Piazza dei Sanniti

The square is located in the heart of the San Lorenzo district and is famous for the presence of the Nuovo Cinema Palazzo: the building overlooking the square – it was a historic cinema-theatre inaugurated in 1931, subsequently bombed in 1943 and immediately rebuilt.

The neighbourhood

San Lorenzo was born following the unification of the Kingdom of Italy with Rome as capital city and the subsequent demographic and urbanistic increase. It developed on a landscape dotted with fields and agricultural crops on which only the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls) and a small sketch of the Verano Cemetery stood, quite different from the imposing monumental complex we know now.

Today, it is one of the most loved and frequented places by young Romans, by students, given its proximity to Rome's Sapienza University, and by tourists, thanks to its lively and alternative atmosphere. Its diversified offer allows you to spend carefree hours among vintage and fresh food markets, street food, traditional trattorias, ethnic restaurants, literary cafés and trendy clubs.

Strolling through its streets, you can encounter places of interest, albeit off the usual tourist routes, such as the beautiful patriarchal Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, an essential place of worship and one of the oldest in the city; Porta Tiburtina, one of the monumental gates to the Aurelian Walls of Rome; Villa Mercede, a beautiful park with paths lined with palm trees, pines, cedars, and lush plants, arranged on the model of landscaped gardens; the Verano Cemetery which, among ancient monumental tombs and tree-lined avenues, houses the graves of famous characters such as Goffredo Mameli, Trilussa, Eduardo De Filippo, Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Vittorio De Sica, and Alberto Sordi.