The Rose Garden

A unique sensory experience, thanks to the roses with their scents and colors, and a stunning view that goes from the Palatine Hill to the bell tower of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, the dome of the Synagogue and the Vittoriano, up to the Monte Mario observatory. 

Rome's rose garden is located on the slopes of the Aventine Hill, in a place that was dedicated to flowers ever since the III century B.C. Roman historian Tacitus, in his Annales, speaks of a temple dedicated to the goddess Flora, whose celebrations, the "floralia", took place in the spring in Circus Maximus. Covered with gardens and vineyards until the end of the 16th century, in 1645 it became the Jewish Vegetable Garden and a small community cemetery was annexed to it.

From 1934, when the Jewish cemetery was moved to the Verano monumental cemetery, the area was designated as a park by Rome’s general master plan. It remained uncultivated, however, until 1950, when it became the site of the new municipal rose garden. As a thank-you to the Jewish community that had made it possible to recreate the rose garden in a sacred place, a stele was placed at the entrance to the garden in remembrance of the previous destination, and the paths dividing the flowerbeds in the collection area took on the shape of the menorah, the seven-branched candelabra which a symbol of Judaism. 

The Roseto is home to around 1,100 species of roses from all over the world, even from China and Mongolia. Among the most curious, the Rosa Chinensis Virdiflora, with green petals, the Rosa Chinensis Mutabilis, which changes color with the passing of the days and the Rosa Foetida, a smelly rose. In the largest area is the collection of botanical roses, both ancient and modern.

The lower section of the garden hosts the roses participating in the Premio Roma (by invitation) and the collection of the roses that have won this prestigious event since 1933 (the year of the first edition that was held on Colle Oppio).