Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta (Aventine Keyhole)

On the Aventine Hill there is a piazza designed by a man who never built any buildings. Giovanni Battista Piranesi became famous for his engravings: his Roman ruins turned out more majestic than in real life, and it was upon these plates that the European perception of antiquity grew. In 1765 he was given a real commission, and he created the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta: an enclosed space, surrounded by a wall, with obelisks and reliefs of military trophies, amidst cypresses. It turned out looking just like one of his own engravings, only in stone. Yet the queue here is not for Piranesi. In the wall of the piazza stands the gate at number 3, the entrance to the priory of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. In the gate there is a bronze keyhole, and if you press your eye to it, you will see a trimmed alley stretching into the distance, and at its end, framed precisely in greenery, the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. The distance to the dome is about two kilometers; through the keyhole it looks as though you can walk to it right down the alley. Romans call this opening in various ways: guidebooks feature both Santo Buco, the "holy hole", and Buco di Roma. They say about this keyhole that it allows you to see three states at once: Malta, the Vatican, and Italy. The story is lovely, but it does not add up. The Order of Malta and the Republic of Malta are different things: the order is a religious and chivalric organization that holds a villa in Rome and has nothing to do with the Mediterranean island. The Vatican is indeed visible through the keyhole. So honestly, there are only two states counted. If you linger on the piazza: the priory church, Santa Maria del Priorato, was also remodeled by Piranesi, and you can only get inside by appointment. And in the southwest corner stands Sant'Anselmo, an international Benedictine church where Gregorian chants are sung on Sundays. Practical info. Free to view and open at any time, but by evening and on weekends a queue forms at the keyhole; the best light and fewer people are found early in the morning. The gate is guarded round the clock by carabinieri, and that is also part of the experience. From Santa Sabina it is two hundred meters down the hill, meaning the spot fits right at the end of our Aventine route.