HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The name of this neighborhood derives from "ex-colere" or "to live outside" and refers to the district that developed around the Palatine on the outskirts of the central nucleus of the town. Between the ninth and seventh century BC the Esquiline was a burial area: it was only during Augustus's time that it was transformed into the "upper quarter", with the construction of luxurious villas like that of Mecenate, and the laying of important roads. Further road-building work in the 16th century, by Gregory XIII and then Sixtus V, saw the creation of Via Merulana and the Strada Felice. From that period on grand patrician villas were built in the neighborhood; these were destined to disappear after 1870, when the Esquiline was given over to housing for the officials of the new state bureaucracy. The neighborhood's pleasant location, and its vicinity to the central railway station, made it the ideal spot to house the new arrivals from the former capitals, Turin and Florence, and from which to extend and develop the city.
NOT TO BE MISSED
The key sight in this neighborhood is the most important - perhaps even the first - Roman church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, as the name - St. Mary Major - underlines. According to legend it was built by Pope Liberius on the spot where an extraordinary summer snowfall occurred, but its current layout can be attributed to Sixtus III (sixth century). Its numerous works of art include precious mosaics from different eras. Another important Christian basilica built on the outskirts of the Esquiline district, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, dates from the fourth century. It grew up on a site previously occupied by an imperial villa, and underwent a series of alterations in the 15th, 16th, and especially the 18th century. This last intervention left the church more or less as we see it today: the façade is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Roman baroque. Near Termini Station can be found the church of Santa Bibiana, a little early Christian basilica transformed during the baroque period by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and what is left of the temple of Minerva Medica, dating from the later period of antiquity. This temple was widely studied during the Renaissance and baroque ages.
CURIOUS FACTS
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore was also known as "ad Praesepe" because a relic of the manger that served as a cradle for the baby Jesus, said to have arrived in Rome from Bethlehem during the era of Pope Theodore I (642-49), is kept here. The relic is kept in a silver urn, created by Luigi Valadier, in the Altare della Confessione. And this is not the only relic from the stable in Bethlehem: there are also some stones, hay and a scrap of Jesus's swaddling cloths conserved in the Cappella delle Reliquie. In another chapel, the Sistina, the oldest Roman crib, created by Arnolfo di Cambio and Vasoldo in 1290, can also be seen.
