Parco Regionale Urbano del Pineto

One of the most beautiful oasis near Rome, the Parco del Pineto is a valley, the so called “Valle dell’Inferno” (Valley of the Hell), once extending to the Vatican walls and characterized by furnaces and limestone for the construction of St Peter’s. The area was also covered by vineyards and farmhouses. At the end of the 16th century a huge villa was built by Pietro da Cortona for the Sacchetti family, now lost. The fauna and flora of the park offer interesting chances for an educational approach to the geological history of Rome, here have been calculated more than 600 samples of Italian flora and 71 samples of birds. The park is a maquis dominated by cork oak; in the brushwood there are many species like heather, cistus, lentisk, myrtle and arbatus with wonderful bloom in springtime. The fauna is rich with dormice, wood mice and the grass snake. In 1987 it became a Urban Regional Park and the layout plan of the Municipality of 1989 included a wildlife sanctuary of 2 ha.