An itinerary for lovers of street art and a journey to discover the charm of the 14th Roman district.
Borgo Pio is a street that connects Via di Porta Castello and Via di Porta Angelica in Rome.
Its toponym derives from the name of the Pope who had it built, Pius IV, a work that was later finished by Pope Gregory XIII with the famous pavement in 1580. Borgo Pio still has kept all the charm of a “city in the city” where old shops from the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century survive ( such as the tobacco shop, the dairy and the bakery). Walking along the pavement looking at the contemporary aspects, it is good to remember that exactly in Borgo Pio the star of the Superpope and of the Writing Pope, works of the Roman street artist Maupal, a native of the neighbourhood, started: a tribute to the Pontiff who is represented for the first time in this district in 2014 as a superhero and, in 2017, while playing the mill game using the peace symbol, winning fame and visibility after sudden removal at international level and gratitude from the protagonist himself. For lovers of street art it is good to also mention “L’ asino che vola” in via Tor di Nona, a work made in 1976 and restored in 2014, has been considered the first example of a this type of art in the capital. To see it, just go through Borgo Pio to the end, pass the Tiber from Ponte Sant’Angelo and then follow the signs to the left to reach the mural just a few hundred meters away.
