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Like London with Hyde Park, Rome likewise has a large green space in the heart of the city, Villa Borghese. Also like Hyde Park, Villa Borghese is an English-style landscape garden, carefully designed to feel like it is like an idealized slice of natural wilderness.

Villa Borghese is a lovely escape from the often crowded and noisy streets of Rome. You easily could spend a relaxing day in the park. Locals tend to enjoy strolling the wooded paths and running around in the grassy fields with their bambinos, but there are some specific attractions in the park that are most of interest to tourists.

Esculapio Temple

Although its Terrazza del Pincio, which overlooks the Piazza del Popolo, also is a well-worn spot for tourists, the most beautiful centerpiece of Villa Borghese is the Tempio di Esculapio. Highlighted by the travelgasm.com photo above, Esculapio Temple is a small ionic-style structure on an artificial lake that is particularly popular for photo ops.

Borghese Gallery

Although there also are other smaller museums nestled within Villa Borghese — and the smaller museums tend to be free all the time — the famous museum that attracts scores of tourists is the Borghese Gallery.

Housed in a former palace, the Borghese Gallery displays sculptures and paintings from the 15th to the 19th century, including masterpieces from Caravaggio, Correggio, Raphael, Titian, and more.

The Borghese Gallery only accommodates 360 people at a time and tickets are sold in two-hour increments. It is closed on Mondays. Prebooking tickets is essential, especially in the summer. The cheapest option is to prebook tickets through the officially selected travel agent, but in our experience, these tickets often are sold out well in advance, and slightly more expensive tickets from other agents are available more readily. If the day or time you would like is not available from the official site, two other options include a reserved self-guided ticket and a small group tour, both with good reviews.

Borghese Gallery is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, but even on free Sunday, prebooking is required. You will need to call or email to request tickets, likely at least a month or two in advance. Because you can reserve advance tickets, Borghese Gallery is our top suggestion for a free Sunday in Rome. It certainly is much more pleasant than battling the scrum at the Colosseum.

Via Veneto

The nicest street leading to Villa Borghese is the posh, tree-lined Via Vittorio Veneto. More commonly abbreviated sans Vittorio as just Via Veneto, this street long has been associated with the well-to-do in Rome. It became globally famous as a party hotspot for Hollywood stars like Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper in the 1950s and was made immortal by Federico Fellini's award-winning La Dolce Vita film in 1960.

The glamour of the era captured by La Dolce Vita — the Sweet Life — has faded, but the street still is flanked by beautiful luxury hotels, restaurants, and bars; many of which can trace their roots to that time period. It remains a lovely area to stay or at least stroll through before or after visiting the park.

There literally are hundreds of restaurants in the neighborhood, but we enjoyed the famous Girarrosto Fiorentino Tuscan-style steakhouse, Cantina Cantarini for home-style Italian, and a branch of the La Romana gelateria, established in 1947.

If you would like to get a drink on Via Veneto, you might enjoy Harry's Bar, made iconic by its scenes in La Dolce Vita. We wouldn't suggest eating at Harry's; it is decidedly expensive. At the time we wrote this piece, its signature Bellini cocktail was €18 and even a bottle of water was €11, but if you consider €10 of the drink price as a cover charge to spend some time in a beautiful and historic space, it's not really more expensive than plenty of other bars and clubs in central Rome or elsewhere.

We've mapped out the best routes to Villa Borghese below. If you want to minimize the walk, the ideal option is to use one of the many buses that go through the park. You also can walk from Flaminio Station or Spagna Station. Flaminio is closest to the Esculapio Temple. Spagna is closest to the Borghese Gallery. Our preferred walk from the metro is to take the tunnel from Spagna to Via Veneto.

How to Get Here: Take a bus — the 89, 490, and 495 probably are the most convenient routes for a visitor — and get off on Viale San Paolo del Brasile as it goes through Villa Borghese park. Alternately, walk from Flaminio Station or Spagna Station on Rome Metro Line A (Orange). Our preferred metro route is to take the long tunnel from Spagna Station to Via Veneto. Turn left on Via Veneto for the attractive Porta Pinciana entrance of Villa Borghese.

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