Description

As the city of Rome regained both population and prominence in the late middle ages, built up areas that had retained population slowly linked together to form a single coherent inhabited area that became known as the abitato, or inhabited area. The presence of an important draw for pilgrims and administrators alike in St. Peter's basilica drove the development of accommodations, commerce, and housing in the bend of the Tiber river from the eleventh century onwards, in an area known to the Romans as Campus Martius. From Trastevere to the core of the abitato across the river, dense housing and narrow streets defined the medieval landscape, two features which can still be observed today. Except for the long period in the fourteenth century when the papacy was based in Avignon, papal processions would have frequently wound through the streets of the abitato. Wealthy families such as the Colonna and Orsini were important occupants of the area, and many palaces and towers built by these families dot medieval maps. As the city of Rome began to grow in the 12th and 13th centuries, the abitato emerged as the beating heart of populated Rome.

Creator

Ben White (2017)