Villa Borghese

Scipione Borghese’s private Renaissance park and the adjacent 19th-century Pincio gardens, with statues and fountains, are a joy to explore, especially on two wheels. There are bike rental stands scattered throughout the park. You can also rent paddle boats for the little lake or take the kids to the park’s small funfair (see Villa Borghese).

Explora

This museum offers a child’s eye view of the way the world works. Children can interact with life-size dioramas and models. There is a popular create-your-own TV show.

• Via Flaminia 82

• Children admitted with adults only. Hour-long visits 10am, noon, 3pm, 5pm Tue–Sun. Booking recommended. 06 361 3776

• Adm

Capuchin Crypt

Fantastically creepy chapels festively decorated with mosaics made from the bones of dead monks, a few of whose skeletons remain propped up in bone-built niches. It rarely fails to impress, and for adolescents and adults can be a highlight of the trip, although it may be a bit too much for the very young or overly squeamish (see Capuchin Crypt).

Bioparco (Zoo)

Rome’s zoo, once a depressing conglomeration of badly kept cement cubicles, has been overhauled to become a pretty “biological garden” set into a corner of Villa Borghese park.

• Piazzale del Giardino Zoologico 1

• Open 9:30am–6pm Mon–Fri, 9:30am– 7pm Sat & Sun (until 5pm Nov–Mar)

• Adm

Technotown

Occupying a 20th-century house on the grounds of lush Villa Torlonia gardens, Technotown is a multimedia playhouse for kids, with fun and educational interactive exhibits including robotics and 3D photography.

• Via Lazzaro Spallanzani 1

• 06 6820 59127

• Open 10am–7pm Tue–Sun

• www.technotown.it

Puppet Shows on the Gianicolo

You don’t need to understand Italian to appreciate a Punch and Judy show (the pugilistic characters are native to Italy). This is the last of the old puppet kiosks that once peppered Rome’s public parks, offering a dying art form for free.

• Teatro di Pulcinella, Gianicolo

• Show times variable, Tue–Sun

• Free

• DA

Villa Sciarra

This park, tucked into a bend in the Aurelian Wall where Trastevere fades into Monteverde Vecchio, features a playground and a small funfair with a tiny rollercoaster.

• Via Calandrelli

• Open dawn–dusk daily

• Adm for fair

• DA

Exploring the Catacombs

There is nothing more thrillingly spooky in Rome than wandering these mazes of tight, dimly lit corridors, roughly carved in the tufa and lined with thousands of tomb niches. At the San Domitilla complex, some guides even let you touch a few of the bones. At most others, all human remains have been removed to ossuaries on lower levels (see Catacombs of Domitilla).

Piscina delle Rose

When traipsing around ruins has sapped your energy, spend some time cooling down with the locals. This open-air swimming pool in EUR is Rome’s largest and most pleasant, with a special area for kids.

• Viale America 20

• Metro EUR Palasport

• Open Jun–mid-Sep 9am–7pm daily

• Adm

Time Elevator

Kids of all ages will enjoy the panoramic movies shown at Time Elevator, complete with surround-sound, flight simulator and 5D technology. Not advisable for those suffering from motion sickness.

• Via dei Santi Apostoli 20

• 06 9774 6243

• Open 10:30am–8:15pm (last show 7:30pm) daily

• www.timeelevator.it

• Adm

• DA