8. Away From the Centre

 Here are seven half-day jaunts away from Rome’s centre.

MAXXI is one of Zaha Hadid’s most successful buildings. It houses Rome’s contemporary art. To get there Bill and I always catch the Via Flaminia streetcar from north of Piazza del Popolo.

Full Italian name: Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo (National Museum of the Arts of the 21st-century). The museum is itself a work of art and a playful one.

But good luck to you if you need to retrace your steps.

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The Pyramid of Cestius, from the time of Roman Egypt, and the 3rd Century CE Porta San Paolo stand between the exit of Piramide metro station and the Cimitero Acattolico.

The Non-Catholic Cemetery is sometimes called the English or Protestant cemetery. Bill and I are drawn to graves of the poets. John Keats: “This Grave contains all that was Mortal of a Young English Poet, who, on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart, at the Malicious Power of his Enemies, Desired these Words to be engraven on his Tomb Stone 'Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water. thus Feb. 24 1821.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley: "Cor Cordium (Heart of Hearts) Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change, Into something rich and strange."

Gregory Corso: “Spirit/is life/It flows thru/the death of me/endlessly/like a river/unafraid/of becoming/the sea.”

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The metro stops at Cinecitta: Rome's legendary film studio.

Much to see on the back lot. We particularly enjoyed walking around the full-sized set of the TV series “Rome.”

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Rome’s fascist-era exhibition area EUR (Universal Exposition Rome) is also on the metro. The late-30s architecture will make you feel very, very small.

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The metro can also take you to the ruined city of Ostia Antica

You will find the Roman port-city just as it was left when it was abandoned in the 9th century.

The temptation is to walk until exhausted. Take some water.

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You could fill a morning covering the acreage of Hadrian’s Villa. He built it around the same time as he built the Pantheon. The bus can also drop you at the Villa d’Este in nearby Tivoli.

The Villa d’Este is a 16th century villa. It has a garden filled with spectacular fountains, and walkways on many levels.

If the weather in Rome is too hot to entertain the thought of dusty ruins under pitiless Roman sun, opt for the lush, waterworks of the Villa d’Este.