In a city of romantic panoramas, the Aventino’s keyhole view is one of the most memorable. Head up to Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta and you’ll find a pretty, cypress-shaded piazza flanked by the Villa del Priorato di Malta. No view is immediately apparent, but look through the keyhole in the villa’s green door and you’ll see the dome of St Peter’s Basilica perfectly aligned at the end of a hedge-lined avenue.
The villa, which is off-limits to visitors, is the Roman headquarters of the Sovereign Order of Malta (aka the Cavalieri di Malta, or Knights of Malta). The piazza outside owes its ornamental look to a late-18th-century makeover by the artist and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi.
