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Villa Borghese
Scipione
Borghese’s private Renaissance park and the adjacent 19th-century
Pincio gardens, with statues and fountains, are a joy to explore,
especially on two wheels. There are bike rental stands scattered
throughout the park. You can also rent paddle boats for the little lake
or take the kids to the park’s small funfair.
Villa Borghese park
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Capuchin Crypt
Fantastically
creepy chapels festively decorated with mosaics made from the bones of
dead monks, a few of whose skeletons remain propped up in bone-built
niches. It rarely fails to impress, and for adolescents and adults can
be a highlight of the trip, although it may be a bit too much for the
very young or overly squeamish -
You
don’t need to understand Italian to appreciate a Punch and Judy show
(the pugilistic characters are native to Italy). This is the last of the
old puppet kiosks that once peppered Rome’s public parks, offering a
dying art form for free.-
Teatro di Pulcinella, Gianicolo
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Show times variable, Tue–Sun
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Free
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DA
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Exploring the Catacombs
There
is nothing more thrillingly spooky in Rome than wandering these mazes
of tight, dimly lit corridors, roughly carved in the tufa and lined with
thousands of tomb niches. At the San Domitilla complex, some guides
even let you touch a few of the bones. At most others, all human remains
have been removed to ossuaries on lower levels .
