This itinerary includes most of Trastevere, once a working-class neighborhood that is undoubtedly the most picturesque testimony of Rome’s ancient tradition. Our tour begins with the Portico d’Ottavia because, although the river Trastevere, it features the same kind of dwellings and narrow streets. Missing are the conspicuous monuments and extravagant palaces so common in the rest of Rome; but every building is a lively witness to the city’s history. Almost any Baroqu e basilica here has been built atop a Medieval church, which in turn was mostly likely erected on the spot of an ancient Roman home.You will find important churches, such as S. Maria in Trastevere, S. Crisogono or S. Cecilia, in the area. But most of Trastevere’s religious meeting places are tiny chapels originally built to house venerated holy images.
After a period of serious decline during Dark Ages, the neighborhood underwent a housing boom from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.
But most of this was haphazard building until the seventeenth century, when Via della Lungara was laid down as a pilgrimage route to St. Peter.
