Districts

To divide Rome up in quarters is a bit difficult, since, apart from the official division in (the more central) rioni and the (more or less suburban) quartieri there is also the way the Romans themselves divide the city. Sometimes the two ways overlap, sometimes they are completely different. Moreover, the official division has been changed many times in the course of the centuries. Originally there were only 4 rioni, i.e. Suburana (now Celio), Esquilina (now Esquilino), Palatina (nowadays split up in Quirinale and Viminale) and Collina )nowadays Palatino and Velia). Over the years new rioni were added and existing rioni were divided up into other ones. The new additions and divisions were necessary because once Rome had become the capitol of a united Italy the population started increasing very quickly. The last rione to be added was Prati. Prati is also the only rione outside the Aurelian Walls. Of course Rome did not stop growing because the government refused to name new rioni, so in 1926 new quarters were added. These were not called rioni, however, but quartieri. At the moment there are 22 rioni and 35 quartieri, including the three in Ostia. The Vatican City is neither a rione nor a quartiere, being a sovereign state within the Italian State.