From the Villa Farnesina, it’s about a fifteen-minute achievement up Via Garibaldi (bus #870 goes up from Piazza della Rovere) to the summit of the Janiculum Hill - not one of the original seven hills of Rome, but the one with the best and most accessible views of the centre. Via Garibaldi leads up past the church of San Pietro in Montorio (daily 7.30am-noon & 4-6pm), built on a site once - now, it’s thought, wrongly - believed to have been the place of the saint’s crucifixion. The compact interior is particularly intimate - it’s a favourite for weddings - and features some first-rate paintings, among them Sebastiano del Piombo’s graceful Flagellation. Don’t miss Bramante’s little Tempietto (daily 9am-noon & 4-6pm) in the courtyard on the right, one of the seminal works of the Renaissance, built on what was supposed to have been the precise spot of St Peter’s martyrdom. The small circular building is like a classical temple in miniature, perfectly proportioned and neatly executed. The Janiculum was the scene of a fierce 1849 set-to between Garibaldi’s troops and the French, and the white marble memorial opposite the church is dedicated to all those who died in the battle. A little further up the hill, the Acqua Paola - constructed for Paul V with marble from the Roman Forum - gushes water at a bend in the road. At the top, the Porta San Pancrazio was built during the reign of Urban VIII, destroyed by the French in 1849, and rebuilt by Pope Pius IX five years later. It has recently been restored to house the new Museum of the Roman Republic 1848-49 - yet to open at time of writing. Afterwards, take the weight off your feet at Bar Gianicolo , a cool hangout for Italian media stars, writers and academics from the nearby Spanish and American academies.

Just beyond here is the entrance to the grounds of the Villa Doria Pamphili , which stretch down the hill alongside the old Via Aurelia. This is the largest and most recent of Rome’s parks, ordered out in 1650 and acquired for the city in the Seventies. It’s a good place for a picnic, but most people turn right along the Passeggiata del Gianicolo to the crest of the hill, where, on Piazzale Garibaldi, there’s an equestrian monument to Garibaldi - an ostentatious work from 1895. Just below is the spot from which a cannon is fired at noon apiece day for Romans to check their watches. Further on, the statue of Anita Garibaldi recalls the important part she played in the 1849 effort - a fiery, melodramatic work (she cradles a baby in one arm, brandishes a pistol with the other, and is galloping full speed on a horse) which also marks her grave. Spread out before her are some of the best views over the city.

A little further on is the Renaissance Villa Lante , a jewel of a place that is now the home of the Finnish Academy in Rome. Descending from here towards the Vatican and Saint Peter’s, follow some steps off to the right and, next to a small amphitheatre, you’ll find the gnarled old oak tree where the sixteenth-century Italian poet Tasso , friend of Cellini and author of Orlando Furioso, is said to have whiled away his last days. Further down the hill, past the Jesuit children’s hospital, the church of Sant’Onofrio (Sun 9am-1pm) sits on the road’s hairpin, its L-shaped portico fronting the church where Tasso is buried. To the right of the church is one of the city’s most delightful small cloisters; you can visit the poet’s cell, which holds some manuscripts, his chair, his death mask and individualized effects.