The swift current of late-morning foot traffic is moving steadily over the cobblestones of Via dei Condotti. It streams down the iconic Spanish Steps, then flows past all the glamorous storefronts along one of Rome’s most famous shopping streets. You know the names: Prada, Valentino, Gucci.

But my tour guide Dario Cortese, steering us around in a golf cart, takes me just one block beyond this busy scene, to a tucked-away lane, Via Margutta. “Can you smell the jasmine?” he asks, then goes silent for a moment, in deference to a nearby fountain. “Can you hear the water flowing?” Yes, indeed, to both. It’s a surprise urban oasis.