Sant'Angelo is the 11th of Rome, Italy, located in Municipio I. Often written as , it has a coat of arms with an angel on a red background, holding a palm branch in its left hand. In another version, the angel holds a sword in its right hand and a scale in its left.
Sant'Angelo, the smallest of Rome's rioni, lies along the Tiber river east of Tiber Island. Rioni bordering this district, clockwise from north to south, include Regola, Sant'Eustachio, Pigna, Campitelli, and Ripa. Sant'Angelo's western border is the river.
The rione's terrain is low and flat and, until the construction of the Lungotevere, particularly susceptible to flooding from the river.
The historical significance of Sant'Angelo is mainly the result of the presence here of the Roman Ghetto.
History
Roman Age: Circus Flaminius
During the early Roman period, the territory occupied by Sant'Angelo lay outside the Servian walls, east of Tiber Island. This location at a point where the river could be forded easilyat least in summerhad great strategic importance. The oldest stone bridge of Rome, the , was completed in 142 BC and stood slightly south of the island. The Cestian and Fabrician bridges, built during the 1st century BC to connect the island with the right and the left bank respectively, further increased the importance of the area.
The area housed the Circus Flaminius, which lay near the Capitoline Hill and the Forum and served as the site of the as well as the starting point for Roman triumphs. It was also the home of the Forum Olitorium, the Roman vegetable market, as well as porticos built by Gnaeus Octavius in 168 BC and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus in 146 BC and temples to Hercules Musarum, Juno Regina, Jupiter Stator, Bellona, Apollo Medicus, Juno Sospita, Hope, and Piety.
In the 1st century BC, Pompey the Great built his grand marble theater and portico nearby. Julius Caesar intended to outdo these but construction was completed much later by Augustus, who dedicated his theater to his nephew Marcellus. It could hold 15,000 spectators at a time. L. Cornelius Balbus built his own smaller theater in the area as well in 13 BC. It featured a cryptoportico, whose remains are still visible beside the Via delle Botteghe Oscure.
During the Empire, the district was part of , one of fourteen Roman regions. Augustus further beautified the area by destroying both of its previous porticos, replacing them with the Porticus Octaviae dedicated to his sister and the Porticus Philippi constructed by his stepbrother L. Marcius Philippus. In addition to their rehabilitated temples, the Portico of Octavia also included Greek and Latin libraries and 34 bronze statues by Lysippos portraying Alexander the Great and the soldiers who fell during the Battle of the Granicus. Part of the area used for these enlarged plazas was obtained at the expense of the Circus Flaminius.
Middle Ages: Sant'Angelo in foro piscium
After the end of the Empire the monumental edifices collapsed, but some of them were transformed into fortresses. Several factors played an important role in this transformation: first, the size and solidity of construction; then, the closeness to the Tiber (after the rupture of the aqueducts during the Gothic war, the river became the only source of drinking water for the city). Finally, the possibility of controlling the access to the right bank via the Pons Fabricius, Cestius and Aemilius, the only bridges which were still in place inside the Aurelian walls by that time.
The baronial families of the Fabii and later of the Savelli, which owned also the stronghold on the Aventine named Corte Savella, nested inside the theatre of Marcellus, while inside the Theater and the Crypta of Balbus the Stefaneschi built the stronghold known as Castrum aureum ("golden castle"), which later was donated to the monastery of Santa Caterina.
The fish market moved from the Forum Piscarium, located near the Forum Romanum, into the ruins of the Porticus Octaviae, which kept this function up to the end of the 19th century, becoming one of the most picturesque places in Rome.
During the Middle Ages the district got the name of Vinea Thedemari, while its northern part was named Calcaràrio, after the limekilns ("Calcàre"), which throughout centuries produced quicklime obtained by burning the marbles of the Roman Fora.