Esquiline: Story of a Hill
Exhibition by cultural heritage students.
The Esquiline hill is one of the most fascinating places in Rome yet it is also one of the least visited either by tourists or by locals who don’t live there. In antiquity it was home to some of the grandest villas of the aristocracy and the current urban fabric is studded with the remains of these villas and the aqueducts that watered the magnificent gardens. When Rome became the capital of a new united Italy, the gardens in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele were created in order to provide an open space for the inhabitants of the surrounding spacious apartment blocks designed by Koch. These were the new middle class bureaucracy who moved to Rome to work in government offices. Nowadays the hill is home to new groups of incomers. Since the late 20th century it has been home to new immigrant groups who have come from Africa, Bangladesh, China and the Middle East. This exhibition tells the story of the Esquiline from its Roman monuments to its vibrant contemporary population through its monuments and through the eyes of its inhabitants.
