Trastevere is the place to immerse yourself
in the crustier side of Rome.
The name "Trastevere" actually means "across the Tiber River."
Wandering here offers a chance to hone your senses
to see Rome more intimately.
You'll discover a world of artisans
who've found their niche and love it.
The people here, "Trasteverini," are proud.
Old-timers once bragged of never setting foot
on the opposite side of the river.
As we explore and observe, the big city seems worlds away.
For maximum Trastevere fun and insight,
I'm joined by my friend and Roman tour guide,
Francesca Caruso.
Especially here in Trastevere,
you get this sense of the many layers of Rome.
Francesca: Certainly, that is really the key to understanding Rome.
This city has almost 3,000 years of history.
It was never abandoned, so people have just
built on top and around of what was already there.
Rick: Like a layer cake, isn't it?
Boy, there's a beautiful roof garden.
Francesca: Yeah. Most of us in Rome
live in apartments, so no gardens,
no backyards, so we all dream
of the "attico con terrazzo."
Rick: "Attico con terrazzo," an attic with a terrace.
Francesca: Yes, so the skyline of Rome is full of
these little jungles on the rooftops.
Rick: Everything is so intimate.
It's like we're walking through somebody's laundry room.
Francesca: Well, we've always lived very close together here.
Sharing space is really not a problem.
We don't even have the word for "privacy" in Italian.
We use the English word instead.
We simply roll the "r," so we say "prrrivacy."
Rick: "Prrrivacy."
I know one more Italian word now.
[ Laughs ]
So why are so many of the oldest
churches in Rome on this side of the river?
Francesca: Because Trastevere was the neighborhood of foreigners,
often Christian, who brought their faith with them.
For the whole period of the persecutions,
they could not build churches,
so Mass would be celebrated in the homes of wealthy converts
who offered their homes for Mass.
Rick: So then this is one of those kind of churches.
Francesca: Yes, it was the house of Cecilia,
and in later times
they built a church dedicated to her.
Rick: And today, the name of the church?
Francecesa: The Santa Cecilia.
Rick: Now, what happened to Saint Cecilia?
Francesca: Saint Cecilia and her husband were killed
because of their faith.
The Romans tried to stone her to death for three days in
her own home, and after that, they beheaded her.
Rick: This is a beautiful statue. It's just peaceful.
Francesca; Yes, it's very quiet. There's something
very tender about it and also very sad,
about a young woman who was killed so brutally
for her faith.
Rick: The concept of a piazza serving as a community center
goes back to ancient times.
Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere is
the heart of this neighborhood.
With its broad and inviting steps,
the fountain was actually designed
to be a kind of neighborhood sofa.
The great part of exploring a neighborhood
is just sitting in the main square.
Francesca: I think it's really in our DNA.
We've been living in our piazzas as common living rooms
since ancient Roman times, so it's always been this way,
and let's hope it will always be this way in the future, too.
Rick: And, as usual, the district's main church
fronts the main square.
The Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere
is also one of Rome's oldest and most beloved churches.
Like Cecilia's church,
it's built on the site of a third-century home,
where early Christians worshipped illegally.
And, like the city itself, it's been a work in progress,
rebuilt continuously over the centuries.
The portico is decorated with ancient fragments
filled with early Christian symbolism --
the anchor, birds,
people with hands up, praying as evangelical Christians do today.
Many of these stones were originally lids
to burial niches from the catacombs.
Stepping inside takes you back centuries.
The granite columns were scavenged
from ancient Roman buildings.
The church feels like an ancient hall of justice.
That's because early churches adopted the pre-Christian
basilica floor plan -- a rectangular space
divided by rows of columns.
These mosaics are early medieval,
well over 1,000 years old.
They're rich in symbolism.
Mary is given high stature.
She's at the throne with Jesus in heaven.
He has his arm around his mother as if introducing her to us.
Locals claim this is the first church
dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
I never leave without checking in with St. Anthony,
who hangs out in the back.
He's a favorite of the poor
and is inundated with prayer requests on scraps of paper.