
Roma Cast of Characters Campo dé Fiori Caffè San Pietro Colosseo Foro Romano Chiesa del Gesu Pantheon P. Navona S. Pietro Il Papa S. Eustachio S. Maria Trastevere Trastevere Bocca Verità Fontana di Trevi Museo Vaticani Villa Borghese Vittorie Mangia! Loose Ends Desktops
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2000 Italia: S. Eustachio
R.VIII Sant Eustachio
The Roman centurion Placido saw a deer with a cross between its antlers (the district's coat of arms) while hunting, converted to Christianity, and was baptized Eustachio. He was martyred by being burnt in a bronze bull after miraculously escaping the lions. Originally called "S. Eustachio and Vigna di Tedemario" (after a Roman who owned land at the Circo Flaminio) this neighborhood's name is now shortened.
The Chiesa di S. Eustachio (Church of S. Eustachio) was, according to tradition, founded on the site of S. Eustacion's martyrdom. The deer-with-cross symbol appears on the tympanum of the church. It seems to date to 795, and has undergone several reconstructions, one in 1196, and another in 1705.
Currently the home to a café reputed to serve the best coffee in the world (and a pretender café nearby), this is what the Piazza di Sant Eustachio looks like (one café appears at the far left of the panorama, the other at the far right):
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