La Terrazza & La Suite

Recreational activities

Recreational activities and entertainment near La Terrazza and La Suite include:

• Cinemas
• Theatres
• Pubs
• Clubs
• Aperitif and brunch bars

Places where you can keep fit:

• Gyms
• Sports clubs
• Wellness centres

You can also go for a walk or run at Villa Torlonia and Villa Paganini, as well as rent bicycles at Villa Ada.

Information on local history

Our neighbourhood takes its name from Via Nomentana, an important Roman road that connected Rome to Numentum. The area experienced rapid growth during the fascist period and right after World War II.

The architecture of many buildings dates back to the World War II era, such as the monumental Italian Post Office building on Piazza Bologna.

Some areas of interest are:

Porta Pia

View from above of the Porta Pia located on Via Nomentana. It was built according to a design by Michelangelo.

The Porta Pia is one of the gates in Rome's Aurelian Wall. It became especially important on September 20, 1870, when the wall next to the gate was played a part in ending the papacy's temporal power. After five hours of shelling by the artillery of the Kingdom of Italy, a breach was finally opened in the Wall, the so-called "Porta Pia Breach," which allowed the Italian Bersaglieri to enter the city.

It was built between 1561 and 1565 by order of Pope Pius IV (hence its name), based on a design by Michelangelo, to replace Porta Nomentana, which was then closed. The decoration on the side of the door facing the city, created by Michelangelo, looks like a basin with a towel around it and a bar of soap in the middle. Legend has it that it was a joke by the artist, a reminder of the humble origins of Pope Pius IV, a Medici who apparently was not actually a member of the famous Florentine family, but rather a descendant of a family of Milanese barbers.

Villa Torlonia

Villa Torlonia is a public garden in Rome that overlooks Via Nomentana.

Casina delle Civette (House of the Owls) in Villa Torlonia

Construction on the villa began in 1806 by the neoclassical architect Giuseppe Valadier, commissioned by the banker Giovanni Torlonia, who had bought the estate from the Colonna family in 1797 and had the villa built for his son Alessandro. Valadier transformed the two already existing buildings into a palazzo and the Casino dei Principi (House of the Princes). He also built stables and an entry, later demolished when Via Nomentana was widened. The architect refurbished the park, creating symmetrical and perpendicular avenues, at the intersection of which the palazzo is located. At the same time, the Villa was decorated with classical art sculptures purchased especially for this purpose.

After a period of disuse, in the 1920s it became the residence of Benito Mussolini, who paid a token annual rent of one lire. Mussolini and Prince Torlonia built a bomb shelter in the third and fourth century Jewish catacombs that were located under the villa.

After the war, the villa was abandoned and experienced a period of decay, but in 1978 it was purchased by the City of Rome and transformed into a public park.

Santa Costanza Mausoleum

The interior of the Santa Costanza Mausoleum

The Mausoleum was built in 340 by Constantina, daughter of Constantine I, near the Basilica Costantiniana, the burial site of St. Agnes, of whom Constantina was a devotee. Both Constantina and her sister Elena are buried here. The mausoleum, like the nearby basilica, was imperial and not ecclesiastical property.

The building introduces the motifs of early Christian architecture even if it is an example of the final phase of late ancient architecture. The mausoleum is a circular structure with cupola, with twelve arched windows that create a luminous band around the tambour. It may have been inspired by the early 4th century pavilion known as the Temple of Minerva Medica in Rome, an important example of the Roman tradition of buildings with a central plan.

Umberto I Polyclinic

Dedicated to Italian King Umberto I, this is the university polyclinic of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of Rome's "La Sapienza" University, which is the largest university in Europe and one of the largest in the world, with about 130,000 registered students.

It was created in Rome on April 20, 1303, commissioned by Pope Boniface VIII. Today it has twenty-one faculties, as well as 130 departments and institutes, 127 specialized schools, 21 museums and more than 150 libraries.

Umberto I is Italy's largest public hospital. Construction on it began in 1883 based on a design by Giulio Podesti, Filippo Laccetti and others.

Other places of interest nearby

• SAN NICOMEDE CATACOMBS
• VILLA MARIA LUISA, known as MIRAFIORI
• VILLA MASSIMO
• VILLA BLANC
• GERMAN ACADEMY