Trastevere in Rome

The symbol of this quarter is the head of a lion on a red background, and this is not a casualness. It is said that in the Campidoglio there was a cage with inside a lion, symbol of majesty and power. The lion was eliminated when a boy went too near the cage and the lion killed him.
When the Rome town hall decided to divide the city in quarters and it needed to find a symbol for Trastevere quarter, they chose the lion. It’s one of the most characteristic quarters of the city, that keeps the original medieval asset, with little streets paved with cobbles (called “sanpietrini”) and medieval houses which gives onto the street. During the imperial period this was the quarter of the patrician aristocracy, here there were important villas, for example Julius Caesar’s villa. During the middle age Trastevere became a real labyrinth of dirty and abandoned streets: because of the little dimension of this streets the carts can’t pass through. Nowadays Trastevere is one of the meeting point of Rome night life: young meet in Piazza Trilussa and then move into the alleys of this quarter which are full of bars and restaurants.