Quirinal Gardens (Giardini del Quirinale)

The gardens of Italy's presidential palace — 4 hectares of impeccably maintained formal Italian gardens on the highest of Rome's seven hills, created in the 16th century for Pope Sixtus V and developed by successive popes over three centuries. The gardens feature a famous coffee house pavilion (1741, Luigi Vanvitelli), monumental baroque fountains, and geometrically clipped hedges. For centuries entirely off-limits to the public as the private garden of kings and popes, the gardens opened for guided public visits in 2006 as part of the 'Quirinale Aperto' initiative — open on selected Saturdays and public holidays, and for the annual Republic Day celebrations (2 June). Mentioned by TripAdvisor and recommended for the behind-closed-doors experience of Italy's most powerful residence. Book through the official Quirinale website (quirinale.it/visite).