Q. IX Appio-Latino
Quartiere of Rome
Porta San Giovanni
Porta San Giovanni
Position of the quartiere within the city of Rome
Position of the quartiere within the city of Rome
CountryItaly
RegionLazio
Metropolitan CityRome
ComuneRome
MunicipioMunicipio VII
Municipio VIII
Established20 August 1921[1]
Area
 • Total2.2584 sq mi (5.8491 km2)
Population
 (2016)[2]
 • Total59,325
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

Appio-Latino is the 9th quartiere of Rome (Italy), identified by the initials Q. IX. The name derives from the ancient roads Via Appia and Via Latina. It belongs to the Municipio VII and Municipio VIII.

History

The origins of the territory can be dated back to the early Roman age. The ancient Via Latina, that gives the name to the quarter, has been an important road axis linking Rome to Old Latium and to Campania and was already used by the Etruscans. The Via Appia, which was called longarum Regina viarum (i.e. "queen of the long roads") by Caecilius Statius, was built centuries after, in 312 BC. The territory of the quarter is crossed by five imposing aqueducts built between 144 BC and 212 AD: Aqua Marcia, Aqua Tepula and Aqua Iulia, gathered together within the same structure, Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus, as well as the Aqua Antoniniana, an offshoot of the Aqua Marcia.

The Roman heritage in the area is proved by a system of sumptuous patrician villas, a network of irrigation ditches, factories and defensive buildings, such as the Aurelian Walls. After the Gothic War the territory was gradually abandoned.

Geography

The territory of Appio-Latino includes the urban zones 9D Appio and 9E Latino, as well as part of the urban zone 11X Appia Antica Nord.

Boundaries

The quarter borders northward with rione Monti (R. I), whose boundary is outlined by the stretch of the Aurelian Walls between Porta Metronia and Porta San Giovanni.

To the east, Appio-Latino borders with Quartiere Tuscolano (Q. VIII), from which it is separated by the stretch of Via Appia Nuova between Porta San Giovanni and Via dell'Almone.

Southward, the quarter borders with Quartiere Appio-Pignatelli (Q. XXVI), whose border is marked by Via dell'Almone and by Via Cecilia Metella.

Westward, it borders with Quartiere Ardeatino (Q. XX), from which it is separated by the stretch of Via Appia Antica between Via Cecilia Metella and the Aurelian Walls; and with Rione Celio, whose boundary is outlined by the Aurelian Walls, between Porta San Sebastiano and Porta Metronia.

Historical subdivisions

L'Alberone

The quarter includes the area traditionally known as L'Alberone, which is located on the right side of Via Appia Nuova, among the railway, the park of Villa Lazzaroni and Via Latina. It was built between the first years of the 20th century and the 1940s, becoming one of the first working class neighborhood in Rome.

The name toponym came from a centuries-old holly oak, which was nicknamed Alberone ("the big tree") because of its majestic appearance and its height. It grew near the corner between Via Appia Nuova and Via Gino Capponi and used to be a distinctive feature of the area even before the first edifices were built.

The tree, already assaulted by parasites and supported by a brick wall, ultimately died in 1980–81 and was torn down in the presence of many inhabitants of the quarter. To replace what was felt as a traditional symbol of the area, another centuries-old holly oak was planted in 1986 and lived until a violent storm tore it down in 2014. The current alberone has been planted in 2015 and it is still perceived as a symbol of the area, differentiating it from the remaining part of Appio-Latino.

Borghetto Latino

Next to the Valle della Caffarella, the current Via Latina hosted, until the 1970s, a shanty town known as Borghetto Latino. It hit the headlines in 1969, when the inhabitants, longing for more respectable housing conditions, occupied some buildings of a big real estate company in the rione Esquilino. The protest drew the attention of the New York Times when the inhabitants burnt down their old shacks to symbolize the fight for a better future.

Odonymy

Streets and squares of Appio-Latino are mainly named after renowned historians and after Roman and Greek regions and cities. Odonyms of the quarter can be categorized as follows:

Places of interest

Civil buildings

Casale Tarani (17th century) on the hill overlooking the Valle della Caffarella, surrounded by the quarter Appio Latino
The Poligrafico dello Stato on Via G. Capponi in a 1985 picture
complex in barocchetto romano style, designed by architect Camillo Palmerini.
  • Public housing buildings of Viale Metronio. 20th-century public housing buildings (1895–1934).
28 buildings in barocchetto romano style.
  • Residential buildings of the Istituto Autonomo Case Popolari Appio III, among Via Magna Grecia, Via Faleria and Via Ardea. 20th-century public housing buildings (1925–30).
complex in barocchetto romano style, designed by architects Martini and Angelo Vicario.
  • Palazzetto della Telefonica Tirrena, on the corner between Via Sannio and Via Corfinio. 20th-century building (1925–28).
office building in barocchetto romano style, designed by architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo. It was the former seat of the Telefonica Tirrena phone company.
The STEFER Appio storage in Via Appia Nuova in 1992 during the demolition of some trams
Rationalist residential building designed by architect Pietro Lombardo.
designed by architect Raffaele De Vico.
Public house buildings in Via Soana.
designed by architect and sculptor Angelo Di Castro.
Modernist building designed by architect Mario Ridolfi.
  • Mercato Metronio, in Via Magna Grecia. 20th-century building (1956–57).
Modernist marketplace designed by architect Florestano Di Fausto and realized by Riccardo Morandi.
Storage facility and workshop of the local public tram company STEFER, it was turned into a mixed-use building in the 1990s.

Religious buildings

Sant'Urbano alla Caffarella

Archaeological sites

The crossroads between Via della Caffarella (on the left) and Via Appia Antica, with the chapel of Reginald Pole (on the right)

Parks

References

  1. ↑ Municipal Council Resolution nr. 20.
  2. ↑ Roma Capitale – Roma Statistica. Population inscribed in the resident register at 31 December 2016 by toponymy subdivision.
  • "Municipio Roma VII". Roma Capitale.
  • "Municipio Roma VIII". Roma Capitale.
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