What to visit…

Author: Jeremy Thompson via Wikimedia

It was built in the beginning of the 1950s by the Sicilian architect Gaetano Rapisardi. On February 5th 1965, Pope Paolo VI made it a cardinal deaconry thanks to the constitutio apostolica Romana haec Sedes, naming it San Giovanni Bosco in via Tuscolana. On November 20th of the same year he made it minor basilica with the apostolic letter Adulescentium patris.

The church is externally solid and it is dominated by two cupolas. The main of them has a 40 meters diameter. San Giovanni Bosco is the third among Roman churches after Pantheon and the Basilica of St. Peter. In it you can see a bronze work of Alessandro Monteleone, namely four angels – which are 3 meters high – sustaining a crown on the top of which there is a cross.

There you can enjoy the facade, the portico with 5 bronze doors and the interior which is decorated by many-coloured glass windows, which create an unique effect, as well as a huge mosaic on the bottom of the presbytery. This mosaic is 100 square meters, it represents san Giovanni Bosco’s Glory and it is flanked by eight bas-relieves which illustrate important events in the life of the Piedmontese saint. All of these are enriched by work of art of 20th century Italian artists: Michele Gorrisi, Emilio Greco, Paolo Crida, Goffredo Verginelli, Baccio Maria Bacci, Attilio Torresini, Lorenzo Gigotti, Enrico Martini, Antonio Biggi, Primo Conti, Tommaso Bartolini, Mario Caffaro Rore, Emilio Notte, Oddo Aliventi, Silvio Consadori, Enzo Assenza.

On the left choir of the presbytery there is a huge tambourine opus 304 pipe organ built between 1958 and 1959. The organ has an original and complete electrical transmission with the console in the choir. It has 70 regal registers and 40 derived registers with 5,274 pipes and 13 tubular bells. Today it is one of the biggest pipe organ in Italy still. Here its phonic disposition.

Author: JRibaX via Wikimedia

This is a complex of 22 studios known all over the world and located in via Tuscolana, 2 kilometers away from the holiday home. The whole structure is a state property, safeguarded by the MIBACT. It is the core of the Italian cinematographic industry but in the 1990s was involved in television productions as well.

In Cinecittà were filmed more than 3000 movies, 90 of these received an Oscar nomination and 47 of them won the prestigious prize. Famous national and international film-makers worked there: from Federico Fellini to Francis Ford Coppola, from Luchino Visconti to Martin Scorsese.

Piazza San Giovanni Bosco, namely where our holiday home is, was the set of some of these movies, among them “La dolce vita”, “I soliti ignoti” and “Straziami ma di baci saziami”.

Today Cinecittà represents the core of the European cinematographic industry for the production of movies, fictions, TV, spots and videoclips: from the production, to the editing and finally to the realisation of special effects.

Cinecittà studios host shows and events and they can be visited alone or in group.

All information can be found in the website: www.cinecittastudios.it/visite-e-mostre

The Parco degli Acquedotti is one of the biggest green area in Rome and you can easily reach it from the Holiday home. It is t is part of the Appian Way Regional Park and is of approximately 240 ha between via Appia and Via Tuscolana.

There you can find several ancient Roman, Renaissance and 19th-century artifacts. Among them you can see six of the eleven great aqueducts the Romans built and one of the Renaissance, as well as buildings of the Roman and also following periods. For example, villa delle Vignacce, the hundred-rung tomb, a tank with a turret, several tombs, the fosse of acqua mariana, the farmhouse of Roma Vecchia and also the train station of the Rome-Frascati line of Pius IX. The aqueducts are Anio vetus – which is underground – Acqua Marcia, Tepula, Iulia and Felix – which overlap – of Acqua Claudia and Anio Novus – which overlap as well.

In front of the Parl there are refreshment stands and a playground for children.

Cinecittà 2 was inaugurated in 1988 and it was the first huge shopping centre in Rome. It is at the crossroad between via Tuscolana and via Palmiro Togliatti, about 2 Km away from the holiday home.

It is a modern, elegant and well-finished structure. It has tens of shops of every kind and several refreshments stands (they sell pizzas, piadinas, yogurts and fast food). It is a great place for strolling and shopping as well.

After the construction of Cinecittà 2 other shopping centres were built in the south-east area of Rome (Romanina, Tor Vergata, Anagnina and so on) but also the IKEA shop Roma Anagnina. You can easily reach all of them from our holiday home.

Author: Camelia.boban via Wikimedia

Cinecittà 2 was inaugurated in 1988 and it was the first huge shopping centre in Rome. It is at the crossroad between via Tuscolana and via Palmiro Togliatti, about 2 Km away from the holiday home.

It is a modern, elegant and well-finished structure. It has tens of shops of every kind and several refreshments stands (they sell pizzas, piadinas, yogurts and fast food). It is a great place for strolling and shopping as well.

After the construction of Cinecittà 2 other shopping centres were built in the south-east area of Rome (Romanina, Tor Vergata, Anagnina and so on) but also the IKEA shop Roma Anagnina. You can easily reach all of them from our holiday home.

The Capannelle racetrack is considered a kind of “temple” of horseracing and has consequently become the main structure in the horseracing national panorama. During the year, the races scheduling has only brief pauses (February and August) and there are several collateral activities.

The racetrack is the established location of music festivals of international prestige (Rock in Roma), of important sport events (global Ciclocross championship) and of exhibitions.

The site is located about 2 Km away from the Holiday home and is of approximately 140 ha. It can contain 20,000 people thanks to galleries, parterre and green areas. It also contains a park (which is provided with fixed tables and barbeques), four galleries, relax areas (Park and “Terrazza Derby”), cafés and a panoramic restaurant, playgrounds, equipped areas for children and a bet point.

Since summer 2006 the Capannelle racetrack is lighted by 25 floodlights that are between 24 and 40 meters high.

Capannelle Firemen Schools are one of the main structures of the Central Direction for Training of the Firemen Department, of Public Rescue and of Civil Defense. Here there are regular specialisation, upgrade and training courses for newly hired staff.

This school trains and coaches newly hired firemen, who need to take a professional one-year training course before going to provincial Commands. Here firemen learn to be familiar with and to correctly use equipment and individual protective tools along with rudiments of chemistry and physics. They also make practice exercises and intervention simulations, using different tools and equipment in order to learn how to work safely.

The Roman Castles are located in the area of Alban Hills (Colli Albani). They are a group of 13 communes. They were the holiday destination of lords since the imperial period and they still are one of the favourite destinations of Romans and tourists, especially in summer.

You can’t miss to visit Frascati. It is dominated by the 16th-century Villa Aldobrandini, whose wonderful facade stands out against the whole commune with its Italian-style gardens. If you prefer a more medieval style, we recommend you to visit the Greek abbey “San Nilo”, built in 1004 by monks coming from the Byzantine Calabria.

Roman Castles are also very famous for the small towns on volcanic lakes such as Castel Gandolfo, Pope’s summer residence, which overlooks on Alban Lake (Lago di Albano). You need to visit charming Nemi, in order to enjoy an evocative view of the surrounding landscape but also a sample of Roman history. This town overlooks the lake of the same name, at whose bank is the Museum of Roman ships.

Beyond villas, ancient ruins and breath-taking panorama, Roman Castles are also known for cooking and white wine produced here. The peculiarity of this area are the so-called fraschette, Most of the time these are obtained by old wine cellars, making them characteristic spaces where you can taste cheap wine, olives, cheese, porchetta and typical Roman dishes. Ariccia is famous for its fraschette and for its streets and little squares which are full of tables in summer. But you can also choose among other places: Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri, Rocca Priora, Colonna, Rocca di Papa, Marino, Albano Laziale and Genzano … you are spoilt of choice!