The great parks of Rome: Monte Ciocci park, the youngest green area of the capital

The Urban Park of Monte Ciocci is a sort of green mountain at the foot of the Trionfale, between the Balduina area and Via Aurelia, from which you can admire a spectacular panorama that opens 360 degrees over almost the entire city. Especially on St. Peter's Basilica.
You can access the Monte Ciocci Park from the end of via Apuleio, from via Domizia Lucilla, from via Anastasio II, from the Monte Mario and Monte Ciocci cycle and pedestrian park, along a steep and tiring path and a staircase made of fairly steep bricks. It is one of the "youngest" parks in Rome, since the recovery works began in 2009 and ended in August 2013.
In 2016 the park was included in the Monte Mario Nature Reserve. The Monte Ciocci Park is not only a naturistic place in the heart of Rome, it contains a particular and difficult history, which makes it a particularly fascinating destination for your journey to discover not only a spectacle of nature, but also historical facts related to this city.
Once you get to the top of the park, through the less winding road, or through the old brick staircase, you will firstly see a panorama that will leave you speechless, which will open onto the wonderful Eternal City and especially the Dome of the Basilica of San Pietro, only a few hundred meters away. From this height four railway lines are visible. If you turn your back on the Dome of San Pietro, you will find yourself in front of Monte Mario and in front of you the remains will appear in a characteristic 19th century village: the “Borgo dei fornaciai” of Valle Aurelia.

The "Borghetto delle Fornaci"
The hamlet of the kilns takes its name from the brick kilns for construction there present because of the very clayey soil. It seems that the first furnaces date back to the first century AD, which were used less in the Middle Ages, only to be used again in the Renaissance, to build the Basilica of San Pietro. Other kilns spread in the early 1900s, 18 of which exactly near the Aurelia Valley, where the suggestive kilnsman houses, small and with a maximum of two floors, were also founded. As proletarian, anarchist, communist and socialist ideas spread, a People's House was created that still exists, although it remains inactive. Here the "Arditi del Popolo" engaged against the fascists in the twenties, also creating the Vicolo dei fornaciari, nothing less than a side street of via di Valle Aurelia, which, on the stellar style, in 1939 also followed the names of the others streets. The kilnsmen remained anti-fascist in nature and fought against the Mussolini regime, as a result of which many of them lost their lives in the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine.
The furnaces were operational until the 1960s: today only the remains of the Pomilia and Veschi furnaces remain.
In January of this year, the restauration of the Borgo delle fornaci began: the village is located in the enclosure of the Pineto Regional Park, an area bound to the landscape. These operations were long awaited by the residents, who created a vigorous spirit of community and collaboration with the municipal administration.

The history of the Monte Ciocci park
The Monte Ciocci Park is a very interesting area from an environmental point of view, because it guarantees the continuity between the Monte Mario Nature Reserve and the Pineto Urban Regional Park. It is a green lung that must be safeguarded to guarantee citizens and tourists the full enjoyment of the area.

Do you want to stay in Rome?

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