Monte Mario

The Monte Mario, a hill of Rome
In Latin / Italian	– / Monte Mario
Rione	Prati
Buildings	Villa Mellini, Villa Pigneto, John Felice Rome Center
Churches	Santa Maria Rosario
People	Mario Mellini

Monte Mario is the highest (139 m) hill of Rome, Italy. It lies in the NW side of the city.

The park of Monte Mario.

The hill was known as Mons Vaticanus or Clivus Cinnae in Roman times. The current name, according to some theories, comes from Mario Mellini, a cardinal who around the middle of 15th century owned there a villa and several hamlets. In the Middle Ages it was however known as Monte Malo ("Bad Mountain"), due to the murder here of patrician Giovanni Crescenzio (998), whence, it is presumed, the modern name.

The eastern part of the hill is a nature reserve [1], on the west side lies the now upmarket district of the same name. Atop one hill is the church and convent of Santa Maria Rosario. On the hilltop, now occupying the site of the 15th century Villa Mellini, is the Monte Mario Observatory, part of the Rome Observatory, and the Museo Astronomico Copernicano. This location (12°27'8.4"E ) was used as the prime meridian (rather than Greenwich) for maps of Italy until the 1960s. The side of the hill was the former site of the Villa Pigneto built by Pietro da Cortona. The ruins of the structure were razed in the 19th century.

The John Felice Rome Center, one of the four campuses of Loyola University Chicago, is located on the hill on Via Massimi.

Although the highest hill in the modern city of Rome, Monte Mario is not one of the proverbial Seven Hills of Rome, being outside the boundaries of the ancient city.

See also

• Seven hills of Rome
• Aventine Hill (Aventino)
• Caelian Hill (Celio)
• Capitoline Hill (Capitolino)
• Cispian Hill (Cispio)
• Esquiline Hill (Esquilino)
• Janiculum Hill (Gianicolo)
• Oppian Hill (Oppio)
• Palatine Hill (Palatino)
• Pincian Hill (Pincio)
• Quirinal Hill (Quirinale)
• Vatican Hill (Vaticano)
• Velian Hill (Velia)
• Viminal Hill (Viminale)

References

• Pallottino, Luigi (1991). Monte Mario tra cronaca e storia. Roma. 

External links

• Info about Monte Mario (in Italian)
• Agrinet
• Romanatura