Walled Area News Today

The Roman bath system was one of the most intricate and complex of the ancient world.

Outcasts can change the habits of an entire city. these picturesque ruins once contained the misery of romes jewish ghetto. from the 1500s onwards, the citys entire jewish community was locked in this walled area. only allowed to leave to do menial jobs in the daytime before being locked in at night. >> italia is in her 80s and has lived here her whole life.

♪ tucked in a curve of the river tiber is testaccio, once known as the belly of rome. home to the old slaughterhouses that supplied 19th and 20th century romans with meat. so tell me about this place. >> this is the retired slaughterhouse. and for about 100 years until the 1970s its where most large roman animals were slaughtered. basically from lambs all the way up through steer. >> this four square mile site will be redeveloped into a cultural area, but for now signs of its former life are...

Are poured into southern italy are blasted by -- >> during world war ii, this area bore the brunt of allied bombings that aimed to disrupt the nearby rail hub. tragically over 1,000 people were killed. this is in essence like a monument. >> yeah. you can see the effects of the war. people dead, the family dead. and all the area, all this area, is bombed. >> this particular square was home to a hugely popular local trattoria before the war. the owners wife and all but one of their children died w...

>> si, yeah. grazie. nice to see you again. ciao. as we staggered off our breakfast and headed through triestevre, i noticed that the area was much busier and hipper than years ago. >> this was the poor quarters. you see the buildings as nice as they are, very small. >> right. >> and then, of course, as it happens, you know, the old quarters got very trendy and everybody wanted to live here. >> and they become more gentrified. >> yeah. >> yeah. the city may be changing, but one thing thats as co...

Its an organized place with so many pavilions covering a vast area and really influencing the types of foods that would be eaten just across the street at the trattorias of the late 19th and early 20th century. >> in butchery the animal is quartered, and those cuts went straight to the upper and middle class kitchens. everything thats leftover, the blood, brains and intestines was called the quinto quarto, the fifth quarter. and those were left to the poor. some workers were even paid in offal i...

Nowhere more so than centocelle. im meeting masimiliano, who is the editor of italys most prestigious food journal, to find out whats going on. gentrification is moving in on this neighborhood, and food is on the front line. >> the neighborhood was born during roman empire. centocelles roman name, its 100 jails in english. >> 100 jails? >> jails, yeah, exactly. >> there may never have actually been 100 jails here, but what this area does have is three new subway stations all in close proximity. ...