What is "borgo"

n. A small Italian village.

Borgo is an Italian word (plural borghi), cognate with English borough, German Burg, French bourg, that now usually means the new town outside the walls of an old town (the paese). Very often the borgo is a distinct frazione from the paese, and its name is that of the town with Borgo added, either before or after: for example, the lower town of Trevi is Borgo Trevi; the lower town of Cerreto di Spoleto is Cerreto Borgo. The diminutive form of the word is borghetto ("little borgo"), from which the contracted term ghetto derived. Borgo may also be part of a street name, such as Borgo Pinti, Florence.

The word is part of the name of a number of places:

• Borgo, Haute-Corse

• Borgo (rione of Rome), a rione in the City of Rome.
• Borgo a Mozzano, in the province of Lucca
• Borgo d'Ale, in the province of Vercelli
• Borgo di Terzo, in the province of Bergamo
• Borgo Pace, in the province of Pesaro e Urbino
• Borgo Priolo, in the province of Pavia
• Borgo San Dalmazzo, in the province of Cuneo
• Borgo San Giacomo, in the province of Brescia
• Borgo San Giovanni, in the province of Lodi
• Borgo San Lorenzo, in the province of Florence
• Borgo San Martino, in the province of Alessandria
• Borgo San Siro, in the province of Pavia
• Borgo Santa Lucia an historic rione in the City of Naples
• Borgo Ticino, in the province of Novara
• Borgo Tossignano, in the province of Bologna
• Borgo Val di Taro, in the province of Parma
• Borgo Valsugana, in the province of Trento
• Borgo Velino, in the province of Rieti
• Borgo Vercelli, in the province of Vercelli

• Borgo Maggiore

Borgo (sometimes called also I Borghi), is the 14th historic district ( rione) of Rome, Italy. It lies on the west bank of the Tiber, within Municipio I, and it has a trapezoidal shape. Its coat of arms shows a lion (after the name " Leonine City", which was also given to the district), lying in front of three mounts and a star. These - together with a lion rampant - are also part of the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus V who annexed Borgo as fourteenth rione to the city of Rome.

The Borgo is bordered by Vatican City ( Saint Peter's Square) to the west, the Tiber to the east, Prati to the north, the quartiere Aurelio to the southwest and Trastevere to the south.

The territory of the quarter includes a level part, which is made of the alluvial sands of Tiber, and a hilly zone, which coincides with the clay-laden slopes of the Vatican hill.

In administrative terms, the Borgo, following the city decree n.11 issued on 11 March 2013, became part of the Center (I Municipio). Before then, he was part of the XVII Municipio, together with the rione of Prati (also moved to the I Municipio in that occasion) and the quartieri Trionfale and Della Vittoria (around Piazza Mazzini).

The main roads run east-west and (with the noteworthy exception of the modern Via della Conciliazione) are not named Vie, but Borghi.

Although heavily transformed during the first half of the 20th century, the Borgo maintains its historical importance as a forecourt to Saint Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Palace.