FEATURE OF THE WEEK: views of roma

belvedere is a word that seems to pop up quite a lot in my office (aka the vatican museums): the villa belvedere, the belvedere courtyard, the apollo belvedere and the belvedere torso all forming part of my tour route. so what does this word actually mean? 'belvedere' is comprised of two italian words: bel/bello/bella (meaning beautiful) and vedere (meaning to see, or view). thus, the word can be translated into english as 'viewpoint'; something that the spectacular villa belvedere most definitely has.
however... instead of fighting through all of the people to get to the fairly small window which enables us to see this view, i would save the 15 euros (although there are a few other things that are worth seeing in the vatican museums...) and get yourself away from all of the hot, smelly, i heart roma tourists and head up to one of the following places where belvedere's you certainly will find:

view from villa borghese at dusk

castel sant' angelo: found at one end of the famous ponte sant' angelo, this building was originally the mausoleum for hadrian and his family (emperor: 117-138 AD). over the years, the site was taken over by the papal state and used as a prison, a castle and a fortress. it was famously used as a refuge for clement vii during the sack of rome in 1527, who would have reached the castle by the passageway that secretly links it to the vatican palace. aside from its layered history, the structure provides one of the greatest views in rome permitting us to see all the way down the river tiber and also towards piazza cavour and the court of cassation (rome's high court).
ENTRANCE: 5E, 2.50E (reduced) or free (if you have a friend who has a friend who works on the door. sure.)

san pietro: you know the score, a walk through the vatican museums ending in the sistine chapel and st. peter's basilica. but if you pause before the sistine chapel for a coffee, you can re-boot your engine in order to climb/get the lift up to the top of the cupola which stands as the tallest dome in the world. as well as getting a great interior view of the basilica from a narrow balcony inside of the dome, when you reach the top, for the first time you are really able to locate yourself within the parameters of the vatican state. up until now, i swear to you, it is a maze of mysteries.
ENTRANCE: 5E (stairs), 7E (lift and stairs)

il vittoriano: its much nicer to be standing on the 'wedding cake' or the 'type-writer' than it is to be looking at it. on first sight, il vittoriano certainly makes an impact, but this fairly modern monument - set up to commemorate the unification of italy and its first king, vittorio emanuele ii in the 19th century - does seem to overpower all other views in rome. but being centrally placed and having an extremely efficient (albeit expensive) lift, the top of the monument is certainly worth a visit. one is able to get an aerial view of the roman forum and the numerous imperial fora on one side, as well as seeing all the way down via del corso towards piazza del popolo on the other. the highly powerful (and freeee) giant binoculars that are placed on either side of the small but uncrowded viewing area give us the perfect means to spot some of the more distant landmarks/spy on people's roof terraces.
ENTRANCE: 7E

il giardino degli aranci: although the garden of the oranges isn't the highest of spots in rome, its my personal favourite. situated on the aventine hill, the viewpoint is set amongst a peaceful garden of eden (with plenty of adam and eves; not naked ,but they may be making things easier for themselves if they were...). not far from the garden is the 'buco di roma' where one is able to see a perfectly framed view of st. peter's cupola through the keyhole of a door in the piazza dei cavalieri di malta. certainly a must in rome if you can avoid the queues of tourists all failing to point their lenses through the gap...

gianicolo: bill bryson gives us a lovely description of this area in 'neither here, nor there' (see FEATURE OF THE WEEK-22/02/12). the gianicolo (or janiculum hill) is supposedly the best panoramic view of the city, the best place to watch the fireworks on new year's eve (so i hear), and the best romantic spot in rome (so i also hear...). check out the statue of giuseppe garibaldi (the hero of italian unification) and donato bramante's tempietto whilst you're up there as well as escaping the fumes further by having a giro in villa pamphili.

villa borghese: just before descending the steps from the borghese gardens into the lively piazza del popolo, you must pause at the viewpoint. often accompanied by some busking tones, this view is best seen at dusk. as the sun sets, you get a fantastic silouette of st. peter's cupola as well as seeing everything else from a different perspective (here we are in northern rome). as long as you make sure that you visit the galleria borghese as well as ducking into santa maria del popolo on reaching the piazza (to see my favourite caravaggio, the execution of st. peter), your borghese experience is complete.