Casina del Salvi: A Hidden Gem Overlooking the Colosseum

Rome has plenty of famous sights and many quieter ones. Casina del Salvi is one of the quiet ones: a small 19th-century villa in the Archaeological Park of the Celio, a few steps from the Colosseum.

From Vineyard to Napoleonic Garden

In the 1500s this area was a vineyard owned by the Cornovaglia family. They kept it until the early 1800s, when the French administration took over during the Napoleonic era. The land then became a dump for soil from Rome’s big urban works, and that soil built up an artificial hill facing the Colosseum. Soon after, it became a public garden full of trees, the Jardin du Capitole: a promenade linking the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and the Colosseum.

The Birth of the Casina

In 1835 Pope Gregory XVI wanted something elegant for the promenade. He asked the architect Gaspare Salvi to design a small villa near the remains of the Temple of the Divine Claudius. Salvi took Valadier’s coffee house on the Pincio hill as his model, and the result is what we now call Casina del Salvi. It was a café where people stopped to rest and look at the view.

A Walk Through Ancient Rome

The Celio Archaeological Park is more than a garden. It also displays finds dug up in the late 19th century, when Rome became Italy’s capital: funerary objects, sculptures, altars to Roman gods, pieces of buildings and old boundary stones. Together they show how people lived day to day in ancient Rome.

A Café with a View

After a careful restoration, the Casina is a place to stop again. There is a café on the ground floor and on the terrace, which looks onto the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. Upstairs, a study room has Wi-Fi, charging points and quiet desks for working or reading.

The Marvel of the Forma Urbis

The park also holds the Museum of the Forma Urbis, with fragments of the famous marble map of Rome, the Forma Urbis Romae. The map once covered a wall of the Temple of Peace in the 3rd century AD. Even in pieces, it is one of the most important sources for ancient Rome’s layout. The museum is in a 20th-century building, once a gymnasium, recently reopened after a major restoration.

Why You Should Visit

If you are planning a trip to Rome, walk a few minutes past the classic landmarks. Casina del Salvi and the Celio Archaeological Park are close to the Colosseum, with a wide view of the Colosseum and far fewer people around you.