In the early years of 2000, as an extension of the bike route along the Tiber, a bike path was built along the Aniene(*), which for now is still very incomplete. Still, it is worth a ride on the first section, which touches upon some of the most significant and disputed architectural works of contemporary Rome: Villaggio Olimpico [Olympic village], Palazzetto dello Sport [sports arena], Parco della Musica [performing halls], and Moschea [mosque].
The starting point, once again, would be the piazzale at Ponte Milvio, which is the connecting point between the bike path through the center of Rome, the one going north to Castel Giubileo and this bike route.
After crossing the bridge over the Tiber and the Lungotevere one finds a bike lane along Viale Tiziano as far as the piazzale in front of the Palazzetto dello Sport and Villaggio Olimpico, which date from the 1960 Summer Olympics. Turn left on Viale Pietro de Coubertin and you quickly arrive at the Parco della Musica, which hosts three new concert halls [collectively called "Auditorium"], designed in 2004 by Renzo Piano. This is a project that has been much discussed and argued, but in any case, a monument of contemporary Rome.
Once you have gone halfway around the auditorium complex, and just before the traffic light, cross the street and ride on the sidewalk of Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski where there is a bike lane marked in the usual brick-red color. Continue keeping Viale Pilsudski on the right and Villa Glori on the left. The Villa is in fact a wooded hill and, if you have time, is worth a brief visit to its summit; the climb is very bikeable, without difficulty.
After Villa Glori, continue for about 200 meters until the beginning of Viale della Moschea [mosque], where a city map indicates the beginning of a rather narrow bike path that runs along the left sidewalk. The street lives up to its name, leading to the Mosque of Rome, built during the eighties and nineties, and opened in 1995. The street is quiet with little traffic except on Fridays and Saturdays when the mosque becomes the meeting point of the Islamic community in Rome.
Viale della Moschea ends up running into Via Olimpica [Via del Foro Italico], in reality an urban expressway prone to intense traffic; on the south sidewalk (the right side if coming from the city center) there is all the same a bike path which takes one, without too much difficulty to Via Salaria where it runs into Viale Somalia; we cross the Salaria at the pedestrian crosswalk and then, turning left [north], we find traces of a bike path that runs with some difficulty between gas stations and along broken sections of sidewalk. At the end one ends up on a path that travels along the interchange between Olimpica [Foro Italico] and Salaria and then passes under the expressway; then, finally, we find ourselves on the bike path along the Aniene.
This is an unpaved path that runs between two wooden fences along the river that is the second longest in this area of Rome, and which flows into the Tiber. The path passes under the railroad tracks of the Rome-Florence line and continues along the Aniene until it comes up to street level at Via Nomentana Nuova, where this section of bike path concludes at a piazzale along Via Valsolda. Beyond Via Nomentana there is supposed to be an extension of the unpaved path, but I have yet to try it.
To return, simply retrace the way you came.
A variation coming back: once you are back at the intersection with Via Salaria enter the park of Villa Ada, cross the grounds and exit by Via Panama, to the south, and then follow Viale Gioacchino Rossini until you enter the park of Villa Borghese along Viale del Giardino Zoologico. Cutting southwest through Villa Borghese you reach the Pincio where you can descend to Piazza del Popolo and there enter the historic center of Rome. Or, as another alternative take the Valle Giulia bike path, which descends along Viale delle Belle Arti to rejoin the Tiber at Ponte Risorgimento.
