La Storta
La Storta is the 51st "zona" of the Italian capital city, Rome. It is identified by the initials Z. LI and falls within the boundaries of Municipio XV. The name "La Storta" ("the curve"; literally "twisted" or "bent") refers to a series of curves that the Via Cassia makes through the settlement. History. Section::::"Statio" on the "Via Francigena". During the Middle Ages the locality was positioned along the "Via Francigena," and was specifically mentioned as being a stop on the itinerary of Sigeric the Serious during his journey to Rome to accept the pallium as archbishop of Canterbury . The surviving account of his journey refers to La Storta as ["Submansio"] "Joannis VIIII," the first stop outside of the city of Rome. The stop was also referred to as San Giovanni in Nono (), since the way station was constructed next to a church dedicated to Saint John, and positioned at the nine-mile marker from the start of the Via Cassia. Vision of Saint Ignatius. In November 1537, Ignatius of Loyola was traveling the Via Cassia towards Rome, accompanied by Peter Faber and Diego Laynez. The group paused at a small church in La Storta to pray. It was  there that Ignatius is reported to have received a vision of God the Father and Christ holding the cross. Ignatius would later report that the Father had "given him ... to be henceforward consecrated wholly to His service," and Christ spoke the words "Ego tibi Romae propitius ero" ("I will be favorable to you in Rome"). The meaning of the sentence was not immediately clear to Ignatius, who thought it could mean that the three might be martyred at Rome. Pope Paul III instead gave him a very friendly reception. The location of the apparition is memorialized today with a small  chapel dedicated to Saint Ignatius in the "Piazza della Visione" ("Square of the Vision"). The site of the vision was a place of pilgrimage from the early days of the Society of Jesus, but the current form of the chapel was achieved only in the year 1700, when it was restored and decorated by the Superior General Thyrsus González de Santalla. The community celebrates the vision with its own feast day, the Feast of the Vision of Saint Ignatius. (The feast day is not, however, an ancient tradition, having been celebrated for the first time in 2011.) The feast is  celebrated on the second Sunday of November, and is marked by processions, bands, and a reenactment of the vision. La Storta Massacre. On June 4, 1944, the Nazis, who were fleeing from Rome after its liberation, carried out the massacre of fourteen prisoners in the community. Twelve of the fourteen were Italians, including the trade unionist Bruno Buozzi; the other two were a Polish Jew and the Englishman John Armstrong. The German soldiers were moving out in a column of vehicles during the night of June 3 to June 4, attempting to escape the Allied advance on the city, and  executed the prisoners on the grounds of the Grazioli estate in the country, a forested area down the Via Cassia from La Storta. It is not known who issued the order. Ecclesiastical territory. La Storta is the seat of the bishop of the Suburbicarian Diocese of Porto-Santa Rufina, the territory of which stretches from the GRA to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Cathedral of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary () is located in La Storta. The construction of the present-day cathedral building was abandoned in 1926, having been a project of a German Jesuit, Father Leopoldo Fonck, who  intended the church to be dedicated to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. Construction was suspended, however, and the building was not completed until Cardinal Tisserant took a personal interest and raised funds from sources including the United States. The new cathedral was dedicated on March 25, 1950, hosted a diocesan synod in August 1957, and was visited by Pope Pius XII on October 27 of the same year. In 1990, construction of a diocesan curia building was completed nearby. Geography. The territory of La Storta includes the urban zone 20H "La Storta" and part of the urban zone 19G "Castelluccia . It also includes the locality of Pian Saccoccia (piano di zona B49"): here is located an unauthorized settlement for which the municipality approved a restoration plan. Boundaries. The zone borders, to the north, with "Zona" Cesano (Z. LII), from which is separated by the Rio Galeria and by Via di Baccanello, up to Via Cassia. Eastward, it borders with "Zona" Isola Farnese (Z. LV), whose border is marked by the stretch of Via Cassia between Via di Baccanello and Via Isola Farnese, by Via Isola Farnese itself, by the countryside up to Via Prato della Corte and by Via Prato  della Corte up to the Cremera, the by the stream itself To the east, La Storta also borders with "Zona" La Giustiniana (Z. LIV), whose border is outlined by the Cremera, by Via Anna Foà, by the countryside up to Via Giacomo Andreassi, then by Via Cassia and Via Trionfale, up to the GRA. To the south, the zone borders with "Zona" Ottavia (Z. L), from which is separated by the stretch of the GRA between Via Trionfale and Via Cogliate. Southward, La Storta also borders with "Zona" Casalotti (Z. XLVIII), whose border is outlined by the countryside between Via  Cogliate and Via della Storta, by a stretch of Via della Storta itself, then by the countryside up to the Rio Galeria and by the stream itself. Westward, La Storta borders with "Zona" Santa Maria di Galeria (Z. XLIX), from which is separated by the Rio Galeria, up to Via Braccianese. Odonymy. For the most part, odonyms of La Storta refers to Italian playwrights and theatre directors. In the southern part of the zone, some streets are named after cardinals, saints and religious benefactors. Streets in the locality of Pian Saccoccia are mainly named after prominent publishers. Odonyms of the  zone can be categorized as follows: Places of interest. Education. The settlement is home to St. George's British International School, founded in 1958.