page_title: Borgo (rione of Rome)
section_title: Middle Ages: Civitas Leonina
hierarchical_section_title: Borgo (rione of Rome) / History / Middle Ages: Civitas Leonina
caption_attribution_description: Pilgrims in Rome during Jubilee of 1300
context_page_description: Borgo is the 14th rione of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIV and is included within Municipio I.
  Its coat of arms shows a lion, lying in front of three mounts and a star. These – together with a lion rampant – are also part of the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus V, who annexed Borgo as the 14th rione of Rome.
context_section_description: During the early Middle Ages the bridge of Nero fell into ruins, while the Mausoleum of Hadrian was converted into a stronghold (Castel Sant'Angelo), the possession of which ensured control of the city.
  Despite the wars and invasions that plagued Rome during those centuries, the flood of pilgrims to the tomb of the apostle never stopped. Pilgrims of the same nationality gathered together in associations named Scholae, whose task was to host and to aid men and women of the same nation coming to Rome. The most famous were those of the Franks, Saxons, Frisians and Lombards. Each Schola had its own hospice and church. One of the first – the Schola Saxonum -  was built during the 8th century by Ina or Ine, king of the West Saxons. That hospice became the core of the future Hospital of Santo Spirito, one of the oldest and largest in Rome, founded by Pope Innocent III in 1198. Near the hospital was erected the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia. The German pilgrims gave the zone around their Scholae the name Burg (fortified town), which, italianised, became the name of the quarter. 
  Since it lay outside Aurelian's Walls, the Borgo was always exposed to attacks. During the 8th and 9th centuries, the quarter – together with the basilica - was plundered several times by Saracens who landed in Portus, and devastated by fires (that of 847 was immortalized by Raphael in a fresco painted in the stanze vaticane).
  Finally, Pope Leo IV built the walls which still bear his name. On June 27, 852 the Pope, accompanied by the clergy and people, started this undertaking walking bare-foot along the circuit of the new walls. Then, in order to augment the population, Pope Leo settled several families of Corsicans in the Borgo.
  Since that time, the quarter was no longer considered a part of Rome, but a separate town, the Leonine City (Civitas Leonina), with its own magistrates and governor. 
  It was only in 1586, under Pope Sixtus V, that the Borgo, as fourteenth rione, became again a part of Rome.
  The Leonine walls, which incorporated an older wall built by Totila during the Gothic War, still exist between the Vatican and the Castle, where they bear the name of Passetto. This constitutes a covered passage, which could be used – and actually has been used several times - by the Pope as an escape route from his residence to the Castle in case of danger. 
  In the Middle Ages, the quarter was not much populated, with sparse houses, some churches and a lot of vegetable gardens. There were also several brick furnaces, using the clay abundant in the Vatican and Gianicolo hills. A small harbor, the Porto Leonino, later used to deliver the travertine blocks needed to build the new Saint Peter's, existed south of the castle.
  The pilgrims going to St. Peter's and coming from the left bank through Ponte Sant'Angelo, after entering a gate (later named Porta Castello) could walk through the Borgo of the Saxons (today's Borgo S. Spirito) or the Porticus or Portica (named now Porticus Sancti Petri), which was still in place. Those coming from Trastevere along the route that would later become Via della Lungara used the posterula Saxonum (today's Porta Santo Spirito), and, finally, the pilgrims coming from the north (monte Mario) following the Via Francigena,  entered through Porta San Pellegrino (also named Viridaria because of its vicinity to the Vatican Gardens).
  In his Divine Comedy, Dante describes the great crowds of pilgrims visiting the Leonine City during the first Jubilee, which took place in 1300 under Boniface VIII.
  
  
   
  come i Roman per l’essercito molto,
  
  l’anno del giubileo, su per lo ponte
  
  hanno a passar la gente modo colto,
  
  che da l’un lato tutti hanno la fronte
  
  verso ’l castello e vanno a Santo Pietro,
  
  da l’altra sponda vanno verso ’l monte.
   
  as, in the year of Jubilee, the Romans,
  
  confronted by great crowds, contrived a plan
  
  that let the people pass across the bridge,
  
  for to one side went all who had their eyes
  
  upon the Castle, heading toward St. Peter’s,
  
  and to the other, those who faced the Mount.
   
  During the Avignon Papacy the Borgo,
caption: A contemporary miniature portraying pilgrims reaching Rome during the Jubilee of 1300. They are approaching the Leonine City from N (Prati di Castello). The hills in the background are (from right to left) Monte Mario, Vatican and Gianicolo.
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