Zipping around the aqueducts at Rome’s Parco degli Acquedotti
If it’s an early Sunday morning in the fall, there’s a good chance I’m out shivering in some Godforsaken park around Rome for one of my son’s cross-country races.
Luckily, however, I do live in Rome, and some of those parks I discover on those early morning jaunts are truly spectacular.
This season’s races opened in a park I (can’t believe I) never visited before … Rome’s Parco degli Acquedotti.
As the name suggests, this park is full of the (amazingly intact) ruins of the Ancient Roman aqueducts. Hats off to Ancient world engineers…
The October day was cool but sun-drenched, and I couldn’t have chosen a better day myself to have explored this park.
These are the same aqueducts I saw (at another race) at Rome’s Tor Fiscale park (see my earlier post). They were built to carry the water from the Roman countryside that would supply the Caracalla baths – the greatest public baths of the Roman world. And pretty impressive even today (I see them from my office window…)
It’s remarkably easy to reach this park by public transport. Take the A (Red) line metro in the direction of Anagnina, and stop at the Subaugusta stop. From there, it’s a five minute walk away.
After I cheered my son on in his race, we had a nice walk around admiring the aqueducts. There were plenty of families out having picnics, jogging or biking. It certainly seems the idyllic spot to while away an afternoon.
If you’re in Rome and the weather is good (and it almost always is), be sure to stop by and explore the spectacular Parco degli Acquedotti.
