Romer

When this new area of the city was being planned, in the years following the Risorgimento, tensions between the young Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican were high. As a result, none of the roads were laid out with a clear view of St. Peter’s Basilica, and many of them are named after pagans, historical figures who clashed with the papacy, and heroes of the Risorgimento. Perhaps the most obvious of these is the long road that cuts right across the rione, from the river to the very edge of the Vatican, which is named after the notorious demagogue Cola di Rienzo, who challenged the worldly powers of the Pope in the 14th century and was eventually murdered by a mob.