Flaminio: Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, and the river
MAXXI's poured-concrete curves, Piano's three beetle-shell concert halls, and a bridge built for walkers. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Piazzale Flaminio & the tram
Start where Rome's oldest tram, line 2, sets off north up Via Flaminia. You can ride it two stops or walk the avenue; either way this is the spine of the quarter and the way the locals move through it.

2. MAXXI
Zaha Hadid's national museum of 21st-century art — poured concrete that bends and overlaps like ribbons, with black stairs slung through the void inside. Walk the ground floor and the courtyard even without a ticket; the building is the exhibit.

3. Auditorium Parco della Musica
Renzo Piano's three lead-grey concert halls, set around an open-air amphitheatre like a trio of giant beetles. Wander between the shells; there's almost always something on, and the café and bookshop are open to all.

4. Ponte della Musica
The white steel arch thrown across the Tiber in 2011 for pedestrians and cyclists only — no cars. Walk to the middle for the river view both ways, then cross to the Flaminio bank or turn back; the bridge is the reason to come this far north.

5. Stadio Flaminio
Pier Luigi Nervi's 1959 concrete stadium, now disused and fenced, but still a piece of engineering worth the pause. Read the curve of the cantilevered roof from outside; Nervi made concrete do things it shouldn't.

6. Piazza del Popolo & the gate
Walk back down Via Flaminia to the *Porta del Popolo* and the great oval piazza beyond — obelisk, twin churches, the formal full-stop to the whole walk. From here Flaminio metro is a two-minute step away.

Flaminio: Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, and the river