I opted for a visit to Bioparco rather than the Vatican on a recent family holiday in Italy .
I first visited the Zoo over 40 years ago and remember awful primate cages near the entrance ( though remnants of them appear to be still present no primates are here now ) and a big herd of Nile lechwe ( then a rarity , they still have a nice breeding herd) and a closed Reptile House .
I enjoyed my visit . I was impressed with the Chimpanzee outside enclosure , Brown bear enclosure and liked the renovated Reptile House . I think the worst was a pool with 2 grey seals , a second pool appeared to be empty and behind was a closed enclosure which might have housed polar bears .The Elephant exhibit does not meet current standards and the 2 female Asian elephants were separated . There were no very expensive immersive exhibits but most enclosures seemed OK to me .
It is now very much a 'standardised' collection , I do not think there were any species of mammal that cannot be seen in the UK , the same for most of the birds . I am sure when I last visited the collection was much bigger with quite a few unusual species .