The Olympic Stadium of Rome is located in one of the most beautiful areas of the entire city: Monte Mario. Staying in an apartment in the area of Monte Mario, for those who visiting Rome intend to breathe the magic atmosphere of the Eternal City among its monuments and historic squares, is the equivalent of living a daydream.
Monte Mario is the most impressive hill of Rome and is completely surrounded by greenery: huge parks and natural reserves cover almost the whole of its vast territory, such as the Urban Park of Pineto, which stretches for 240 hectares, and the natural reserve Monte Mario, which covers 204 hectares. The natural reserve of the Insugherata is even bigger and it extends north of the GRA for 740 hectares and takes its name from the presence of many cork trees.
The name Monte Mario has uncertain origins, as there are several hypotheses: it may be a reference to the sea(in italian mare) because of the discovery of some fossil shells or because from some points of the hill you can see the Tyrrhenian Sea. It could also be that it was named after Renaissance humanist Mario Mellini, who owned a villa on this hill (now an astronomy museum). The latter hypothesis is however unlikely, given that the area was already called "Monte Malo" after the dominator of Rome, Crescenzio Nomentano was murdered by the hands of Otto III in 998. During antiquity, the mountain was called "Mons Vaticanus" or "Clivus Cinnae." Near Monte Mario were also found flint tools and teeth of animals going back some 65,000 years ago.These findings are the oldest of the prehistoric era found in the area of Rome.
