Esquilino: Piazza Vittorio and the market behind it
Rome's biggest arcaded square, its multicultural market, and Santa Maria Maggiore at the edge. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
The largest square in Rome, ringed by nineteenth-century arcades built when this became the new capital's grand quarter. Walk the porticoes on the way in; the shops beneath them are the city's most polyglot stretch of commerce.

2. Giardini di Piazza Vittorio
The garden in the middle, with the strange ruined *Trofei di Mario* fountain and the so-called Magic Door at the far corner. A good bench-and-coffee pause; locals walk dogs here while the arcades do business around them.

3. Mercato Esquilino (Nuovo Mercato)
The covered market just off the square — Roman produce next to Chinese greens, South Asian spice stalls, halal butchers, African fishmongers. The most genuinely multicultural food hall in the city. Go hungry and curious.

4. Via Carlo Alberto
The straight shopping street running from the square towards Santa Maria Maggiore. Fabric shops, phone-unlockers, fruit stalls — the everyday Esquilino. Walk it as the connective tissue it is, towards the basilica ahead.

5. Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
One of the four papal basilicas, and the edge where market Esquilino meets monumental Rome. Step in for the fifth-century mosaics high in the nave; the apse glows gold. Free, and quieter than the famous four you'd queue for.

6. Piazza dell'Esquilino
The back of the basilica, with its obelisk and the long view down towards Termini. A clean place to end before the station; turn and look back at the apse one more time.

Esquilino: Piazza Vittorio and the market behind it