GUIDE
TO
UNKNOWN
Clivo of Rocca Savella
From the banks of the Tiber a steep, almost unknown alley goes uphill following the Aventine's side.
You find yourself surrounded by antique walls and pine trees, in a place where no one else is to be seen,
and you wonder whether you've jumped backward in time and ranks of legionary troops are about to appear just ahead of you.
Picturesque in Rome can be often found round a corner, at the very center of the city. Clivo of Rocca Savella makes no exception. This solitary street brings you back to Grand Tour times, when Rome was only ruins and gardens, and you walked amid the old stones without stumbling upon any other human beings, so that you could fancy you were treading the soil of Ancient Rome.
The impression is still alive in this unfrequented alley leading to the Aventine's hilltop: no modern building is visible in the vicinity, the sight might as well be part of a XVII-century landscape, or even a surviving portion of the capital city of the Roman Empire.
Not many Italian residents know about the spell of this beautiful place: walk the paved street alone, at dusk or just after sunset, when no other living person is in sight: and the magic of Rome will seize your soul once more.
Words from The Grand Tour
Visitor information
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In the vicinity of the Bocca della Verità
Clivo di Rocca Savella
Always open
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Take the alley from the Tiber side uphill for a real out-of-time experience
![The Aventine, anciently the principal seat of the Roman Plebs, and also afterwards densely peopled, is now occupied by monasteries and vineyards only, and is still hardly touched by the modern building activity. [From there] in the 13th century the Savelli commanded the river and the road on its banks.](http://www.italianwriter.it/UnknownRome/Images/Place20_ClivoRoccaSavella_Quote.jpg){kind=link}