Location at Piazza della Suburra
Location Suburra – The oldest neighborhood in Rome
The first of Rome’s districts is Monti, so called because it once included the Esquiline and Viminale hills, part of the Quirinale and Celio. It is the oldest district in Rome, and there are testimonies of the Roman, medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras, a succession of styles that covers 2500 years of history.
The current appearance of the most significant area of the Monti district features narrow streets that are almost never flat, which cut into the urban fabric made up of tall buildings from various eras, buildings with plaster worn by time and blackened by smog, where artisan workshops, night clubs and art galleries open up: it is the ancient Roman Svbvra, today Suburra (the name would mean “inhabited area under the city”, and this is precisely the impression you get when going down to Piazza della Suburra from the steps of Via Cavour, near the metro stop on line B, or going up to San Pietro in Vincoli from the steps of Salita dei Borgia, but also going down from Via Nazionale to Via dei Serpenti or Via del Boschetto).
This descent and ascent suggests a visit to the district on foot, a privileged means of experiencing and reliving the suggestions of one of the most fascinating areas of the Capital and appreciating its archaeological remains, which range from the Colosseum to the Ludus Magnus – the gladiator gymnasium – to the Domus Aurea, the Baths of Trajan, the forums of the emperors Augustus, Nerva and Trajan with the adjacent Markets, sections of the Servian and Aurelian walls (with the Porta Asinaria), the Baths of Titus, the remains of the Claudian aqueduct, San Pietro in Vincoli with Michelangelo’s Moses, Santa Francesca Romana, the Papal Palace, the Egyptian Obelisk, the Santa Sanctorum, the Scala Santa, the Basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano, the church of S. Clemente, S. Martino ai Monti, the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore, medieval memories such as the Leonine triclinium, the Lateran Baptistery, S. Stefano Rotondo, the Torre dei Conti, the Casa dei Knights of Rhodes, S. Prassede, the Capocci towers and some masterpieces of Roman Baroque such as the churches of S. Andrea al Quirinale and S. Carlino alle Quattro Fontane
The Suburra
Svbvra became part of the urban area of Ancient Rome when the king of Etruscan origin Servius Tullius chose it for his residence.
It is the most authentic and popular area of the city, the place of social and human contradictions of the capital of the Empire. Here is the Metro B stop Cavour, and above the entrance to the Metro, there are stairs that lead to Via Cavour and Largo Visconti Venosta, it is part of the Rione Monti, Rome. The Suburrà is the name of a very famous area of Rome, on a column leaning against a building, there is a plaque that also contains a long inscription from the time of Pope Alexander VI, which recalls who here there was a shrine dedicated to the Savior.
It is wrongly believed that this square corresponds to the ancient Roman Suburra district, which was a disreputable Roman area, an area that was actually much further away than the current Piazza della Suburra. The Piazza della Suburra is at the intersection of two ancient and noble Roman streets, the ancient vicus Praticius which is now Via Urbana and the vicus Cyprius which is the current Via Leonina. In the vicus Patricius there were the homes of senators, nobles, and rich lords, while in the vicus Cyprius there was the neighborhood of booksellers, libraries, and cultured people. . The name “Suburra” derives from the Latin “sub urbe”, or “under the city”, indicating in the early days of Rome, the part of the city that was located under the Palatine Hill, that is, under the city itself, the ancient “Regio sub urbe” extended from the current Via Tor de Conti to Via San Vito on the Esquiline Hill. In ancient times the street level was lower than it is today, therefore the expression “sub”, under, was correct. The Roman suburra also included that area on the slopes of the Esquiline Hill in which there was the cemetery of the unnamed, of prostitutes, of those condemned to death, this was a part of Rome called Prima Regio del Colle Oppio, known as the gardens of Maecenas, which in fact Maecenas reclaimed in large part to build his splendid villa. Virgil, Horace, Julius Caesar and the poet Martial also lived in this area.
