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On the right bank of the Tiber, between Trastevere, the Vatican City, the Prati district and the Aurelio district, is Borgo Pio. It is also called the Leonine City in the name of its coat of arms representing a crouching lion, facing the three mountains and the star, which is the coat of arms of Sixtus V, the pope who elevated it to the fourteenth (XIV) district of Rome. Within this place the main roads run in an east-west direction and are not called streets, but Borghi, "villages", fortified citadels . The martyrdom of St. Peter at the foot of the Vatican hill made Borgo a place of pilgrimage throughout history. Borgo is the only Rome district whose name has a foreign root, being derived from the Saxon term 'Burg', whose meaning is "citadel": a small village enclosed within a wall. In fact, for several centuries this area was inhabited by many small foreign communities of pilgrims (pilgrims of the same nationality gathered together in associations named Scholae, Schools), students and merchants, of which the largest was the one that came from Wessex (now South-West England) and which belonged to the Saxon School. The most famous were those of the Franks, Saxons, Frisians and Lombards. The three main streets, or “borghi”, were named by Pope Pius IV in 1565 : Borgo Pio (after himself), Borgo Angelico (after his birth name “Angelo”), and Borgo Vittorio (after the victory over Lepanto). In medieval times, many of the bridges built fell into disrepair and, being outside the Aurelian Walls, Borgo Pio was often the object and victim of looting and destruction in conflicts with the barbarians. Pope Leo IV was the first pope to decide in 852 the construction of new walls, walking barefoot on the path on which they should have been erected. He wanted to protect the revered place from new dangers by building a wall all around. And to amplify the importance of the gesture, he had several Corsican families reside in Borgo Pio, thus creating a real "separate" city, defined in history as the Leonine City. In the late Middle Ages, a long walkway was built on the top of this wall, known as the Passetto (in English, The Little Step), which connected the Vatican to Castel Sant'Angelo. Later the passage was covered and transformed into a gallery for most of its length. It was only in 1586, under Pope Sixtus V, that Borgo Pio, as the fourteenth district, agaIn became a part of Rome and grew in splendor and wealth over the centuries. Its most drastic change, however, occurred before World War II. Between 1936 and 1937 the entire central portion of Borgo, called "spina", due to the new, massive urban planning of the city, was suddenly demolished for the creation of the wide Via della Conciliazione. Despite this, Borgo Pio has not entirely lost its charm. And it remains an important and lively place for tourism, for the faithful, for the local and forerign travelers and visitors.…
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Date of experience: November 2020
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Borgo is bordered by Vatican City (Saint Peter's Square) to the west and the Tiber to the east. This is a little calmer area then the more hectic and crowded places in Rome farther East (except for near the Vatican or Castel Sant'Angelo).
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Date of experience: March 2019
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The neighbourhood of Borgo is bordered by the Vatican City and the Tiber. This is a nice quiet area with some quaint restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops. Shopping is quite limited here.
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Date of experience: October 2018
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The price is cheap, amazing quality, and very friendly customer service👍 overall just a great experience
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Date of experience: October 2018
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We were able to see many calm and collected priests and nuns here walking around going about their business. You could also see tour groups forming with an air of excitement about them as they are about to enter the world’s smallest country. There weren’t too many dining options but there were souvenir shops. We enjoyed our visit through this neighborhood.…
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Date of experience: July 2018
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