Villas of Rome E-Bike Tour

• Day tours by bike
• Italy
• Rome

Discover Rome’s historic ruling dynasties

Visit Rome’s most sumptuous and richly historic villas on this guided e-bike tour. These impressive landscaped parks contain sculptures, temples, ornate houses, and even museums, and tell the stories of some of Rome’s most powerful families. This family-friendly bike tour stops at the National Gallery of Modern Art, the Temple of Aesculapius, the Portico of the Lions, the Tempietto of Diana, Siena Square, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, Parco dei Daini, Galleria Borghese, the Water Clock and the Terrazza del Pincio, Villa Ada, and ends with an optional visit to the Catacombs of the Capuchin Friars.

Begin your bicycle tour with a stop at the National Gallery of Modern Art, which houses Rome’s largest collection of modern and contemporary art by Italian as well as international artists. From here, you’ll ride into the gardens of the Villa Borghese, where you’ll stop at the Temple of Aesculapius. Featuring the god of medicine, your guide will explain how this temple was built in memory of a destroyed ancient Roman temple on Tiber Island.

Pedal on to the Portico of the Lions, where four lions lie in guard before a small antiquarium full of ancient fragments and inscriptions. As just one of the many lavish features of the Villa Borghese gardens, your guide will recount the history of this illustrious family, their role in Roman politics, and their legacy as patrons of some of Italy’s greatest artists. Ride on through the lush scenery of the park until you reach Tempietto of Diana, a circular temple whose ostentatious ceiling depicts Diana, goddess of the hunt, in its center, with hunting motifs all around.

Cycle on to the Siena Square, built for the Borghese family in 1792 based on the Piazza del Campo in Siena, the city from which the Borghese family originated. Stop at the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, built in the same year, and the Parco dei Daini, a park once reserved for the Prince of the Borghese family. Cycle on until you arrive at the Galleria Borghese, originally built as a suburban villa for the Borghese family, and now transformed into a museum housing some of the finest works by Titian, Caravaggio, and Bernini in the world.

Your guide will lead you to the next stop on this city tour, the Water Clock, an extremely rare type of clock, designed by a monk, that uses water to keep time! Stop at the Terrazza del Pincio to enjoy views over Piazza del Popolo and St. Stephen’s Basilica below, before cycling on to Villa Ada, the second villa in this day tour. This park is the second largest in the city of Rome and was built in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Cycling through its lawns, gardens, and winding paths is the best way to take in the city’s green lungs, while enjoying your guide’s stories of this historic estate.

If you choose to visit the Catacombs of the Capuchin Friars, your city tour continues to one of Rome’s strangest and most striking sightseeing opportunities: chapels displaying the skeletal remains of 3,700 friars. Intended to remind other monks in the order of the swift passage of time on earth, these chapels are an unusual and memorable way to end your ride through the Eternal City.

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Highlights

National Gallery of Modern Art (entry not included), Temple of Aesculapius, Portico of the Lions, Tempietto of Diana, Siena Square, Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, Parco dei Daini, Galleria Borghese (entry not included), Water Clock, Terrazza del Pincio, Villa Ada, Catacombs of the Capuchin Friars (optional)

What’s included

• E-bike and helmet rental
• English, Italian, and Spanish-speaking guide
• Bike lock

Meeting place & directions

00044 Frascati, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital