Rome’s Best Views: Parco degli Aranci

Rome’s Best Views: Parco degli Aranci

Can you name the 7 hills of Rome? If not don’t worry! But most of them have spectacular views overlooking parts of the city. One of my favorite on the Aventine Hill  is called Parco degli Aranci.

 

Summer Morning, Parco degli Aranci
Oil on Panel
24×18 cm
SOLD

This park, recently immortalized in one of the gorgeous opening scenes of Paolo Sorrentino’s award winning film La Grande Bellezza, this park has the most iconic view of St. Peter’s Dome framed perfectly by a corridor of towering pines.

 

Click here to watch a short clip from the film in Parco degli Aranci

This beautiful clip from the film gives you a small sense of the light and ancient beauty of this place on Rome’s Aventine Hill, with the 5th century Santa Sabina Basilica next to the garden and seen here in the film.

The true name of this park is not the orange garden, but rather Parco Savello after the family who built their castle here in 1285 from the preexisting Crescenzi structure from the 10th century.

This wonderful place enjoyed by Romans and tourists alike did not become a public park until 1932, though it was a garden for the Dominican monks living here in the church.

From a painter’s perspective, this is a quintessential view, but the light is anything but typical.

The soft light of the hazy summer morning filtering through the trees and lighting up St. Peter’s Dome in the distance (which gives the illusion of being much larger and hence closer than it really is) is truly magical. To attempt to do it justice is an honor. Painting here I have the full sense of appreciation for how wonderful and lucky I to live my dream and spend my days painting here in Rome.

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