The greatest garden of Rome is the Villa Borghese, which has already been previewed, as have the gardens of the Vatican. But there are other "secret gardens" of Rome where you can slip away from the hordes and the traffic.

Villa dei Medici Gardens, Viale Trinità dei Monti 2 (tel. 06-67611), was called "the most enchanting place" in Rome by Henry James, who went on to write that the gardens were possessed with an "incredible, impossible charm."

Covering 17 sprawling acres on Pincio Hill above the Piazza di Spagna, they offer our favorite panoramic view of Rome. In the first century B.C., the site was covered by the Gardens of Lucullus. With their tree-lined avenues, statues, and fountains, these gardens were built around the severe, fortress-like facade of the Villa dei Medici in 1540. The Medici grand dukes acquired them in 1580. When Galileo was under house arrest by the Inquisition (1630-33), the dukes offered him shelter here.

In 1801, Napoleon purchased the villa to make it the seat of the French Academy. Prix de Rome scholars stay here, studying art, architecture, and archaeology. In front of the villa is a round fountain with a wide basin. Its spout was made from a cannonball shot from Castel Sant'Angelo. That was Queen Christina of Sweden's way of saying that she'd be late for dinner.

The gardens--not the villa itself--can be visited only on Saturday and Sunday tours at 10:30am and again at 11:30am, and only from September to June. The cost of a tour is 6€ ($5.35) per person. (Metro: Spagna.)