Suburra (usually spelled
Subura in antiquity) was an area of the city of
Rome,
Italy located below the Murus Terreus on the
Carinae. In
ancient Roman times, it was a crowded lower-class area that was also notorious as a
red-light district. It lies in the dip between the southern end of the
Viminal and the western end of the
Esquiline hills. Most of its inhabitants lived in
insulae, tall apartment buildings with
tabernae on the ground floor.