Borgo

The Borgo is Rome's fourteenth rione (district) and stretches from Castel Sant'Angelo to the Vatican. Its history goes back to Pope Leo IV, who built the fortified Leonine City here to protect pilgrims traveling between Hadrian's Mausoleum and St. Peter's Basilica. The name comes from the German word "Burg" (castle or fortress), which became common among pilgrims. Although much of the medieval architecture was destroyed when the Via della Conciliazione was built in the twentieth century, the area remains an important historic quarter. The district's coat of arms shows a reclining lion in front of a mountain topped with a star, symbolizing both Leo IV and Pope Sixtus V.