Esquilino hill is one of the seven hills where Rome was
founded. It is the highest and wide in Rome. The first settlement
on this hill is dated from VII century b.C., when a suburb of the
Palatin city was built. This hypothesis is confirmed from the
retrieval of a necropolis that could be dated around the half of
VIII century b.C. and the half of VII century b.C.. The hill was
once part of a plateau, but the continuous water erosion has
created the actual landscape. On this hill was built the Basilica
of Santa Maria Maggiore, after the apparition of the Madonna in
Pope Liberio's dreams. In the night of August 4th 352 a.C., the
Pontiff dreamed about Christ's mother asking him to build a
Basilica where on the next day he would have found the snow. It was
in this place that in full summer miraculously snowed. Santa Maria
Maggiore is the central point of a larger urban project wanted by
Pope Sisto V, who desired to connect the main basilicas of the city
through some rectilinear streets. The exterior of the Basilica is
characterized by a facade that emerges between two civil palaces.
The Church has a Romanesque belfry built in 1375 a.C., that with
his 75 meters of height is the highest of all Rome