The vernacular language of Rome, of which the short Commodilla catacomb inscription (9th century CE) might be considered the earliest attestation,[1] is believed to have been regarded as low-prestige,[2]: 10  as can be seen in the 11th-century Saint Clement and Sisinnius inscription, featuring a dialogue wherein the saint is given higher moral ground by juxtaposing his liturgical language with the common speech employed by Sisinnius and his servants.

The status of the dialect as low-class was consolidated in the 1300s, when Dante Alighieri described it in his Latin essay De vulgari eloquentia as the worst one in Italy, a tristiloquium (“offensive speech”),[3] linking it to the uncouthness of the people, criticizing their custom of addressing even people commonly perceived as socially superior by using the informal pronoun tu, instead of formal voi[3] (something that had already been remarked by Salimbene di Adam in his chronicle,[4] written twenty-some years before).

[5] During the last decades of the 14th century, Romanesco came to be perceived, even among people of high social status, as having higher prestige than before, and started appearing in votive and burial inscriptions, as well as in notarial documents.

[8] The path towards a progressive Tuscanization of the dialect can be observed in the works of the major Romanesco writers and poets of the past two centuries: Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791–1863), whose sonetti romaneschi represent the most important work in this dialect and an eternal monument to 19th century Roman people; Cesare Pascarella (1858–1940); Giggi Zanazzo (1860–1911); and Carlo Alberto Salustri (1871–1950), nicknamed Trilussa.

[citation needed] Romanesco pronunciation and spelling differs from Standard Italian in these cases: Ma nun c'è lingua come la romana Pe' dì una cosa co' ttanto divario Che ppare un magazzino de dogana.