Ancient Rome was born here — along the Tiber River. This point was as far upstream as boats could sail, and the first place the river could be crossed by bridge.

As a center of river trade, Rome connected the interior of the Italian peninsula with the Mediterranean. This riverbank would have been bustling in ancient times. Imagine busy docks, ramshackle boats, water mills, and platforms for fishing.

For 2,000 years, Rome’s river was a major part of its economy. Then, in the 1870s, to protect the city from flooding, the Romans walled off the Tiber. They built these tall, anonymous embankments that isolate the river from the city to this day. Today the town mostly ignores its river, but its graceful bridges still connect some of its most venerable neighborhoods, many with their own distinct heritage and character. For example, just over the Tiber from the old center, is Trastevere, the place to immerse yourself in the crustier side of Rome. The name, Trastevere, actually means “across the Tiber River.”

Wandering here offers a chance to hone your senses, to see Rome more intimately. You’ll discover a community of people who’ve found their niche and love it. The people here — “Trasteverini” — are proud. Old-timers once bragged of never setting foot on the opposite side of the Tiber. As we explore and observe, the big city seems worlds away.

For maximum Trastevere fun and insight, I’m joined by my friend and Roman tour guide, Francesca Caruso.

Rick: Especially here in Trastevere you get this sense of the many layers of Rome…
Francesca: Certainly. That is really the key to understanding Rome. This city, with almost 3,000 years of history, was never abandoned. So people have just built on top of and around what was already there.
Rick: Like a layer cake, isn't it?
Rick: Boy, there's a beautiful roof garden.
Francesca: Yeah, most of us in Rome live in apartments, so no gardens, no backyard…so we all dream of the attico con terrazzo.
Rick: Attico con terrazzo, an attic with a terrace.
Francesca: Yes, so the skyline of Rome is full of these little jungles on the rooftops.
Rick: Everything's so intimate, it's like we're walking through somebody's laundry room.
Francesca: Well, we've always lived so very close together here — sharing space is really not a problem. We don't even have the word for "privacy" in Italian. We use the English word instead; we simply roll the R so we say "prrrivacy."
Rick: Prrrivacy. I know one more Italian word now.

The concept of a piazza serving as a community center goes back to ancient times. Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere is the heart of this neighborhood. With its broad and inviting steps, the fountain was actually designed to be a kind of neighborhood “sofa.”

And, as usual, the district’s main church fronts its main square. The Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of Rome’s oldest and most beloved churches.

It’s built on the site of a third-century home where early Christians worshipped illegally. And, like the city itself, it’s been a work in progress, rebuilt continuously over the centuries.

The portico is decorated with ancient fragments filled with early religious symbolism — an anchor, birds, Christians praying with hands up as evangelicals do today. As we saw in the catacombs, many of these stones were originally lids to burial niches.

Stepping inside takes you back centuries. The granite columns were scavenged from ancient Roman buildings. The church feels like an ancient hall of justice. That’s because early churches adopted the pre-Christian basilica floor plan — a rectangular space divided by rows of columns.