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Roma · Ostia · a Netflix series in three seasons

Suburra

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Named after the ancient district Augustus walled off from his forum. Filmed between Rome’s palaces, the Vatican edge and the sea at Ostia.

  • Alessandro Borghi, bearded, in a bow tie, on the Venice red carpet
    Alessandro Borghi at the Venice Film Festival on 30 August 2017, two days before the first two episodes of Suburra were shown there. Gianni Torre from Venice, Italy · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Alessandro BorghiAureliano · Venice, 2017

  • Giacomo Ferrara in a black roll-neck, dark hair swept up
    Giacomo Ferrara in a video interview in November 2017, after the first season came out. Lega Nerd · CC BY 3.0

    Giacomo FerraraSpadino · 2017

  • Eduardo Valdarnini in a mustard jacket, arms folded
    Eduardo Valdarnini in a video interview in November 2017, after the first season came out. Lega Nerd · CC BY 3.0

    Eduardo ValdarniniLele · 2017

ItaliaCittà del VaticanoStep over the line

Photos: Alessandro Borghi at the Venice Film Festival on 30 August 2017, Gianni Torre from Venice, Italy, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Giacomo Ferrara in a video interview in November 2017, Lega Nerd, CC BY 3.0 · Eduardo Valdarnini in a video interview in November 2017, Lega Nerd, CC BY 3.0

The Vatican edge · Lateran Treaty, 11 February 1929

Step over the line.

In the first season the land everyone wants at Ostia is partly the Vatican’s, and one of the people in the middle of it audits the Curia’s money. In Rome the border between Church and State is a white strip in the paving at the end of St Peter’s Square. Walk over it.

Via della ConciliazionePiazza Pio XIISt Peter’s Square

Step 1 of 5 · Via della Conciliazione

Country
Italy · Rome
Who keeps order
Italian police

An avenue cut in 1936–50 and named for the 1929 treaty between Italy and the Holy See.

Where we read it
The obelisk in St Peter’s Square with the avenue running away behind it
The obelisk in St Peter’s Square, with Piazza Pio XII and Via della Conciliazione beyond the colonnade’s open end. Jebulon · CC0

Piazza San Pietro at Piazza Pio XII

The white line, St Peter’s Square

St Peter’s Square is told apart from Italy only by a white line along its edge, where it meets Piazza Pio XII. The border was set by Article 3 of the Lateran Treaty of 11 February 1929 and runs for 3.2 km in all.

The square belongs to the Vatican state, yet Italian police keep order in it. When the Holy See holds certain ceremonies there, the Italian authorities must withdraw beyond the outer lines of the colonnades.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini redesigned the square from 1667 to 1676. His colonnades, four columns deep, have 248 columns and 88 pilasters.

Open to all; you cross the line on foot from Piazza Pio XII. Security checks apply for the basilica and papal events.

Where we read it
A straight avenue with lamp-posts leading to the dome of St Peter’s
Via della Conciliazione at dawn, looking towards St Peter’s. Martin Falbisoner · CC BY-SA 3.0

Via della Conciliazione, Borgo

Via della Conciliazione

Both the second and the third season filmed on Via della Conciliazione.

The avenue was cut between 1936 and 1950 by Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli. It cleared the whole spina of Borgo, the old houses between the basilica and the castle.

Its name, Conciliation, is for the Lateran Treaty of 1929, which settled the standoff between Italy and the Holy See.

A public avenue, about 500 metres from Castel Sant’Angelo to the square.

Where we read it

Every place has a side.

Suburra keeps three worlds in play: the Church, the State and the street by the sea. Pick one to see where it was filmed, or where it stands.

Church: 2 places. The Vatican edge, where the Curia’s money and Ostia’s land meet in the first season.

  • The obelisk in St Peter’s Square with the avenue running away behind it
    The obelisk in St Peter’s Square, with Piazza Pio XII and Via della Conciliazione beyond the colonnade’s open end. Jebulon · CC0
    The white line, St Peter’s SquareThe Vatican edge
  • A straight avenue with lamp-posts leading to the dome of St Peter’s
    Via della Conciliazione at dawn, looking towards St Peter’s. Martin Falbisoner · CC BY-SA 3.0
    Via della ConciliazioneThe Vatican edge
Where we read it

Ostia · Municipio X · 25 km from the Campidoglio

The edge of Rome.

Rome reaches the sea at Ostia. The series came back here for all three seasons: the seafront, the river mouth and the marina.

A long concrete pier running out into a calm sea at dusk
The Pontile, the pier at the end of Piazza dei Ravennati, Ostia, in March 2024. Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0

Lungomare Paolo Toscanelli and Piazza dei Ravennati, Lido di Ostia

The Ostia seafront and the Pontile

Sorrisi visited the first season’s set on the Ostia seafront in a freezing wind. The scene was the last of the ten episodes: Alessandro Borghi’s character talking business and power with his sister Livia (Barbara Chichiarelli) outside the family restaurant.

The Pontile is a terraced pier with a view out to sea. Ostia has been part of Rome’s tenth municipio since 1976, and the Metromare carries over 90,000 people a day between it and the city centre.

In October 2025 Netflix posters in Rome’s metro joked that missing your stop lands you in Ostia, in Suburra. The mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, and the president of Municipio X, Mario Falconi, objected that they tied Ostia to stereotypes it had worked for years to leave behind; Netflix took them down.

Open all the time. The Metromare runs from Rome to Lido di Ostia; the pier stands at the end of Piazza dei Ravennati.

Where we read it
Rows of moored yachts in a marina under a blue sky
The Porto Turistico di Roma at Ostia, April 2016. Fabrizio Russo · CC BY 3.0

Porto di Roma, Lido di Ostia, Municipio X

Porto Turistico di Roma

The final season filmed at the Porto Turistico di Roma and on the beaches of Ostia and Fregene.

In the first season the prize is a tourist port for Rome at Ostia. Rome already has one: this marina opened on 24 June 2001 with 833 berths.

Along its quays are about 80 shops and cafés, a promenade of about 1,200 metres and an open-air amphitheatre with 750 seats.

Open to walkers: about 1,200 metres of promenade with a cycle path, shops and cafés along the quays.

Where we read it
Low houses and boats where the Tiber meets the sea
The Idroscalo, at the mouth of the Tiber in Ostia, March 2024. Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0

Idroscalo, mouth of the Tiber, Lido di Ostia

The Idroscalo

Many second-season scenes were shot on the Roman coast, on the beaches and at the Idroscalo of Ostia.

A seaplane base opened here at the mouth of the Tiber in 1919. Erosion closed it in 1922; it reopened in 1926, and in 1943 German forces destroyed its main buildings.

Roman fishermen built a settlement here in the 1960s. Pier Paolo Pasolini died near the old seaplane base on 2 November 1975.

A small settlement of houses and boatyards at the river mouth. Walk in by the road from the marina and keep to public ways.

Where we read it
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Ostia and the Roman coast

Ostia

Live marketplace results for tours from Rome to Ostia. None is built round the series; check each for the seafront as well as the ancient port.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

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Palazzo Spada · a first-season location

It only looks bigger.

Claudia Gerini, who plays the Curia’s auditor, named Palazzo Spada among the locations. Its courtyard holds Borromini’s gallery, a lesson in how power is staged from the doorway. Walk in.

37 mhow long it looks

8 mhow long it is

From the courtyard the gallery looks like a long colonnade with a life-size statue at the end.

Where we read it
A colonnaded gallery narrowing to a statue framed by hedges
Borromini’s forced-perspective gallery at Palazzo Spada, seen from the courtyard. Sailko · CC BY 3.0

Piazza Capo di Ferro 13

Palazzo Spada

Claudia Gerini named Palazzo Spada among the first season’s locations, and the second season went back to it.

Borromini’s gallery in the courtyard looks 37 metres long and is 8. The statue at its end looks life-size and is 60 cm high.

Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro commissioned the palace in 1540. The state bought it in 1927; it now houses the Council of State and the Galleria Spada.

The Galleria Spada, the museum inside, ends its visit at the perspective. Check its opening times before you go.

Where we read it
A tall hall lined with wooden bookcases and a gallery
The Vanvitelli hall of the Biblioteca Angelica, shelved floor to vault. Rivetti Giancarlo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Piazza di Sant’Agostino 8

Biblioteca Angelica

Claudia Gerini named the Biblioteca Angelica among the first season’s locations.

Angelo Rocca opened it in 1604, ruling that it should be open to everyone whatever their means. It is counted among the oldest public libraries in Europe.

Vanvitelli designed its great first-floor hall, finished in 1765. The library holds over 200,000 volumes and about 2,700 manuscripts.

A working library beside the church of Sant’Agostino, near Piazza Navona.

Where we read it

The State · seasons 1–3

The seats of power.

The second season counts down the fifteen days before Rome elects a mayor. The series filmed at the city hall’s square, at the parliament and in the streets between them.

  1. Michelangelo’s square on the Capitoline Hill with the city hall tower
    Piazza del Campidoglio and Palazzo Senatorio, Rome’s city hall, September 2015. Kameister · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Piazza del Campidoglio 1

    The Campidoglio and the Capitoline Museums

    Claudia Gerini named the Capitoline Museums among the first season’s locations; the third season filmed in Piazza del Campidoglio.

    Michelangelo redesigned the square from 1534. Of its three palaces, Palazzo Senatorio is Rome’s city hall; the Capitoline Museums are on the same square.

    The second season is set in the fifteen days before Rome elects a mayor, in June 2008.

    The square is open all the time. The museums open daily 9.30am–7.30pm, last entry an hour before closing; entry is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month.

    Where we read it
  2. A curved palace front on a square with an obelisk
    Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Chamber of Deputies, May 2019. Nicholas Gemini · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Piazza di Montecitorio

    Palazzo Montecitorio

    The second season filmed at Montecitorio and in Piazza Colonna next door.

    Bernini designed the palace and Carlo Fontana finished it. The Chamber of Deputies first sat here on 21 November 1871 and settled for good in 1918.

    On open days visitors see the chamber itself, the Transatlantico corridor and the main state rooms, with guides.

    Usually on the first Sunday of the month the Chamber opens its main rooms to visitors; book on eventi.camera.it. Otherwise see it from the square.

    Where we read it
  3. A row of tall Corinthian columns set into a building front
    The eleven columns of the Temple of Hadrian on Piazza di Pietra, April 2016. Sjaak Kempe from Groningen, The Netherlands · CC BY 2.0

    Piazza di Pietra, Colonna

    Piazza di Pietra

    The second season filmed in Piazza di Pietra.

    Eleven columns of the Temple of Hadrian, 14.8 metres high, are set into the front of a palace that now houses Rome’s Chamber of Commerce. Antoninus Pius dedicated the temple in 145 AD.

    The square’s name, Piazza of Stone, comes from the temple’s stones, used to build it.

    A public square, a few minutes’ walk from Montecitorio.

    Where we read it
  4. A wide avenue running towards the Colosseum past ancient ruins
    Via dei Fori Imperiali towards the Colosseum, November 2018. Rabax63 · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Via dei Fori Imperiali, Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum

    Via dei Fori Imperiali

    The second season filmed on the Fori Imperiali and at the Colosseum; the third went back to the Colosseum.

    Mussolini opened the road on 9 April 1932. Building it in a straight line from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum moved 746 of the poorest families to the edge of the city.

    Its southern stretch has been closed to private cars since 2013, and on the last weekend of each month the whole road is for walkers only.

    Where we read it
Camera dei deputati

Montecitorio a porte aperte

Piazza di Montecitorio, Rome · Free · usually the first Sunday of the month

Usually on the first Sunday of the month the Chamber of Deputies opens the chamber, the Transatlantico and its state rooms to visitors, with guides. Dates and free booking on eventi.camera.it.

See dates and book

Monti · Regola · EUR

Behind the wall.

A towering wall of grey stone blocks with a later building on top
The wall of the Forum of Augustus on Via Tor de’ Conti, built to shut out the Suburra; the House of the Knights of Rhodes sits on top. Lalupa · CC BY-SA 3.0

The same wall today, with the House of the Knights of Rhodes above it.

Via Tor de’ Conti and Via Baccina, Monti

The Suburra wall

The Subura was a crowded district below the Viminal and Quirinal hills. Julius Caesar grew up in a family house there; it is now part of the Monti district.

The Forum of Augustus was closed at the back by a wall 33 metres high in peperino and gabina stone, which cut it off from the Suburra. One gate through it, a single arch, is the Arco dei Pantani.

The word suburra stayed in Italian as a name for any disreputable place.

See it from Via Tor de’ Conti, or look down into the Forum of Augustus from Via Alessandrina.

Where we read it
An ivy-hung arch spanning a quiet cobbled street
The Arco Farnese over Via Giulia, October 2017. Peter1936F · CC BY-SA 4.0

Via Giulia, Regola

Via Giulia

The third season filmed on Via Giulia.

Pope Julius II had Bramante lay it out from 1508 as a grand avenue for a new administrative and banking centre near the Vatican. It runs for 950 metres.

The Arco Farnese, a bridge from Palazzo Farnese across the street, went up in 1603; people watched processions and Carnival races from it.

A public street, about a kilometre long, parallel to the Tiber.

Where we read it
A white cube of stacked arches on a plinth with statues
The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the Square Colosseum, in EUR, February 2016. Alberti1492 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Quadrato della Concordia, EUR

The Square Colosseum, EUR

The third season filmed at the Colosseo Quadrato.

Built from 1938 to 1943, it has six rows of nine identical arches on every face. Since 2015 it has been the headquarters of Fendi.

Fendi’s headquarters. See it from Quadrato della Concordia and the streets around it.

Where we read it
MICHELIN Guide

Hotel Indigo Rome – St. George

Via Giulia, Rome

A 62-room hotel at Via Giulia 62, the street the final season filmed on, a few minutes from Palazzo Spada. Spa, restaurant, wine bar, library and a rooftop.

See the hotel

The people

Who crossed the lines.

  • Alessandro Borghi, bearded, in a bow tie, on the Venice red carpet
    Alessandro Borghi at the Venice Film Festival on 30 August 2017, two days before the first two episodes of Suburra were shown there. Gianni Torre from Venice, Italy · CC BY-SA 2.0
    Alessandro BorghiAureliano Adami · Venice, August 2017
  • Giacomo Ferrara in a black roll-neck, dark hair swept up
    Giacomo Ferrara in a video interview in November 2017, after the first season came out. Lega Nerd · CC BY 3.0
    Giacomo FerraraAlberto “Spadino” Anacleti · 2017
  • Eduardo Valdarnini in a mustard jacket, arms folded
    Eduardo Valdarnini in a video interview in November 2017, after the first season came out. Lega Nerd · CC BY 3.0
    Eduardo ValdarniniGabriele “Lele” Marchilli · 2017
  • Francesco Acquaroli, grey-haired, in a dark jacket, unsmiling
    Francesco Acquaroli in a video interview on 22 February 2019, the day the second season came out. Lega Nerd · CC BY 3.0
    Francesco AcquaroliSamurai · February 2019
  • Barbara Chichiarelli, hair tied back, in a dark coat
    Barbara Chichiarelli at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2020, the year of the third season. Martin Kraft · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Barbara ChichiarelliLivia, Aureliano’s sister · Berlin, 2020
  • Claudia Gerini with long auburn hair, at a microphone
    Claudia Gerini in 2012, five years before the series; no free photograph from its run was found. G. M. Ireneo Alessi (Sinix) from Roma, Italia · CC BY-SA 2.0
    Claudia GeriniSara Monaschi, the Curia’s auditor · 2012
  • Filippo Nigro, shaven-headed, in a white shirt and black tie
    Filippo Nigro in 2010, seven years before the series; no free photograph from its run was found. Giovanni Zanghi from Milano, Italia · CC BY 2.0
    Filippo NigroAmedeo Cinaglia, a politician · 2010

Cattleya made it with Rai Fiction for Netflix: the first Italian series made for Netflix. Michele Placido, Andrea Molaioli and Giuseppe Capotondi directed the first season, and the first two episodes were shown at the Venice Film Festival on 1 September 2017. Claudia Gerini and Filippo Nigro are shown in earlier photographs; no free picture of either from the run turned up.

Where we read it

Season 1 · 6 October 2017 · 10 episodes

February 2008: 21 days to buy the Ostia land.

  • The Ostia seafront and the Pontile
  • The Campidoglio and the Capitoline Museums
  • Palazzo Spada
  • Biblioteca Angelica

Cross over.

Where it is now

14 places you can visit in Rome and at Ostia. One is seen only from outside: the Square Colosseum, now Fendi’s headquarters.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open all the time. The Metromare runs from Rome to Lido di Ostia; the pier stands at the end of Piazza dei Ravennati.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A small settlement of houses and boatyards at the river mouth. Walk in by the road from the marina and keep to public ways.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open to walkers: about 1,200 metres of promenade with a cycle path, shops and cafés along the quays.

  1. A long concrete pier running out into a calm sea at dusk
    The Pontile, the pier at the end of Piazza dei Ravennati, Ostia, in March 2024. Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Lungomare Paolo Toscanelli and Piazza dei Ravennati, Lido di Ostia

    The Ostia seafront and the Pontile

    Sorrisi visited the first season’s set on the Ostia seafront in a freezing wind. The scene was the last of the ten episodes: Alessandro Borghi’s character talking business and power with his sister Livia (Barbara Chichiarelli) outside the family restaurant.

    Open all the time. The Metromare runs from Rome to Lido di Ostia; the pier stands at the end of Piazza dei Ravennati.

    Where we read it
  2. Low houses and boats where the Tiber meets the sea
    The Idroscalo, at the mouth of the Tiber in Ostia, March 2024. Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Idroscalo, mouth of the Tiber, Lido di Ostia

    The Idroscalo

    Many second-season scenes were shot on the Roman coast, on the beaches and at the Idroscalo of Ostia.

    A small settlement of houses and boatyards at the river mouth. Walk in by the road from the marina and keep to public ways.

    Where we read it
  3. Rows of moored yachts in a marina under a blue sky
    The Porto Turistico di Roma at Ostia, April 2016. Fabrizio Russo · CC BY 3.0

    Porto di Roma, Lido di Ostia, Municipio X

    Porto Turistico di Roma

    The final season filmed at the Porto Turistico di Roma and on the beaches of Ostia and Fregene.

    Open to walkers: about 1,200 metres of promenade with a cycle path, shops and cafés along the quays.

    Where we read it

Stay

On Via Giulia.

A room on the street the final season filmed on.

MICHELIN Guide

Hotel Indigo Rome – St. George

Via Giulia, Rome

A 62-room hotel at Via Giulia 62, the street the final season filmed on, a few minutes from Palazzo Spada. Spa, restaurant, wine bar, library and a rooftop.

See the hotel

Go there

On foot and by the sea.

Ostia and the coast, the centre and the Vatican edge.

Viator · Ad / affiliate

Ostia and the Roman coast

Ostia

Live marketplace results for tours from Rome to Ostia. None is built round the series; check each for the seafront as well as the ancient port.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

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Viator · Ad / affiliate

Centro storico and the Vatican edge on foot

Rome

Live marketplace results for walking tours of the historic centre and St Peter’s Square. Check each route for the Campidoglio, Montecitorio and Via della Conciliazione.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

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What’s on

Open doors.

A free Sunday at the Capitoline Museums and the parliament’s open days.

Camera dei deputati

Montecitorio a porte aperte

Piazza di Montecitorio, Rome · Free · usually the first Sunday of the month

Usually on the first Sunday of the month the Chamber of Deputies opens the chamber, the Transatlantico and its state rooms to visitors, with guides. Dates and free booking on eventi.camera.it.

See dates and book

Take it home

The novel.

The book behind the film and the series, in English.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Suburra

Carlo Bonini and Giancarlo De Cataldo, translated by Antony Shugaar

The novel behind the 2015 film and, through it, the series: Antony Shugaar’s English translation of 2017.

Find the book

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The file

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

14 of 14 places · 16 of 16 Moments

  • The Ostia seafront and the Pontile

    Lungomare Paolo Toscanelli and Piazza dei Ravennati, Lido di Ostia

    • Outside the family restaurant

      In the last episode of the first season, Aureliano and his sister Livia talk business and power outside the family restaurant on the Ostia seafront.

  • The Idroscalo

    Idroscalo, mouth of the Tiber, Lido di Ostia

    • At the river mouth

      The second season films on the beaches and at the Idroscalo.

  • Porto Turistico di Roma

    Porto di Roma, Lido di Ostia, Municipio X

    • Twenty-one days

      With the mayor gone, Samurai has 21 days to buy Ostia seafront land, part owned by the Vatican and part by the Adami family, for the contracts on a tourist port.

    • The marina

      The final season films at the Porto Turistico di Roma.

  • The white line, St Peter’s Square

    Piazza San Pietro at Piazza Pio XII

    • The Curia’s auditor

      Sara Monaschi (Claudia Gerini) audits the finances of the Roman Curia.

  • Via della Conciliazione

    Via della Conciliazione, Borgo

    • Towards St Peter’s

      The second and third seasons film on Via della Conciliazione.

  • The Campidoglio and the Capitoline Museums

    Piazza del Campidoglio 1

    • The museum rooms

      The first season films in the Capitoline Museums.

    • Fifteen days

      The second season runs through the fifteen days before Rome elects a mayor.

  • Palazzo Montecitorio

    Piazza di Montecitorio

    • Parliament

      The second season films at Montecitorio and in Piazza Colonna.

  • Piazza di Pietra

    Piazza di Pietra, Colonna

    • Piazza di Pietra

      The second season films in Piazza di Pietra.

  • Via dei Fori Imperiali

    Via dei Fori Imperiali, Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum

    • The imperial road

      The second season films on the Fori Imperiali and at the Colosseum.

  • The Suburra wall

    Via Tor de’ Conti and Via Baccina, Monti

    • Behind the wall

      Augustus walls his forum off from the crowded Suburra behind it.

  • Palazzo Spada

    Piazza Capo di Ferro 13

    • Palazzo Spada

      The first season films at Palazzo Spada; the second returns.

  • Biblioteca Angelica

    Piazza di Sant’Agostino 8

    • The library

      The first season films in the Biblioteca Angelica.

  • Via Giulia

    Via Giulia, Regola

    • Via Giulia

      The final season films on Via Giulia.

  • The Square Colosseum, EUR

    Quadrato della Concordia, EUR

    • The Square Colosseum

      The final season films at the Colosseo Quadrato in EUR.

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