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Parioli can trace its settled origins to ancient times, but began its modern life in 1909 as a planned community for the wealthy. Originally intended to consist exclusively of villas with large private gardens, the neighborhood has changed over the subsequent decades to incorporate newer multifamily residential, office, hotel, and retail spaces. Many of the large historic villas have been repurposed as embassies or cut up into more manageable condos and offices, too.

Although it is just to the north of Pinciano — well worn by tourists because of the beautiful Villa Borghese and Borghese Gallery — Parioli receives far less attention from tourists. For Romans, though, it is regarded widely as the most exclusive neighborhood in the city and owning an expensive villa or penthouse in the area is a dream of many a local.

Mostly because of its smattering of hotels and embassies, visitors do not entirely ignore Parioli. However, it had minimal presence on the big tourist advisory sites at the time that travelgasm.com first wrote this piece. With the recent global introduction of Netflix's controversial Baby series — loosely based on the real life story of wealthy secondary school students in Parioli becoming underage prostitutes so they could buy (even more) designer clothes and electronics — it is a safe bet that interest in the district from similar-minded famewhores on social media will increase, as well.

Our Preferred Route in Parioli

Sadly, the trams in Parioli were once far more extensive than they are currently, but remnants of two tram lines — now numbers 3 and 19 — clip the southern edge of the district and provide a respectable start to walk through the neighborhood.

Parioli doesn't really offer specific tourist attractions, but for those who enjoy taking a peek at beautiful, historic architecture and the lifestyles of the wealthy, its better streets provide a pleasant afternoon stroll. If you find yourself in Rome on business, as we were for a month on one visit to the city, it is likely that you will have meetings in this area, too.

Whether in Rome on business or pleasure, Parioli also might be the best neighborhood for lunch or dinner, and it is not that far away from tourist attractions, either. Because it is an affluent area, most meals are not cheap per se, but it still is possible to find lunch specials for €15 or so. Restaurants in Parioli also tend to have much better Italian food than districts overflowing with tourists. You easily can pay much more for much worse near the Trevi Fountain, for example.

If you want to splurge, the Michelin-plated Al Ceppo and Michelin-starred Metamorfosi very well could be the best restaurants in the area. Three more modestly priced, but still tasty and beautiful, places that we enjoyed include Ercoli 1928 and Caminetto dal 1959 for Italian and Duke's for modern international options. Duke's has a half price aperitivo (happy hour) from 7:00 PM-8:30 PM, which might be the best deal in the neighborhood for quality cocktails and finger foods, also.

Below, we've mapped out the best route from the tram to Viale dei Parioli. After going past the modest San Roberto Ballarmino church and the small Santiago del Cile roundabout to the main retail portion of the neighborhood, it uses a couple of staircases and side streets to see more of the villas in the district and depart via Euclide Station.

How to Get Here: Take Tram 3 or 19 to the Liegi/Ungheria stop. Our suggested walk is toward the northwest on Viale dei Parioli (away from Viale Liegi). Both of these tram routes are long and have many stops, but a convenient connection for a visitor in Rome could be Colosseo (by the Colosseum) for Tram 3 or Lepanto (near the Vatican) for Tram 19. To leave the neighborhood, you always could backtrack to the tram, but our suggested walk instead uses Euclide Station. Euclide is a regional rail station on Italy's Rome–Viterbo (RMVT) line, but it uses the same stored value card as the Rome Metro. Make certain that you board a train toward Flaminio Station to tie back into the Rome Metro (Orange, Line A). If you go the other direction from Euclide you would instead head away from Rome entirely.

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