Experience Roman life like Romans do. Discover Villa Celimontana and the other rioni.
Uncover the city’s living history. Rione maps Rome’s ancient quarters dynamically — unlocking subterranean layers, hidden stories and local secrets right where you stand.
Dynamic, interactive boundaries of all of Rome’s historical rioni, colour-coded and tappable.
Every monument with photos, history and the stories beneath the stones.
At the green heart of Villa Celimontana stands a small but genuine ancient Egyptian obelisk — one of the smaller of the thirteen obelisks scattered across Rome, more than stand in Egypt itself. Originally a pair brought from Egypt and set up at an ancient temple of Isis near the Pantheon, it had a wandering history through the medieval city.
The handsome 16th-century villa at the centre of the Celian park was built for Ciriaco Mattei, a member of one of Rome's great noble families and a notable collector of antiquities — Caravaggio painted for the Mattei, and ancient statues once filled their gardens. The family laid out the surrounding grounds as one of the most admired private gardens of late-Renaissance Rome.
The square at the entrance to Villa Celimontana takes its name — "the little ship" — from a charming marble fountain in the shape of a small Roman boat that sits in front of the church of Santa Maria in Domnica. The boat is a 16th-century copy set on an ancient base, but the original was a genuine Roman votive offering, perhaps left by sailors.