The territory before the urbanization basilica of St. Agnes. The first evidence of human presence in the quarter dates back to prehistoric times, when some populations settled in the area of the so-called
Sedia del Diavolo and of
Monte delle Gioie. Later, in historical times, a
Sabine settlement rose on the
Mount Antenne, the remains of which are still visible today; according to the legend,
Antemnae was one of the three villages that underwent the famous
rape of the Sabine women. Just few remains survive from the
archaic and
republican ages, while the area became very popular following the construction of several
catacombs, such as the ancient
catacomb of Priscilla, built on the villa of the
gens Acilia. Furthermore, the area is crossed by a section of the Via Salaria, a
consular road of enormous importance that connected Rome to
Porto d'Ascoli, so called for the trade of
salt (
Latin:
sal). Nonetheless, the
modern road of the same name follows the route of the
Salaria Nova, built under the Emperor
Nerva. In the years following the
Edict of Milan (313 AD), a monumental basilica dedicated to
St. Agnes, whose family villa rose in Via Nomentana, was built. Next to it, the empress
Constantina had
her mausoleum built in the second half of the century. Due to its large size, the basilica soon decayed, so as to induce
Pope Honorius I (625–628) to commission the current Byzantine-style basilica (
Sant'Agnese fuori le mura). Around these two monuments, during the
Middle Ages and at the beginning of the
Renaissance, the complex of the
Canons Regular of the Lateran was built. During the Renaissance and the following centuries, the area of the quarter housed only a few noble villas and rustic buildings (farmhouses); in one of these, on the Via Nomentana,
Giuseppe Garibaldi lived at the time of the
Roman Republic.
Urbanization and birth of the quarter Following the
Italian unification, the area of Mount Antenne was fortified with large bastions, moats and with an imposing powder keg, since its position was particularly suitable for defending the northern side of the city. Its slopes house since 1906 the seat of the
Parioli Tennis Club, still active today and famous for having raised numerous champions. The first urbanization of the territory took place with the urban plan issued in 1909 by the architect
Edmondo Sanjust di Teulada, but the quarter was officially born only in 1926 with the name
Savoia, from the nearby royal residence (the present
Villa Ada); the event is commemorated by a plaque today in Via Topino, near Piazza Verbano. In the first thirty years of the century the area maintained its destination for quality, or even luxury, residential buildings: it is the period of the "
villini" and the
Quartiere Coppedè. The intensive urbanization begins in the 1930s. Large, often pretentious condominiums were built on the areas of villas which had been parceled out for this purpose, such as Villa Lancellotti and
Villa Chigi (of the latter, only a public park and a private residence survive): housing for civil servants or buildings granted to cooperatives (for example, the Cooperative of the railway workers occupied the area near Piazza Crati). Between 1924 and 1930, with the aim of providing a green lung to an intensively built neighborhood, the architect Raffaele De Vico built the
Parco Virgiliano (or Parco Nemorense), which was inaugurated in 1936 on the occasion of the
Virgilian bimillennium. Following the
birth of the Republic, in 1946 the quarter took on its current name from
its main street. In the 1970s the area was the subject of a new building speculation, which caused the demolition of
Tor Fiorenza, a 16th-century fortified farm where
anemic children were brought to drink the fresh milk. The northern part of the quarter, from Piazza Annibaliano to the
Rome-Florence railway, is commonly called
African quarter, due to its odonomastic inspired by the
African colonies of the
Kingdom of Italy (Via Tigrè, Via Tripolitania, Via Gadames, Viale Libia; see below). The original nucleus of this "sub-quarter", originally intended for the families of the railway workers, was built in the early 1920s, forming a quadrilateral in the area adjacent to Via Tripoli. Within this quadrilateral, Via Tobruk, Via Derna, Via Cirenaica and Piazza Misurata were also marked out, as well as Via Benadir and Via Migiurtinia outside its perimeter. These streets were added to Via Asmara and Via Massaua, side streets of Via Nomentana, which had been created shortly before to connect Villa Anziani. After
World War II, the railway workers' quarter, which consisted of some forty buildings, was completely demolished. As evidence of its past presence, part of the road system remains – with the exception of Via Tobruk, Piazza Misurata and Via Derna, which have been deleted (the name "Derna" was later attributed to another street) – and well as some buildings, favoured villas and more popular palaces, on Via Beandir, Via Homs, Via Tripolitania, Via Cirenaica and Via Migiurtinia. In the old quarter
Pietro Germi shot
A Man of Straw in 1958, while all around, along the axis Viale Eritrea-Viale Libia, the African quarter was being created as it appears today. A school building, some edifices of the
Italian State Railways, a parking lot and two residential buildings were built in place of the quarter of the railway workers.
Lesser history • During World War II, a curious episode involved the quarter: it was said that on full moon nights, in the area of Piazza Vescovio, a
werewolf terrified the inhabitants with frightening screams coming from some gardens: he was actually a mentally ill man, later identified and hospitalized in an asylum. • The building in Via Chiana nr. 87 housed the first
elevator ever built in Italy for a council house intended for civil servants, inaugurated by
Benito Mussolini himself, who, during the official speech, seems to have missed out the phrase: «
... so it will be much easier for you to reach the musters in time!» • Partly removed is the incident involving the population in early June 1944, when the
RSI soldiers spread the false and uncontrolled rumor, which could trigger a collective madness, that the fleeing German troops had undermined the whole quarter and that there would even be a load of unexploded ammunitions. A flow of people reached
Villa Borghese, where many spent the night in the open air despite the official denials and the appeals by radio. • During the years of the
economic boom, the quarter became famous for the
Piper Club, a celebrated public house, inaugurated on 17 February 1965 and linked to many personalities of that time: it hosted the debut of
Patty Pravo and the performances of
Pink Floyd,
Nirvana and
the Beatles, who, after the concert, dived in the
Fontana delle Rane in Piazza Mincio with their clothes on. Over time it has become more known for the
movida often resulting in vandalism than for the celebrities passing. • The quarter was still the talk of the town during the
years of lead, due to the numerous political killings that took place there; among others, that of the magistrate Vittorio Occorsio, assassinated in 1976, four years after that of the policeman Francesco Evangelista in front of the
Liceo classico statale "Giulio Cesare". In those same years, in the clashes between opposing political factions, two young right-wing militants of the organization
Fronte della Gioventù (connected to the
Italian Social Movement) also died: Francesco Cecchin, aged just seventeen, who died on 16 June 1979 following an attack near Piazza Vescovio, and Paolo Di Nella, who died on 9 February 1983, after falling into an irreversible coma due to a beatdown near Piazza Gondar. • In the 1980s, the writer Ornella Angeloni set in the quarter her crime novel
Caffè Ciamei, the story of a long chain of crimes over forty years. • Among the public houses in the quarter is the Tortuga Café in Piazza Trasimeno, in front of the Giulio Cesare high school, opened in 1953 and mentioned in the song
Compagno di scuola by
Antonello Venditti. == Monuments and places of interest ==