Roma fans outnumber Lazio supporters in Rome by 3 to 1.
A new map of Rome showing the areas most populated by football fans of local clubs AS Roma and SS Lazio aims to give a definitive answer to which neighbourhoods are most associated with the rival teams.
The map is the result of research undertaken by
Filippo Celata, a professor of economic geography at
La Sapienza University, and
Gabriele Pinto, a doctoral student of social and economic sciences.
The two used data from Facebook and Instagram to develop a map of Rome that shows the areas with the most Romanisti and Laziali.
"We used the same survey systems that apply to the elections and took into consideration data on likes, clicks, comments, search terms of users as well as advertising on social networks", Celata told Rome online newspaper RomaToday, adding that some of the findings "amazed us".
In a city where football is taken extremely seriously, the map is being studied assiduously.
First of all it reveals that the ratio between Romanisti and Laziali in the capital city is about 3 to 1 but lower if the range is extended to the entire Lazio region: for every Lazio fan there are 2.3 Roma fans.
Popular legend has always dictated that the central-southern areas of the city are home to more Romanisti while a higher percentage of Lazio fans live in north Rome.
This is borne out to some extent by the new map however there were a few surprises along the way.
Romanista hoods
Predominantly Romanista neighbourhoods include areas bordering on the Termini train station including Esquilino, S. Lorenzo, Via XX Settembre, up to Pigneto, followed by the area of the eastern suburbs of Torre Angela, Tor Bella Monaca, Tor Vergata.
The historic centre is also home to a prevalence of romanisti from Celio to Trastevere as well as the Roma stronghold of Testaccio and, "more suprisingly" Prati.
There are a large number of Romanisti living in Salario, Tuscolano, Quadraro, Centocelle, and "practically the entire eastern quadrant, up to its outermost edges."
"A surprise is Primavalle, which does not figure among the neighbourhoods with the greatest relative presence of Romanisti", the researchers said.
Laziali areas
Areas with the most Lazio fans include Primavalle, Trionfale and Balduina to the north of Rome and S. Basilio in the eastern outskirts.
The prevalence of Laziali in south-western areas of the capital including Ostiense and Portuense was described as "noteworthy"by researchers whose work was published by Roma Ricerca Roma and previewed by Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
"There do not seem to be any areas of the city where Lazio fans are in the majority."
Noting that "the most Lazio neighbourhoods in relative terms are all decidedly peripheral" - Ciampino, Ostia, Settecamini, Bufalotta, Fidene, Salaria-Serpentara, Labaro and S. Basilio - researchers concluded that "the most evident pattern does not seem to be so much the north-south one, but the central-periphery one."