The Via del Moro connects the Piazza di Sant’Apollonia to the Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere on the opposite bank of the river Tiber in Rome. It is named after a more than one century year old café .
Via del Moro Rome
History and description
Many of Rome’s piazza’s and streets are named after churches, but the Via del Moro is an exception, since it gets its name from a café, the Caffé del Moro, which is still in existence and was opened towards the end of the 19th century.
The Caffé del Moro is located on the corner, where the Via del Moro crosses the Via della Pelliccia and can also boast the second oldest shop-sign of the city, the oldest one being the one of the Caffé del Greco. The signboard shows two archers and a sailor trying to get three young women (one of whom is already holding a bottle) to take a drink. The women look Ethiopian and the sign is a reminder of the war between Ethiopia and Italy (1895-1896).
The Via del Moro is a mixed bag of building styles, the various palazzi ranging from Baroque to Renaissance.
Tourist attractions in the Via del Moro
- Caffé del Moro
- A medieval turret-house (Via del Moro, 50)
- Palazzo Ruggeri (Via del Moro, 33): In reality a number of different houses, that after the death of the owners, who had no living relatives, were willed to the Ospedale del Salvatore and the Confraternita degli Orfanelli. The houses were united into one big complex with one entrance and a long frieze denoting the separation between the floors.