San Lorenzo

Home to many students and professors of the nearby La Sapienza University, San Lorenzo is a hip neighborhood virtually untouched by tourists.

Residents belong primarily to the alternative “counterculture” demographic, so the neighborhood is practically littered with unpretentious cafés, bare-bones hangouts, and wine bars.

During the day, San Lorenzo even hosts a gritty outdoor street market that sells food and clothing near the main square of Piazza degli Aurunci, which turns into a social hotspot at sundown.

Towering above the southern side of the neighborhood are ruins of the ancient Rome wall that now serve as a graffiti canvas for the rougher and more revolutionary types that frequent the area.

Ultimately, San Lorenzo is a neighborhood where anything goes, everything is encouraged, and young artistic crowds are free to speak their minds and play their music in the squares.