I “forestieri” di Trastevere e le loro istituzioni tra ’400 e ’500

Abstract

Trastevere rione had a much more diverse population at the beginning of the
16th century, as demonstrated by an examination of the data provided by Descriptio Urbis, the
first surviving census for Rome. Despite the incompleteness of its information, this document
shows that a significant portion of the district was inhabited by a wide variety of immigrants.
Indeed, foreign heads of families are represented, primarily Corsicans (who constituted almost
a colony), then Spanish, French, and a few others. Above all, however, many families from
all over Italy are recorded: primarily from Lombardy, then Tuscany, Lazio, Emilia, Piedmont,
Liguria, etc. Some of these minorities, those most closely associated with port activities, established
hospices/hospitals for their compatriots, run by confraternities: first the English, then
the Ligurians, and finally the Corsicans.

KEYWORDS:: Trastevere, foreigners, hospitals, brotherhoods, 15th and 16th centuries.