None of these alleys run straight, and that's because nobody here ever drew a map. When split the city into fourteen districts, this patch got the number fourteen and the name , last on the list and the only one on this side of the river.
Most people who lived here came from somewhere else. Boatmen from , traders from Syria, an early Jewish community, warehouse hands and tanners whose stench kept them outside the city proper. The street names around you still carry that mix: Via del Moro, Vicolo del Cinque, Via della Pelliccia.
The ground floors tell you the rest. Plenty of these houses have a wide, low arch down below that was once a workshop or a stable and is now sealed off with a shop window or a front door. Above them the storeys sit crookedly on one another, because every generation added a layer.
We follow Via del Moro until it opens onto the broad little square, then keep to the right toward the church with the narrow facade on Via della Scala.
Sources. Story: Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali (rione Trastevere); Treccani (Regio XIV Transtiberim) Photos: Photo: Lalupa (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
