HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
These three neighborhoods are relatively recent. In the classical era this was the area of the "horti sallustiani" and the "castra praetoria" - a wide expanse of green crossed by just a few roads. Even in the Middle Ages Rome's population was concentrated elsewhere, towards the banks of the Tiber, and churches and palaces only began to be built here in the 16th and 17th centuries. The neighborhoods themselves, developed only after 1870, were designed for the middle and upper-middle classes, the aristocracy and, more in general, for representational purposes: palaces, town houses, and luxury hotels built between the late 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century form most of the urban fabric of the area. Exceptions are the above-mentioned "Horti Sallustiani" and "Castra Praetoria", dating from the classical age, and some examples of baroque architecture.
NOT TO BE MISSED
The "Castra Praetoria" were the barracks built by Tiberius to house the emperor's guards, between the year 21 and 23. The Macao barracks were built in the 19th century in the area originally occupied by the "castra", while the rest of the site is now occupied by the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II (National Library). Piazza Sallustio contains what is left of the "horti sallustiani", the historian Caio Sallustio's monumental dwelling, which the emperors later chose as their residence. When the emperors moved elsewhere the complex fell into decay, and with the arrival of Alarico in 410, it was literally razed to the ground: all that is left is a circular hall and a series of rooms decorated with paintings and mosaics. Along the famous Via Veneto is the 16th-century Casino dell'Aurora, with its rich collection of paintings, all that is left of Villa Ludovisi. Not far away, in Via degli Artisti, is the church of San Isidoro, dating, like the church of Santa Maria della Concezione near the bottom of Via Veneto, from the 17th century.
CURIOUS FACTS
The "Castra Praetoria" originally measured 440 by 380 meters. This area contained a field for military exercises, the praetorium (the command), the aerarium (treasury), the armamentarium (weapons store), the valetudinarium (infirmary), and the horrea (stores). The complex was destroyed by Constantine in 313 as a reprisal against the praetorian guard, who had remained faithful to Maxentius. In the 17th century the Jesuits settled here and were joined, in the 19th century, by a papal barracks. After 1870 the area resorted to its military use.
