During antiquity, it belonged to the IX
Augustan region called
Circus Flaminius. In this area
Domitianus built his
stadium and an
Odeon (
Odeum in
Latin), for musical and poetic competitions.
Pompey too built there his
curia. Around the 1200 the area was called
Parione e S. Lorenzo in Damaso and the population kept on increasing until the 15th century, when the borough obtained a great importance thanks to the paving of
Campo de' Fiori, that soon became an important economic center. Under
Sixtus IV (1471–1484) the
rione lost its chaotic look, typical of the
Middle Ages, for a cleaner and tidier one, typical of the
Renaissance. Recovering buildings, enlarging streets, building the new bridge
Ponte Sisto connecting
Trastevere and Parione, improved the quality of the area. Thanks to this renewal, urbanisation increased between the 15th and the 16th century. In the same period, several artists were asked to renew the front of the greatest buildings: this habit was born in the
northern Italy and was spreading in that period. In 1500 most of the commercial activity slowly moved from Campo de' Fiori to
Piazza Navona, that was the favorite place since it was wider. From 1574 to 1674, the appearance of Piazza Navona changed vastly, thanks to the work of
Bernini,
Borromini, and
Bramante. From this period until
Rome became capital of
unified Italy in 1870 there were no major changes but the opening of
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, a great street having a flexuous track in order to avoid the already existing palaces. If a palace was jutting, its front was moved backwards to preserve it. ==Geography==