September in Rome is a strange month. The heavy summer heat begins to give way to cooler air, especially in the late afternoon. The light becomes softer, ideal for wandering without a destination. But if you head straight for the Colosseum or the Trevi Fountain, you will find the same wall of people that was there in July. As someone who has walked these cobblestones for thirty years, I suggest a different route. There is a less crowded city, one you won't find on the front pages of commercial travel guides. It is made of optical illusions, sudden silences, and perspectives that require just a moment of extra attention.
Francesco Borromini's illusion at Palazzo Spada
Let's start with Palazzo Spada, located in Piazza Capodiferro, just a few minutes' walk from Campo de' Fiori. Many tourists walk past this Renaissance palace without giving it a second glance, heading toward more famous destinations. Yet, in the inner courtyard lies one of the most famous perspective tricks of Baroque architecture, designed by Francesco Borromini in 1653.
At first glance, you will see a colonnaded gallery that looks about forty meters long, with a life-sized statue at the far end in a bright garden. In reality, the gallery is barely nine meters long, and the statue is just under sixty centimeters tall. Francesco Borromini, assisted by the mathematician Giovanni Maria da Bitonto, built the floor rising upward, the ceiling sloping downward, and made the side walls converge. The visual effect is complete.
- Area and stop: For public transport information to reach the area, check the ATAC website.
- Best time to visit: Early afternoon, around 2:00 PM, when most visitors are having lunch and the sunlight illuminates the courtyard evenly.
- Approximate price: For updated admission fees, check the official website of the Galleria Spada.
- Mistake to avoid: Do not just look at the gallery from a distance. Ask the staff to show you the actual length of the corridor, or look closely at how the proportions of the columns change from the recommended viewing point. You can find more historical details about this work by visiting the page dedicated to the illusione ottica di Palazzo Spada.
The bone silence of the Capuchin Crypt
If you head toward the Via Veneto area, famous for its luxury hotels and outdoor cafes, you will find a truly unusual place. Beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione, near Piazza Barberini, lies the Cripta dei Cappuccini. The crypt can be unsettling, but it shows an aspect of Roman religious devotion that is often overlooked.
The crypt consists of several chapels decorated entirely with the bones of about four thousand Capuchin friars, collected between 1528 and 1870. Skulls, femurs, and pelvises are arranged to create chandeliers, niches, and floral patterns on the walls.
- Area and stop: For information on how to get there by public transport, check the ATAC website.
- Best time to visit: Late afternoon, around 5:00 PM, before closing, when the flow of visitors thins out.
- Approximate price: For updated admission fees, consult the portale di Turismo Roma.
- Mistake to avoid: Taking photos or recording videos inside the crypt is strictly forbidden. The staff are very strict about this, and you risk being asked to leave. Also, do not treat this place as a horror attraction: for the Capuchin friars, using the bones was a way to recall the transient nature of earthly life. To plan your visit, you can read the information on the cripta dei Cappuccini in via Veneto.
The Aventine perspective through the keyhole
When you walk up the Aventino hill, one of the quietest residential areas in the city, you reach Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta. This square, designed by the engraver Giovan Battista Piranesi in 1765, is home to the entrance gate of the Villa del Priorato dei Cavalieri di Malta. If you walk up to the large green door, you will notice a small slit.
Looking through this keyhole, your gaze will travel down an avenue of neatly trimmed cypresses, ending exactly on the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It is a perfect visual telescope, calculated to the millimeter by Piranesi.
- Area and stop: For detailed directions on how to reach the hill, consult the portale di Turismo Roma.
- Best time to visit: Early morning, before 9:00 AM, or during lunchtime. At other times, you risk waiting in line for half an hour just to look for a few seconds.
- Approximate price: The experience is completely free.
- Mistake to avoid: Do not waste time trying to take the perfect photo with your phone. Smartphone autofocus struggles to handle the distance between the keyhole and the distant dome, usually resulting in blurry images. Look with your own eyes first. If you really want to try taking a photo, turn off autofocus and set the manual focus to infinity. You can learn more about the history of the complex by visiting the page on the cancello del Priorato dei Cavalieri.
Climbing the Holy Stairs on your knees
If you head toward the San Giovanni in Laterano area, you will find a place of devotion that draws pilgrims from all over the world, but which hurried tourists often overlook. This is the Scala Santa, located in the building that also houses the private chapel of the popes, known as the Sancta Sanctorum.
According to Christian tradition, these twenty-eight marble steps are the very ones Jesus climbed in Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem, brought to Rome by Saint Helena in the fourth century. The steps are covered with wooden boards to protect them from wear, with small glass-protected openings at the points where, according to tradition, drops of Christ's blood fell.
- Area and stop: For information on subway connections, check the ATAC website.
- Best time to visit: Mid-morning, around 10:30 AM, when natural light clearly illuminates the interior and there are fewer worshippers.
- Approximate price: Access to the Holy Stairs is free. For updated admission fees to the chapel, please refer to the official website.
- Mistake to avoid: Do not try to walk up the Holy Stairs on foot. Climbing them is permitted exclusively on your knees as an act of devotion. If you want to reach the top on foot to visit the chapel or simply to look down from above, you must use one of the four side staircases intended for this purpose. You can find further historical and religious details in the report on the storia della Scala Santa.
How to connect these stops on foot and by public transport
Organizing a day to visit these spots requires a bit of planning, as they are located in different areas of the center. Here is how to optimize your route:
- Start early in the morning on the Aventino hill. The walk up from Circus Maximus is pleasant in September, when the autumn temperatures make walking enjoyable. After looking through the keyhole, you can stop at the nearby Orange Garden.
- From the Aventine, you can walk for about twenty-five minutes along the Tiber River to reach Palazzo Spada. It is a flat route that allows you to avoid public transport during a typically busy time of day.
- To reach the Cripta dei Cappuccini from Campo de' Fiori, you can take bus 62 or 64 to Piazza Venezia, and from there walk along Via del Corso and Via Barberini, or take the subway from Termini to Barberini if you prefer to reduce walking distances.
- Finally, to get from Barberini to the Scala Santa, take Metro Line A directly toward Anagnina and get off at the San Giovanni stop. This will save you from getting stuck in Rome's afternoon surface traffic.
- Wear comfortable shoes with thick soles. Roman cobblestones and the marble steps of the side staircases can be slippery and will quickly tire your feet if you are not used to them.