My question is about the marble "rioni" markers that are mounted on buildings and are used to identify the various districts in Rome.
Could you please tell me if most of these markers date from the district re-organization that took place in the 18th century?
Am I correct in thinking that at least some of these markers date from the 1900's when additional districts were added?
Also, have any of the ancient Roman markers survived?
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Rich
Answer Dear Rich,
It is so: the marble "rioni" markers mounted on buildings and used to identify the various districts in Rome date back to the 18th century when the districts were first defined by the surveyor, typographer, and architect Giovanni Battista Nolli who mapped the city’s administrative structure. In fact the Nolli map was published in 1748.
Also you are correct in thinking that some of these markers date from the 1900's when additional districts were added, since “in 1921, some of the larger ‘Rioni’ were subdivided so as to create six new ones, while an additional rione, ‘Prati’, was added outside the walls “.
The name of each ‘Rione’ ( a term which is a corruption of the Latin “Regio”, Italian ‘regione’ and then ‘ rione’) was usually derived from a notable topographical feature as e.g. the column in “Rione Colonna” whose name refers to the column of the emperor Marcus Aurelius just in the Piazza Colonna. Its symbol is the ancient column itself carved out of the marble.
As for the ancient Roman markers survived, they do not exist simply because in ancient Rome there was no marker to indicate the districts, though we know that the city was divided into four regions - regio I Suburana,regio II Esquilina, regio III Collina, regio IV Palatina - whose precise divisions are unknown, although ancient literary accounts say that some monuments and places were in one "regio" or another.
For example we know that ‘regio Collina’ was in the northwest, ‘regio Esquilina’ in the northeast, ‘regio Palatina’ in the southwest and ‘regio Suburana’ in the southeast.
During the Empire Augustus increased the regions to 14 and these were reconfigured according to changing demographics and the evolving form of the city.
After the fall of the Empire in 476 AD, however, the Augustan regions were forgotten, but in the 12th century they were revived just as ‘Rioni’, although they had no yet marble markers.
Best regards,
Maria
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See Nolli map at:
