How to get the step: Villa Ada Savoia
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You are along the route: SURPRISING NATURE. THE HISTORICAL GARDENS
Via Salaria 267, 273, 275, Via di Ponte Salario, Via di Monte Antenne, Via Panama
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it
Every day from 7:00 to sunset. Free entry.
The villa, which belonged to the Pallavicini Princes in the 1700s, was the residence in 1872 of the first king of a united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II, who wanted to recreate the “delights of the House of Savoy”. The royal Palazzina (now the Egyptian Embassy), lies in a 160-hectare park, an oasis of green space near the city centre. Next to the residence there was a great park for hunting, which today still retains its natural, somewhat un-kept appearance. There are vast meadows where daisies and buttercups bloom, pine and oak forests, majestic cork oak trees, a lake where you can go canoeing and impenetrable areas of dense scrub, the refuge of wildlife. The park became public in part in 1946 and in part in the nineties; a joggers’ paradise and realm of nature.
In addition to the domestic pine, which is undoubtedly the most widespread species, there are numerous autochthonous species in the villa, such as beech, laurels, olive trees, holms, lime trees, maples, poplars, European nettle trees, yews, cork oaks and English oaks, but there are also numerous “exotic” species for ornamental purposes. These include cedars, horse-chestnuts, various species of palms and some sequoias. The fauna is especially rich, thanks to the size of the park, the vicinity of the Tiber and the variety of habitats. There are squirrels, foxes, moles, hedgehogs, wild rabbits, crested porcupines, various species of small rodents and bats and many birds and insects, which make this green area a true “casket of biodiversity” in the city.
Picture by permission from Roma Capitale-Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali
Further reproduction prohibited
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