Discover Janiculum Hill

The Janiculum — Gianicolo — is a hill in western Rome, rising above Trastevere and south of the Vatican. It is the second-tallest hill in the modern city, after Monte Mario, and it is not one of the proverbial Seven Hills: it lies west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city. That is why a hill this prominent is missing from the famous list.

It is, the reference work says, one of the best locations for a scenic view of central Rome with its domes and bell towers — which is what most people climb it for.

It was a place for reading the sky before it was a place for looking at the city. The Janiculum was a centre for the cult of the god Janus, and its position overlooking the city made it a good place for augurs to observe the auspices. In Roman mythology it is the name of an ancient town founded by Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings, and in Book VIII of the Aeneid King Evander shows Aeneas its ruins.

What stands on it now is mostly institutions. The hill holds several foreign research institutions, including the American and Spanish Academies in Rome, as well as The American University of Rome, the Pontifical Urban University, the Pontifical North American College, the Orto Botanico of La Sapienza, and Palazzo Montorio, residence of the Ambassadors of Spain.

Three things here are worth stopping for. The church of San Pietro in Montorio, on what was formerly thought to be the site of Saint Peter's crucifixion, where Bramante's Tempietto marks the supposed spot. The Fontana dell'Acqua Paola, a Baroque fountain built by Pope Paul V. And the Villa Lante al Gianicolo by Giulio Romano, 1520–21, an important early building by the Mannerist master.

And the green on the slope was planted. Turismo Roma records that the Orto Botanico — one of the largest in Italy, now 12 hectares — was created from scratch by its first director, Pietro Romualdo Pirotta (1884–1928), on a site that at the beginning held only the ancient wood against the Janiculum and two cedars of Lebanon.

It is a long ridge on the wrong side of the river, and that is what makes the view work. The Janiculum runs north to south in western Rome, west of the Tiber, facing the whole of the historic centre across the water. It is the second-tallest hill in the contemporary city after Monte Mario, and the reference work rates it one of the best locations for a scenic view of central Rome with its domes and bell towers.

The slope is steep on the city side and gentler behind. The eastern face drops towards Trastevere and the river, which is why the terrace road along the top looks out over an unobstructed foreground; the western side runs back into the city's modern fabric.

The hill's lower eastern flank is a planted wood. Between Via della Lungara and the Janiculum, in the park of Villa Corsini — once the residence of Christina of Sweden — 12 hectares of the hillside are the Orto Botanico, one of the largest in Italy.

Underneath that is archaeology, not bedrock. Turismo Roma records the garden as standing partly on the area called the Horti Getae, anciently occupied by the baths of Septimius Severus.

The crown of the hill is institutional parkland rather than open country. Academies, universities and an ambassadorial residence hold most of the summit, so the green you see from below is largely enclosed garden, kept, and in the botanical garden's case arranged as a scenographic reconstruction of environments rather than left to itself.

Almost nothing growing on this hillside got there by itself. Turismo Roma records that the first director of the Orto Botanico, Pietro Romualdo Pirotta, in post from 1884 to 1928, created the entire naturalistic area from scratch, the site having consisted at the beginning only of the ancient wood against the Janiculum and two cedars of Lebanon. The wooded slope is a designed collection roughly 140 years old.

The collection is now 12 hectares and global. The garden is one of the largest in Italy and preserves plant varieties from all over the world.

The headline holding is the old trees. Turismo Roma singles out the monumental centuries-old trees — oriental planes, cork oaks, Turkey oaks, downy oaks and Himalayan cedars — and counts over 300 specimens more than a century old, belonging to over 130 species. That is an unusually dense concentration of mature trees for a city centre, and several of those species are not Italian.

And the planting is arranged as habitat, not as a list. The collections are of interest not only for their scientific importance but above all for the way the plants are cultivated and the scenographic reconstruction of their environments, which is meant to help a visitor place the species imaginatively in their areas of origin. You walk between reconstructed environments rather than past labelled specimens.

The honest answer is that this is a planted collection in a city, and the sources describe plants rather than animals. Turismo Roma's account of the Orto Botanico is botanical throughout: 12 hectares, one of the largest in Italy, varieties from all over the world, with over 300 specimens more than a century old belonging to over 130 species. No authority reachable for this page publishes a fauna list for the Janiculum, and this page does not invent one.

What the habitat implies is worth saying, and only that. A hillside of monumental centuries-old trees — oriental planes, cork oaks, Turkey oaks, downy oaks and Himalayan cedars — is mature canopy in the middle of a capital, and mature canopy in a city is where urban birds concentrate. The umbrella pines along the terrace and the enclosed, quiet grounds of the academies and colleges extend that cover across most of the summit.

The garden's own design points the same way. Its collections are planted as a scenographic reconstruction of environments rather than as specimen rows, which produces structure — understorey, canopy, water — of the kind that supports more than a formal park does.

If you want the hill's wildlife rather than its planting, the garden is the place to spend the time: it is the only part of the Janiculum that is both wooded and continuously managed, and the only part for which anything is published at all.

The hill is reached by road, and the road is the climb. There is no step-free shortcut up the eastern face: the approach from the river side is a sustained ascent on hairpins, with pavement in places and not in others, shared with traffic.

The top is flat once you are on it. The terrace along the summit is a level walk with a surfaced road and a parallel path, which makes the viewpoint itself easy going for anyone who gets up there.

The garden is at the bottom, not the top. The Orto Botanico is entered from Via della Lungara, at the foot of the eastern slope, and climbs the hillside internally across 12 hectares — so visiting it is a second ascent on paths rather than an extension of the terrace walk.

Plan one or the other in a single trip. The summit viewpoint and the garden entrance are at opposite ends of the same gradient, and the hill does not offer a level route between them.

Public transport reaches the foot of the hill, not the summit, so the ascent is the part to budget for however you arrive.

Is the Janiculum one of the Seven Hills of Rome? No. It is the second-tallest hill in the contemporary city, after Monte Mario, but it is not considered among the proverbial Seven, because it is west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city.

Is it worth the climb for the view? The reference work calls it one of the best locations for a scenic view of central Rome with its domes and bell towers.

Does it cost anything? The hill itself is public and ungated. No authority reachable for this page publishes hours or a price for it. The Orto Botanico is a separate, ticketed university garden.

What is the Tempietto? A small shrine designed by Donato Bramante at San Pietro in Montorio, marking the supposed site of Peter's death, on what was formerly thought to be the site of Saint Peter's crucifixion.

Who built the big fountain? The Fontana dell'Acqua Paola is a Baroque fountain built by Pope Paul V.

How big is the botanical garden? 12 hectares, one of the largest in Italy, with over 300 specimens more than a century old belonging to over 130 species.

Is the wood on the hill natural? No. The garden's first director, Pietro Romualdo Pirotta (1884–1928), created the entire naturalistic area from scratch, from the ancient wood against the Janiculum and two cedars of Lebanon.

Why is the hill full of academies? It holds several foreign research institutions, including the American and Spanish Academies in Rome, along with three universities and colleges and the Spanish ambassadorial residence.

How long should I allow? An hour, or two with the garden.