8 Best Sights in Aventino and Testaccio, Rome

Built up against the ancient Aurelian Walls, this famed cemetery was intended for the interment of non-Catholics who were barred from burial within the city walls. Poetic souls seek out the tomb of John Keats, who tragically died in Rome after succumbing to consumption at age 25 in 1821. The headstone is famously inscribed, "Here lies one whose name was writ in water" (the poet requested that no name or dates should appear). Nearby is the place where Shelley's heart was buried, as well as the tombs of Goethe's son, the founder of the Italian Communist Party and vehement anti-Fascist Antonio Gramsci, and America's famed beat poet Gregory Corso.

The cemetery's quiet paths are lined with fruit trees and prowled by shy cats from a nearby animal sanctuary. The tranquil spot is far from morbid and quite easy to find: simply catch the Metro B from Termini station to the Piramide stop, which is just around the corner from the entrance to the cemetery.

A former monastery, founded in the 7th century by monks fleeing Jerusalem following the Arab invasion, this is a major monument of Rome, though it takes on a subdued air thanks to its modern quiet surroundings in the upscale San Saba district. The serene but rustic interior harbors 10th-century frescoes, a famed Cosmatesque mosaic floor, and a hodgepodge of ancient marble pieces.

This Early Christian basilica is stark and tranquil, showing off the lovely simplicity common to churches of its era. Although some of the side chapels were added in the 16th and 17th centuries, the essential form is as Rome's Christians knew it in the 5th century. Most striking are the 24 fluted Corinthian columns that line the classical interior. Once bright with mosaics, today the church has only one above the entrance door (its gold letters announce how the church was founded by Peter of Illyria, "rich for the poor," under Pope Celestine I). The beautifully carved, 5th-century cedar doors to the left of the outside entrance are the oldest of their kind in existence.

Umbrella-like Roman pines line the pathway of Savello Park, an enchanting public garden atop the Aventine Hill. The towering trees lead the way to a mesmerizing belvedere of the Tiber and the city rooftops, offering views spanning from the Monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II all the way to St. Peter’s. The park is named after the Savelli family who built a fortified palace on the spot in the late 13^th century, but it is better known simply as the Giardino degli Aranci, or the Orange Garden, thanks to the numerous citrus trees that were planted here in honor of St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominican order who preached under an orange tree at the nearby cloister of Santa Sabina. The former fortress opened as a park in 1932, but there are still some traces of its more ancient past in the old walls opposite the church, where the outline of an old drawbridge is still visible.

Once a part of the Aurelian Walls and now a part of the Cimitero Acattolico, this monumental tomb was designed in 12 BC for the immensely wealthy praetor Gaius Cestius, in the form of a 120-foot-tall pyramid. According to an inscription, it was completed in a little less than a year. Though little else is known about the Roman official, he clearly had a taste for grandeur and liked to show off his travels to far parts of the nascent empire. The pyramid was restored in 2015 thanks to a €1 million donation from Japanese fashion tycoon Yuzo Yagi. Guided visits (when available) require a reservation but are usually on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

One of Rome's most significant churches is a couple of Metro stops farther down Via Ostiense from Testaccio. Built in the 4th century AD by Constantine, over the site where St. Paul had been buried, the church was later enlarged, but in 1823 a fire burned it almost to the ground. Although the location near the river can be dreary and the outside lacks any real charm, the rebuilt St. Paul's is massive, second in size only to St. Peter's Basilica, and has a sort of monumental grandeur that follows the plans of the earlier basilica.

Highlights include the 272 roundels depicting every pope from St. Peter to Pope Francis (found below the ceiling, with spaces left blank for pontiffs to come) and the cloisters (€4, tickets available in the gift shop), where you get a real sense of the magnificence of the original building and a glimpse at artifacts unearthed from early workshops that surrounded the church. In the middle of the nave is the famous baldacchino created by sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio.

The round layout of the Temple of Hercules Victor led it to be mistakenly identified for centuries as the Temple of Vesta, which has a similar shape but really sits on the other side of Palatine Hill in the Roman Forum. Now called by its correct name, it was built in the 2nd century BC around the same time as its neighbor, the Tempio di Portuno. The little park around the temples was once ancient Rome's cattle market, but now has benches to rest weary feet.

A picture-perfect, if dollhouse-size, Roman temple, this rectangular edifice from the 2nd century BC is built in the Greek style. Positioned in a bend in the Tiber River and long known as the Temple of Fortuna Virilis (Manly Fortune), it was appropriately dedicated to Portunus, the protector of ports. It now sits on a slip of greenery between two well-trafficked roads and owes its fine state of preservation to the fact that it was consecrated as a church in the 9th century.