Emilia Giorgi's personal tour of Rome's San Lorenzo district

Emilia Giorgi, an art critic and curator, writes an editorial about the San Lorenzo neighborhood in Rome, tracing its history from the 1907 founding of Maria Montessori's Casa dei Bambini to its current cultural landmarks. She describes the area's origins in the 1880s for workers and railway employees, now bounded by the Verano Monumental Cemetery, the Sapienza University City, and the Aurelian Walls. Giorgi highlights the Verano cemetery, inaugurated in 1812 and designed by Virginio Vespignani, as an open-air museum with works by Duilio Cambellotti and Mirko Basaldella, and the resting place of figures like Rino Gaetano, Nino Manfredi, Marcello Mastroianni, and Aldo Fabrizi. She also explores the University City, built in 1935 by Marcello Piacentini with contributions from artists Arturo Martini and Mario Sironi and architects Gio Ponti, Giovanni Michelucci, and Giuseppe Pagano. In the neighborhood, she visits the Pastificio Cerere, a former pasta factory turned contemporary art center where artists like Giuseppe Gallo and Marco Tirelli have studios, and where Francesca Woodman once lived. Nearby are the Nuovo Cinema Palazzo, hosting events with Marcello Fonte, Elio Germano, and Teho Teardo, and the gallery Matèria, focusing on experimental photography. She frequents bookshops Giufà and Tomo, which serve as cultural hubs. Giorgi concludes with a 1983 quote by Arturo Carlo Quintavalle about streets as spaces for collective existence.