Esquilino

The Esquilino, Rome's largest ancient hill, is now home to the city's most ethnically diverse population, its streets around Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II lined with Chinese, Bangladeshi, and North African grocers and restaurants rather than the trattorias typical elsewhere in Rome. Despite that modern immigrant character, it holds major ancient and religious sites, including the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's four papal basilicas, and the ruins of the Baths of Trajan and Nero's Domus Aurea nearby.

Its position right next to Termini, Rome's main train station, means many visitors pass through without stopping. It's one of the more honest, unvarnished slices of how contemporary Rome actually lives.