Villa Celimontana, Renaissance park on Caelian Hill, Rome, Italy

Villa Celimontana is a garden park on the Caelian Hill situated between the Colosseum and the Caracalla Baths. The space features fountains, sculptures, and an Egyptian obelisk dating to the era of Ramses II.

Giacomo Mattei bought the Paluzzelli vineyard for 1000 gold scudi in 1553, and Ciriaco Mattei had Giacomo Del Duca, a pupil of Michelangelo, build the villa and first garden layout around 1580. The Mattei sold the villa in 1802; after passing through owners including Manuel de Godoy and Princess Marianne of the Netherlands, it was confiscated by the Italian State during the First World War and granted to the City of Rome in 1926.

The Italian Geographical Society established its base here and continues to use the villa for its work. Summer jazz performances under the open sky bring music lovers to this green space for outdoor concerts.

You can enter the park through two main gates located at Piazza SS Giovanni e Paolo and Piazza della Navicella. The paths throughout the space work well for walking and jogging.

The obelisk's top is a 2.68 m shaft carved with hieroglyphs of Ramesses II, taken from the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis; its lower part combines pieces of several obelisks of unknown origin. A legend holds that the globe on its tip contained the ashes of Augustus. When it was moved in 1817, a broken support trapped a worker's hand and part of his arm under the base, and they were amputated on the spot.