The Roma to Civita Castellana and Viterbo railway runs through it, and it.wikipedia's article on the quartiere names Campi Sportivi, Acqua Acetosa and Monte Antenne among its stops. Steer by addresses rather than by the quartiere name, because the quartiere is large.

The fixed points are these. The Auditorium Parco della Musica, with the MUSA instrument museum and the Museo Aristaios inside it, is at Viale Pietro de Coubertin 10, 00196 Roma, the address the operator prints in its own footer. The Sovrintendenza Capitolina gives Villa Ada Savoia's entrances as via Salaria 267, 273 and 275, via di Ponte Salario, via di Monte Antenne and via Panama, and gives Villa Glori's as piazzale del Parco della Rimembranza and viale Maresciallo Pilsudski. The Grande Moschea di Roma is on viale della Moschea. The Teatro Parioli-Costanzo is at Via Giosue Borsi 20. San Roberto Bellarmino is on piazza Ungheria and San Luigi Gonzaga at Via di Villa Emiliani 15, 00197 Roma. San Valentino and the Villaggio Olimpico are both on viale XVII Olimpiade, the village's main axis. The Stadio Flaminio is on viale Tiziano and the Palazzetto dello Sport on largo Apollodoro, off it.

Each of the three bridges stands in more than one unit. Ponte Milvio carries the old via Flaminia over the Tiber at piazzale Cardinal Consalvi. Ponte Flaminio carries Corso di Francia over the Tiber between Parioli and Q. XVIII Tor di Quinto. Ponte Salario carries via Salaria over the Aniene, in the quartieri Parioli and Trieste and the zona Val Melaina. Corso di Francia, viale dei Parioli, viale Tiziano and piazza Ungheria are useful for finding your way.

Opening hours and tickets

Four things in Parioli publish hours, and they are worth planning around; most of the rest do not.

The Auditorium Parco della Musica gives its own opening as October to March, 11:00 to 20:00, and 11:00 to 20:00 on Sundays and holidays; April to October, 11:00 to 20:00, and 10:00 to 20:00 on Sundays and holidays. On days with a show in the Cavea the Auditorium closes at 16:00. The Museo Aristaios inside it is free, and its own page gives every Saturday 11:00 to 18:00, or 11:00 to 20:00 in summer time, and every Sunday and public holiday 10:00 to 18:00, or 10:00 to 20:00 in summer time, adding that during particular events the exhibition spaces may be closed. San Luigi Gonzaga's parish gives mass on weekdays at 07:30 and 19:00, on Saturday at 09:00 and 19:00, and on Sundays and holidays at 09:00, 10:30, 12:00 and 19:00.

For MUSA, for Villa Ada Savoia, for Villa Glori and for San Roberto Bellarmino, no source states opening hours, so none are given here. The Fonte di Anna Perenna is in the care of the Soprintendenza Speciale and is visited on guided tours by booking. The bunker under Villa Ada has been open to visitors since April 2016 under an agreement between the Comune and the Associazione Roma Sotterranea, which runs the visits. No source states its hours or prices. For the catacombs of the Giordani, of Sant'Ilaria and of Trasone, no source states whether they can be visited, so none is given here.

Three places in Parioli are shut to visitors and the reason is on the record in each case. The Palazzina Reale in Villa Ada has been the seat of the embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt since 1997 and is a working diplomatic mission; you see it from the park. Forte Antenne is abandoned and its own record gives it as not visitable. The Ipogeo di Villa Glori is likewise given as not visitable.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Parioli, and what is its address?
Yes. The operator's own footer gives Viale Pietro de Coubertin 10, 00196 Roma. Renzo Piano designed the complex, which was built between 1995 and 2002 on a site of 55,000 square metres. The operator gives the Sala Santa Cecilia 2,744 seats, the Sala Sinopoli 1,133, the Sala Petrassi 673 and the Teatro Studio Borgna 300, with the open-air Cavea taking 3,000 to 5,000 and the Giardini pensili Claudio Abbado covering 38,000 square metres. It was named for Ennio Morricone by a resolution of Rome's city council in 2020.
Why is the Stadio Flaminio in Parioli and not in Flaminio?
Because of where it stands rather than what it is called. it.wikipedia says in terms that despite the name the stadium belongs administratively to the quartiere Parioli, at whose western end it stands, viale Tiziano being adjacent to the administrative boundary with the quartiere Flaminio. Antonio Nervi designed it with structural engineering by his father Pier Luigi Nervi, and it was inaugurated on 19 March 1959 in a live television broadcast, on the site of the Stadio Nazionale, for the 1960 Olympic football tournament.
Can you go into Villa Ada, and is the royal palace open?
The park is open and the Sovrintendenza Capitolina gives its entrances as via Salaria 267, 273 and 275, via di Ponte Salario, via di Monte Antenne and via Panama. No source states its opening hours, so none are given here. The Palazzina Reale is a different matter: built in 1873 to 1875 and a royal residence from 1904 to 1946, it was acquired by the Arab Republic of Egypt in 1997 and has been the seat of its embassy since. It is a working diplomatic mission and is not open to visitors, who see it from the park.
What is inside Villa Ada besides the park?
Monte Antenne, the hill in the north of the park, carries the remains of Antemnae, a fortified town of Latium vetus that Romulus is said to have stormed after the raid that followed the rape of the Sabine women, and Forte Antenne, one of the fifteen forts built round Rome between 1877 and 1891. The Bunker di Villa Ada Savoia was cut into the tufa of the hill called delle Cavalle Madri between 1940 and 1942 as an air-raid shelter for the royal family. Two catacombs, the Giordani and Sant'Ilaria, run under the park, and a light-well of a third, the Catacomba di Trasone, opens in the courtyard of the Palazzina Reale.
Is anything in Parioli free to enter?
The Museo Aristaios inside the Auditorium states free entry on its own page, with hours on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The parks cost nothing: Villa Ada Savoia at a hundred and sixty hectares, Villa Glori at twenty-five, and the four thousand two hundred square metres of the public garden at Villa Grazioli, reached from via Bruxelles and viale di Villa Grazioli. So does the Fontana dell'Acqua Acetosa, a papal fountain reached by a stair below street level, and so do the three bridges.
Where should I eat in Parioli?
Parioli is residential and has restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels and shops along viale dei Parioli and around piazza Ungheria. No source names a particular one.

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