Wildlife of Rome, Italy
Rome hosts one of the great urban wildlife spectacles: winter murmurations of up to a million European starlings twisting over Termini station and the Tiber every evening. The city's parks and the surrounding Apennine foothills also hold wild boar, red foxes, hoopoes and, on the Tyrrhenian coast just west, flamingos and Audouin's gulls.
Best timeNovember – February for starling murmurations, April – May for hoopoes and returning migrants.
- 1The Aurelian Walls host resident kestrels and lesser kestrels.
- 2Wild boar have become so bold in Rome they raid supermarket dumpsters.
- 3Villa Doria Pamphili has one of Rome's largest tawny-owl populations.
Signature species
Curated for Rome, Italy, each tagged with its IUCN Red List status.
- LC
Lesser kestrel
Falco naumanni
- LC
European roller
Coracias garrulus
- LC
Wild boar
Sus scrofa
- CR
Marsican brown bear
Ursus arctos marsicanus
~50 in Abruzzo, 2h east.
- NT
European pond turtle
Emys orbicularis
IUCN codes — EX extinct · EW extinct in wild · CR critically endangered · EN endangered · VU vulnerable · NT near threatened · LC least concern · DD data deficient
Dos & don'ts
Local etiquette that keeps wildlife wild.
Do
- Visit Villa Ada at dusk for barn owls.
- Support Abruzzo National Park bear-conflict funds.
- Keep distance — use zoom or binoculars, never bait animals closer.
- Stay on marked trails to avoid trampling nests, burrows and plants.
Don't
- Don't feed boar — Rome now culls habituated animals.
- Don't drive into Abruzzo bear zones at night.
- Never feed wildlife — human food changes behaviour and shortens lives.
- Don't share exact locations of nests, dens or rare species online.
Spotted here lately
Live from iNaturalist — research-grade observations within 50km, last 30 days.
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