Rome's Historical Districts - I

	~~~ part 1 ~~~

Moses (from the tomb of Julius II)

NAME
Rione dei Monti ("district of the hills") recalls the ones included within its boundaries: Esquiline, Viminal, a part of the Quirinal and once also the Coelian. All these belong to the famous seven hills over which, by tradition, Rome was founded.
The medieval name Regio Montium et Biberate was referred to the same hills, and to a main street called via Biberatica which crossed Trajan's Markets.

COAT OF ARMS
Three hills, repeated three times, referring to the aforesaid ones.

BOUNDARY

piazza del Colosseo; via dei Fori Imperiali; piazza Madonna di Loreto; vicolo San Bernardo; via Magnanapoli; via XXIV Maggio; via del Quirinale; via delle Quattro Fontane; via Agostino Depretis; piazza Esquilino; via Esquilino; piazza Santa Maria Maggiore; via Merulana; piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano; the Lateran complex (within Aurelian's Wall); via della Ferratella; piazza di Porta Metronia; via della Navicella; via Santo Stefano Rotondo; via Oliviero Plunkett; via di San Giovanni in Laterano.

MAIN FEATURES
(the black numbers in square brackets refer to the map below)

	Monti is Rome's largest district, which up to the late 1800s included also a large part of Esquilino (XV) and Celio (XIX). Most of its streets have been altered or rebuilt in the late 19th century, yet having maintained many interesting relics, that range from remains of the imperial age to medieval and Renaissance churches and basilicas. It is a particularly hilly district, what is remembered in its own name, as it stretches from one side of the Quirinal to the Viminal, and then to the Esquiline, including also a small part of the Coelian. The Esquiline itself has three different peaks, called Cispius, Fagutal and Oppius (see map on the right).

The enormous historical and artistic background of this rione makes Monti almost a small city of its own in the heart of the larger urban area. This is testified by the particular privilege granted to the local district master (see general notes), who was admitted among the city's administrators.

Monti's inhabitants, very proud of their status, traditionally claim to be "more genuinely roman" than those of any other district; in the old days they even used to speak a particular variety of Rome's standard dialect, called monticiano, which today is no longer heard. The tour of the district traditionally starts from its western end, occupied by a large complex [1] built under emperor Trajan (c.AD 110), which includes a forum (comprising a plaza, a basilica, two libraries and a temple) and a market at the back, whose well-preserved remains bring an amazing flashback of everyday's life in ancient Rome: its many shops, built on different levels, make this place a forerunner of modern shopping alleys, active almost 2.000 years ago! an ancient shopping alley in Trajan's Markets →/FONT>

Monti's inhabitants, very proud of their status, traditionally claim to be "more genuinely roman" than those of any other district; in the old days they even used to speak a particular variety of Rome's standard dialect, called monticiano, which today is no longer heard.

The tour of the district traditionally starts from its western end, occupied by a large complex [1] built under emperor Trajan (c.AD 110), which includes a forum (comprising a plaza, a basilica, two libraries and a temple) and a market at the back, whose well-preserved remains bring an amazing flashback of everyday's life in ancient Rome: its many shops, built on different levels, make this place a forerunner of modern shopping alleys, active almost 2.000 years ago!

an ancient shopping alley in Trajan's Markets →/FONT>

	The market adjoins the Imperial Fora [2], i.e. the series of fora named after dictator Julius Caesar and emperors Trajan, Augustus, Nerva and Vespasian; all together they stretched for about 400 metres (¼ mile) towards the Colosseum [3]. They were all built within the time length of 150 years, from 46 BC to AD 113, along the free space left along the north-eastern side of the Roman Forum. The complex sponsored by Trajan is much larger than the others; for its making, the nearby Quirinal Hill had to partly cut and the ground levelled; in fact, the multi-storey market located at the back had been stategically placed there so to act as a buttress, and prop the aforesaid hill, preventing it from collapsing. ← the extension of the Imperial Fora (in blue) compared to the modern city plan: A) Forum of Trajan, B) Forum of Caesar, C) Forum of Augusts, D) Forum of Nerva, E) Forum of Vespasian (Temple of Peace); the open area below is the Roman Forum

The market adjoins the Imperial Fora [2], i.e. the series of fora named after dictator Julius Caesar and emperors Trajan, Augustus, Nerva and Vespasian; all together they stretched for about 400 metres (¼ mile) towards the Colosseum [3]. They were all built within the time length of 150 years, from 46 BC to AD 113, along the free space left along the north-eastern side of the Roman Forum. The complex sponsored by Trajan is much larger than the others; for its making, the nearby Quirinal Hill had to partly cut and the ground levelled; in fact, the multi-storey market located at the back had been stategically placed there so to act as a buttress, and prop the aforesaid hill, preventing it from collapsing.

← the extension of the Imperial Fora (in blue) compared to the modern city plan:
A) Forum of Trajan, B) Forum of Caesar, C) Forum of Augusts, D) Forum of Nerva,
E) Forum of Vespasian (Temple of Peace); the open area below is the Roman Forum

two views of the remains of the Imperial Fora, namely the Forum of Trajan (left) and the Forum of Augustus
The only remain in these fora that is still almost perfectly preserved is the famous column of emperor Trajan [6] covered with spiral reliefs. It consists of eighteen huge hollow cylindres of white marble resting one on top of the other, with an inner staircase that reaches the top, given light by tiny windows along the shaft. The height of the monument, including its huge pedestal, is 40 m (135 ft), but the column alone is slightly less than 30 m, corresponding exactly to 100 Roman feet.

Trajan's Column

The reliefs, that wind along the shaft, from the base to the top, tell the story of Trajan's campaign against the Dacians (i.e. the people who inhabited today's Romania).

Inside the pedestal is the cell where the ashes of the emperor were likely kept. A bronze statue of the emperor once stood at the top, but it went lost in time; in the late 1500s it was replaced with a statue of St.Peter, matching the one of St.Paul on the similar column of Marcus Aurelius in Colonna district.			↑ above: detail of the spiral reliefs; ← left: the statue of St.Peter atop the column

Trajan's market, overlooked by Torre delle Milizie	At the back of Trajan's Market are the leaning yet imposing remains of Torre delle Milizie, one of the city's tallest medieval towers, built in the 13th century, whose top part collapsed only one century after being finished. According to a popular tradition, this is the site where emperor Nero is said to have enjoyed the view of Rome ablaze, during the great fire of AD 64, while he played his lyre. It is but one of hudreds of towers that once crowded Rome's skyline, during the Middle Ages. All important families owned one; the more important was the family, the thicker and taller was the building. Most of them were demolished during the 13th century by effect of a decree issued by a non-roman native senator, in the attempt of quelling the centuries-long clash between Rome's noble families that backed the emperor and the ones sympathetic to the pontiff (the senator was even excommunicated by the pope for his 'interference' in the dispute).

Trajan's market, overlooked by Torre delle Milizie

At the back of Trajan's Market are the leaning yet imposing remains of Torre delle Milizie, one of the city's tallest medieval towers, built in the 13th century, whose top part collapsed only one century after being finished. According to a popular tradition, this is the site where emperor Nero is said to have enjoyed the view of Rome ablaze, during the great fire of AD 64, while he played his lyre. It is but one of hudreds of towers that once crowded Rome's skyline, during the Middle Ages. All important families owned one; the more important was the family, the thicker and taller was the building.
Most of them were demolished during the 13th century by effect of a decree issued by a non-roman native senator, in the attempt of quelling the centuries-long clash between Rome's noble families that backed the emperor and the ones sympathetic to the pontiff (the senator was even excommunicated by the pope for his 'interference' in the dispute).

Today about thirty surviving towers can still be seen scattered over the city's historical districts, and Monti is the one where the most mighty ones stand. Another famous one is Torre dei Conti [4] (13th century), at the opposite end of the Imperial Fora, once almost twice as tall as now, thus considered one of Rome's marvels and mentioned by Petrarch. Instead further east are two plain towers that belonged to the Capocci family.	Torre delle Milizie	the stout Torre dei Conti	one of the two Capocci towers

the House of the Knights of Rhodes	At the back of the Forum of Augustus is a late medieval building, the House of the Knights of Rhodes. During the age of the Crusades (12th century) this military order, later known as Knights of Malta, charged with the care and defense of pilgrims to the Holy Land, had one of their sees in Rome built behind the aforesaid forum, by including the outer side of its ancient boundary wall. The small original house was then considerably enlarged three centuries later by pope Paul II. The coat of arms of this pope are featured on all the windows of the house, whose style is typically Venetian, as the pope himself was from Venice.	House of the Knights of Rhodes, detail of a window in Venetian style, bearing the coat of arms of Paul II

plaque dating to the late 1400s in the heart of the Suburra	In ancient Rome, the area at the back of the Imperial Fora was known as the Subura or Suburra [7] (from the Latin sub urbs, i.e. "on the fringes of the city"). It was a swampy and rather ill-famed neighborhood, covered with slumns inhabited by thieves and prostitutes. Its present look of the Suburra dates to the 15th-17th centuries, when regular houses were built there again; the 19th century alterations carried out in the district partly spared this area, which maintained its old houses and narrow lanes, constantly sloping due to the hilly ground, crossed by a few long and perfectly straight streets opened by pope Sixtus V in the late 1500s. In ancient times, the local church of St.Laurence used to offer the poor bread and ham (in Latin, panis et pernis) on the saint's day, whence the name of via Panisperna, one of the long aforesaid streets, where the church stands, whose hilly course reflects that of the whole Monti district.	ups and downs in via Panisperna, spanning from the Esquiline Hill to the Viminal Hill

On the top of the Fagutal, i.e. the westernmost peak of the Esquiline Hill, stands the church of San Pietro in Vincoli [8], i.e. St.Peter in Chains, originally built in the 5th century; it holds the chains believed to have restrained St.Peter while held in prison. The relic, kept in a crystal urn below the main altar, is displayed once a year, on August 1.

St.Peter's chains

But the most visited feature of this church is the tomb of pope Julius II, by Michelangelo, which includes the famous sitting figure of Moses.
The pope wanted this lavish monument for himself; it should have been placed in the new basilica of St.Peter's in the Vatican, whose making had just started. The original project counted 47 statues, but as the works for the tomb proceeded, the lack of funds and the pope's greater interest in other projects, such as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, compelled Michelangelo to alter the project several times, by reducing the number of figures (in time, some of the unfinished ones ended up in Florence and in the Louvre Museum in Paris). When the pope died (1516), the works for the tomb were still in progress. But the pope's relatives were no longer wanting to spend a fortune on this monument; this slowed down the works, that ended only in 1545, when Michelangelo's apprentices carved the missing statues. The final location of the monument, left with 'only' six statues, was no longer the Vatican basilica, but this church.

The main figure, i.e. Moses, had originally been carved sitting in a straight, symmetrical posture; but then, finding it too conventional for his taste, the artist he changed the figure's attitude to a more dynamic position. The extreme difficulty of using the same marble, already shaped, to obtain a diffent figure was tackled by Michelangelo with great skill; the size of the new statue was slightly reduced, its head was partly rotated, turning the tip of the old nose into the new figure's cheekbone, the left leg was flexed backwards to disguise the fact of being slightly smaller that the other one. The pope's body, initially embalmed and kept in the Vatican basilica while the tomb was being built, suffered severe damages during the sack of Rome in 1527; what could be retrieved of his remains was finally buried by his monument in 1610. A legend says that the fidgety artist, yet pleased for the final result of his work, hit the statue with a hammer, shouting "Why don't you talk?". The whole monument, though, represented Michelangelo's greatest regret. On one side of the square where the aforesaid church stands, a short passage, climbs from via Cavour, cutting like a tunnel below an old complex. It consists of an early 16th century building and an adjoining tower built in the 1200s.	the tomb of Julius II

The main figure, i.e. Moses, had originally been carved sitting in a straight, symmetrical posture; but then, finding it too conventional for his taste, the artist he changed the figure's attitude to a more dynamic position. The extreme difficulty of using the same marble, already shaped, to obtain a diffent figure was tackled by Michelangelo with great skill; the size of the new statue was slightly reduced, its head was partly rotated, turning the tip of the old nose into the new figure's cheekbone, the left leg was flexed backwards to disguise the fact of being slightly smaller that the other one.
The pope's body, initially embalmed and kept in the Vatican basilica while the tomb was being built, suffered severe damages during the sack of Rome in 1527; what could be retrieved of his remains was finally buried by his monument in 1610.
A legend says that the fidgety artist, yet pleased for the final result of his work, hit the statue with a hammer, shouting "Why don't you talk?". The whole monument, though, represented Michelangelo's greatest regret.

On one side of the square where the aforesaid church stands, a short passage, climbs from via Cavour, cutting like a tunnel below an old complex. It consists of an early 16th century building and an adjoining tower built in the 1200s.

the tomb of Julius II

the so-called houses of the Borgias	In ancient Rome this was the site of an alley called vicus sceleratus ("wicked lane") because traditionally believed to be the place where in 535 BC, Tullia, daughter of Servius Tullius (sixth king of Rome) and wife of Tarquinius the Proud (seventh king), drove her chariot over the body of her own father, upthrown by Tarquinius, killing him. The gloomy memories that this place brought to the mind of the common people were so alive in the past that also the houses built above the passage became the object of another popular belief: the famous Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of the ill-famed pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), was said to have poisoned her several lovers in these buildings. In fact, they are still popularly known as 'the houses of the Borgias'. There is no historical evidence, though, that any member of the Borgia really lived here. The house belonged to the Cesarini family, who in time donated it to the local convent.

the so-called houses of the Borgias

In ancient Rome this was the site of an alley called vicus sceleratus ("wicked lane") because traditionally believed to be the place where in 535 BC, Tullia, daughter of Servius Tullius (sixth king of Rome) and wife of Tarquinius the Proud (seventh king), drove her chariot over the body of her own father, upthrown by Tarquinius, killing him.
The gloomy memories that this place brought to the mind of the common people were so alive in the past that also the houses built above the passage became the object of another popular belief: the famous Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of the ill-famed pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), was said to have poisoned her several lovers in these buildings. In fact, they are still popularly known as 'the houses of the Borgias'. There is no historical evidence, though, that any member of the Borgia really lived here. The house belonged to the Cesarini family, who in time donated it to the local convent.

~ go to part 2 ~