The best traffic-free bike rides around Fonte Nuova

The Riserva della Marcigliana is a magical place just outside the Grande Raccordo Anulare. A cool place where you can breathe some fresh air.

Nice short climb and at the top you get some great views on both sides.

The route is quiet and the road has just been redone. Lots of bikes and few cars

Curiosities of Hidden Rome – Via Collatina Vecchia and the Acqua Vergine Conduit – The street fountain restored by Pope Benedict XIV. Traveling along Via Collatina Vecchia near the "Palmiro Togliatti" train station, enclosed in an enclosure sadly abandoned as a landfill, is a vertical brick shrine, surmounted by a beautiful travertine tympanum and built to contain a large epigraph. It commemorates an ancient fountain built in 1753 by Benedict XIV, Lambertini (1740-1758), after the restoration of the section of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct, which is above ground in the area. The text on the plaque is still legible but, sadly, destined to disappear: It is one of the many fountain-watering troughs, mostly lost, built in the countryside around Rome (now the outskirts of the city) for the refreshment of people and animals. The aedicule features a circular opening at the base, through which part of the spout can still be seen, once pouring water into the large rectangular brick basin with travertine edges below, watered by several other spouts, now no longer visible. On the sides of the structure, set in marble columns, are two more easily accessible water spouts, but no longer visible. After more than 2,000 years, the aqueduct is still operational, discharging a substantial flow of non-potable water into the trough below, which then disappears into the countryside. Among the various photos, you can see a small door that allowed inspection of the aqueduct, which required extensive maintenance due to the limestone. The low concentration of water also explains the extreme longevity of this aqueduct. The text of the epigraph reads: BENEDICTVS XIV P.M. AQVAE VIRGINIS COPIAE ET PERENNITATI PROSPICIENS ANTIQVVM EIVS AQVAE DVCTVM REPARAVIT YEAR D. MDCCLIII SILVIO CARD. VALENTI S.R.E. WAIVER NICOLAO PERELLO C. A. DEC. AQVIS PRO PRAEFECTO (Benedict Walking through Rome Source: The Fountains of Rome – W. Pocino Ed. N.&C. www.sotterraneidiroma. it sites fontanile-di-benedetto-xiv-boccaleone

WEBSITE: https://www.castellodi Lunghezza.it/

Lunghezza Castle - a medieval castle named after the town of Lunghezza, in the municipality of Rome. It is located between Via Collatina and Via Tiburtina. The castle is linked to the birth of the Roman Republic. The first nucleus was built on the remains of a Paleolithic settlement and a fortified structure called Collazia, following the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud by Brutus Collatinus, owner of the citadel.[1] It became a Benedictine monastery in the 8th century, and in the 11th century it was owned by the Abbey of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.[2] The building was held for the abbey by various families, including the Counts and the Orsini. The famous Manifesto, drawn up by members of the Colonna family, against Boniface VIII, was signed in the castle. Passed by marriage in the 15th century from the Orsini to the Medici of Florence, it became the property of the Strozzi family.[3] They held it until the early 20th century and it was remodeled and restored several times.

It's a beautiful and varied trail... but watch out for wild boars! And then... why doesn't Roma Natura clean up the illegal landfills? It's true that people are uncivilized, but the institutions must clean up, otherwise the degradation will worsen.

Every now and then you come across some wild boars but they run away immediately.