Piazza Trilussa: The Riverside Gateway to Bohemian Rome

Why is it significant?

Stand on the stone terrace of Piazza Trilussa, looking across the Tiber toward the Renaissance pedestrian span of Ponte Sisto.

Key Facts

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Stand on the stone terrace of Piazza Trilussa, looking across the Tiber toward the Renaissance pedestrian span of Ponte Sisto. Behind you rises the monumental travertine wall of the Acqua Paola fountain, where cascading waters murmur above a sweeping flight of steps that has served as the gathering place for neighborhood poets, street singers, and wandering travelers for centuries. The square honors Carlo Alberto Salustri, known to all Romans by the anagram Trilussa, who wrote biting satirical verses in the local Romanesco dialect throughout the early twentieth century. He captured the irrepressent spirit of Trastevere, a district that always considered itself fiercely independent from papal rule and the grand palaces across the river. Look closely at the arch of Ponte Sisto just opposite: built by Pope Sixtus the Fourth for the Holy Jubilee of fourteen seventy-five, it features a large round circular aperture pierced right through the central pier, designed specifically to reduce water pressure during the city's frequent and catastrophic Tiber floods. Turn into the winding, cobblestone labyrinth of Via del Moro, where laundry hangs overhead and the scent of freshly roasted espresso fills the air.