Time Out Ranks Rome's Multiethnic Rione Above Tokyo, Bogotá and Los Angeles' ChinatownEsquilino, the multiethnic neighborhood clustered around Piazza Vittorio and Termini station, has landed at number 10 on Time Out's 2026 ranking of the world's coolest neighborhoods, published September 16. It's the only Italian entry on a list of 40 destinations spanning Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa and Oceania, and it lands the rione third in Europe overall, behind only Neos Kosmos in Athens and Govanhill in Glasgow.Topping the global list is Jongno 3-ga in Seoul, South Korea, a neighborhood the magazine credits with blending local tradition and contemporary energy against the backdrop of the country's broader global cultural moment. Rounding out the top three are the Ocean District in Rabat, Morocco, and Neos Kosmos in Athens. Esquilino sits just behind Chinatown in Los Angeles, Govanhill in Glasgow, Kitakagaya in Osaka, Chapinero Alto in Bogotá, Koenjia in Tokyo, and a downtown district in St. Catharines, Ontario. Why Time Out Picked Esquilino Every year, Time Out asks its network of local journalists and contributors in cities worldwide to nominate the neighborhood where, in their words, things are actually happening right now. The magazine's own description of Esquilino calls it the multiethnic, cosmopolitan heart of the Italian capital, just steps from Termini station, where Roman tradition and cultures from around the world meet, clash, and ultimately enrich one another in daily life. That daily-life framing is central to how Time Out builds the entire list. According to the magazine's own methodology, 2026's rankings deliberately favor neighborhoods built around genuine, lived experience over conventional tourist attractions: rionale markets, family-run shops, restaurants and street life where visitors can simply arrive, set the guidebook aside, and live the city rather than just photograph it. Notably, many of this year's honorees are downtown or city-center districts, which Time Out reads as a signal that urban life is returning to areas that had emptied out during the pandemic. What Actually Makes Esquilino Distinct Coverage of the ranking pointed to a genuinely unusual mix packed into a relatively small area: live jazz concerts, open-air cinema, ancient Roman ruins sitting beside Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, the Porta Magica, the Auditorium di Mecenate, the San Vito underground archaeological site, and the Accademia di Costume e Moda occupying the space once held by the historic Mas department store. The neighborhood has also become something of a working headquarters for Italian cinema. Filmmakers including Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino have used Esquilino extensively as a filming location, a pattern that's helped shift the area's public image in the collective imagination well beyond its older reputation. A Reputation Rewritten For years, Esquilino carried a reputation tied more to urban decay and petty crime headlines than to cultural cachet, often lumped in with other multiethnic Roman neighborhoods like Torpignattara, Quadraro or Centocelle in casual conversation. Time Out's ranking represents a fairly dramatic reversal of that image, and Roman outlets covering the story have leaned into exactly that contrast, framing the honor less as a symbolic trophy than as international confirmation that the neighborhood has become something genuinely distinct from its old stereotype. That shift comes with a very real economic footnote. Property listings on Immobiliare.it now show homes in Esquilino selling for more than €5,300 per square meter, according to reporting from The Roman Post, a price point that increasingly reflects the neighborhood's rising cultural profile rather than its older, grittier reputation, elegant and unpolished, deeply international and unmistakably Roman, and, as of this year, officially one of the coolest places on earth to actually live rather than just visit. Baloncici / Shutterstock.com

Esquilino, the multiethnic neighborhood clustered around Piazza Vittorio and Termini station, has landed at number 10 on Time Out's 2026 ranking of the world's coolest neighborhoods, published September 16. It's the only Italian entry on a list of 40 destinations spanning Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa and Oceania, and it lands the rione third in Europe overall, behind only Neos Kosmos in Athens and Govanhill in Glasgow. Topping the global list is Jongno 3-ga in Seoul, South Korea, a neighborhood the magazine credits with blending local tradition and contemporary energy against the backdrop of the country's broader global cultural moment. Rounding out the top three are the Ocean District in Rabat, Morocco, and Neos Kosmos in Athens. Esquilino sits just behind Chinatown in Los Angeles, Govanhill in Glasgow, Kitakagaya in Osaka, Chapinero Alto in Bogotá, Koenjia in Tokyo, and a downtown district in St. Catharines, Ontario. Every year, Time Out asks its network of local journalists and contributors in cities worldwide to nominate the neighborhood where, in their words, things are actually happening right now. The magazine's own description of Esquilino calls it the multiethnic, cosmopolitan heart of the Italian capital, just steps from Termini station, where Roman tradition and cultures from around the world meet, clash, and ultimately enrich one another in daily life. That daily-life framing is central to how Time Out builds the entire list. According to the magazine's own methodology, 2026's rankings deliberately favor neighborhoods built around genuine, lived experience over conventional tourist attractions: rionale markets, family-run shops, restaurants and street life where visitors can simply arrive, set the guidebook aside, and live the city rather than just photograph it. Notably, many of this year's honorees are downtown or city-center districts, which Time Out reads as a signal that urban life is returning to areas that had emptied out during the pandemic. Coverage of the ranking pointed to a genuinely unusual mix packed into a relatively small area: live jazz concerts, open-air cinema, ancient Roman ruins sitting beside Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, the Porta Magica, the Auditorium di Mecenate, the San Vito underground archaeological site, and the Accademia di Costume e Moda occupying the space once held by the historic Mas department store. The neighborhood has also become something of a working headquarters for Italian cinema. Filmmakers including Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino have used Esquilino extensively as a filming location, a pattern that's helped shift the area's public image in the collective imagination well beyond its older reputation. For years, Esquilino carried a reputation tied more to urban decay and petty crime headlines than to cultural cachet, often lumped in with other multiethnic Roman neighborhoods like Torpignattara, Quadraro or Centocelle in casual conversation. Time Out's ranking represents a fairly dramatic reversal of that image, and Roman outlets covering the story have leaned into exactly that contrast, framing the honor less as a symbolic trophy than as international confirmation that the neighborhood has become something genuinely distinct from its old stereotype. That shift comes with a very real economic footnote. Property listings on Immobiliare.it now show homes in Esquilino selling for more than €5,300 per square meter, according to reporting from The Roman Post, a price point that increasingly reflects the neighborhood's rising cultural profile rather than its older, grittier reputation, elegant and unpolished, deeply international and unmistakably Roman, and, as of this year, officially one of the coolest places on earth to actually live rather than just visit. Baloncici / Shutterstock.com