Trastevere

Trastevere means across the Tiber, and being on the far bank kept it separate for most of Roman history: a working quarter of dockers, tanners and immigrants, with a dialect and a stubborn local identity that residents still claim. Santa Maria in Trastevere may be the oldest church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin, with a twelfth-century apse mosaic in gold and deep blue and a further band by Cavallini below it. Santa Cecilia holds a sculpture of the saint by Maderno and a Cavallini Last Judgement fresco upstairs. The lanes are cobbled and the quarter is now Rome's densest concentration of restaurants and bars.

History

In Rome's regal period, 753 to 509 BC, the far bank belonged to the Etruscans and was called Ripa Etrusca, and for a long time its only link with the city was the wooden Pons Sublicius. Sailors and fishermen settled here, with newcomers from the East, mainly Jews and Syrians, and under Augustus it became the city's 14th region, Trans Tiberim (Wikipedia, Trastevere).

What you'll find

• The Santa Maria mosaics - twelfth-century gold and blue work in the apse.
• The Cavallini frescoes - a Last Judgement in the convent at Santa Cecilia.
• The cobbled lanes - a medieval street pattern on the far bank.
• The evening life - the quarter's restaurant and bar concentration after dark.

When to go

April to June and September to October; evenings are when the quarter is liveliest and most crowded. The Cavallini fresco has restricted morning hours and needs planning.

Things to know

Tourism has changed the quarter substantially and much of what is sold as local is not. The Cavallini fresco is open only certain mornings. Nights are noisy for anyone staying there.

Nearby

The Vatican lies north; the Aventine is across the river.

Key facts