Piazza del Popolo | |
|---|---|
| City square | |
 The Piazza del Popolo. | |
| Location | Rome, Italy |
 Interactive map of Piazza del Popolo | |
| Coordinates:41°54′39″N12°28′35″E / 41.9107°N 12.4763°E /41.9107; 12.4763 | |
Piazza del Popolo is a largeurban square inRome. The name in modernItalian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from thepoplars (populus inLatin,pioppo in Italian) after which the church ofSanta Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.
The piazza lies inside the northern gate in theAurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia ofancient Rome, and now called thePorta del Popolo. This was the starting point of theVia Flaminia, the road toAriminum (modern-dayRimini) and the most important route to the north. At the same time, before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place for publicexecutions, the last of which took place in 1826.
The layout of the piazza today was designed inneoclassical style between 1811 and 1822 by the architectGiuseppe Valadier,[1] He removed a modest fountain byGiacomo Della Porta, erected in 1572,[2] and demolished some insignificant buildings and haphazard high screening walls to form twosemicircles, reminiscent ofBernini's plan forSt. Peter's Square, replacing the original crampedtrapezoidal square centred on the Via Flaminia.
Valadier's Piazza del Popolo, however, incorporated the verdure of trees as an essential element; he conceived his space in a third dimension, expressed in the building of theviale that leads up to the balustraded overlook from the Pincio (above, right).
AnEgyptianobelisk ofSety I (later erected byRameses II) fromHeliopolis stands in the centre of the Piazza. Three sides of the obelisk were carved during the reign of Sety I and the fourth side, under Rameses II. The obelisk, known as theFlaminio Obelisk or thePopolo Obelisk, is the second-oldest and one of the tallestobelisks in Rome (some 24 m high, or 36 m including itsplinth). The obelisk was brought to Rome in 1 BC by order ofAugustus and originally set up in theCircus Maximus. It was re-erected here in the piazza by the architect-engineerDomenico Fontana in 1589 as part of the urban plan ofSixtus V. The piazza also formerly contained a central fountain, which was moved to thePiazza Nicosia in 1818, when fountains, in the form of Egyptian-style lions, were added around the base of the obelisk.[3]
Looking from the north (illustration, right), three streets branch out from the piazza into the city, forming the so-called "trident" (il Tridente): theVia del Corso in the centre; theVia del Babuino to the left (opened in 1525 as theVia Paolina) and theVia di Ripetta (opened byLeo X in 1518 as theVia Leonina) to the right. Thetwin churches (thechiese gemelle) ofSanta Maria dei Miracoli (1681) andSanta Maria in Montesanto (1679), begun byCarlo Rainaldi and completed byBernini andCarlo Fontana, define the junctions of the roads. Close scrutiny of the twin churches reveals that they are not mere copies of one another, as they would have been in aNeoclassical project, but vary in their details, offering variety within their symmetrical balance inBaroque fashion.
The central street, now known as the Via del Corso, was the ancient Via Lata, and to the north it links with the ancient Roman road, the Via Flaminia, beyond the city gate and southwards, to the Piazza Venezia (formerly the Piazza San Marco), theCapitol and theforum. The Via di Ripetta leads past theMausoleum of Augustus to the RiverTiber, where the Baroque riverside landing called thePorto di Ripetta was located until it was destroyed in the late 19th century. The Via del Babuino ("Baboon"), linking toPiazza di Spagna, takes its name from a grotesque sculpture ofSilenus that gained the popular name of "the Baboon".
To the north of the piazza stands thePorta del Popolo, beyond which lies thePiazzale Flaminio and the start of the Via Flaminia. The gateway was reworked to give its current appearance byBernini forPope Alexander VII in 1655, to welcome QueenChristina of Sweden to Rome following her conversion toRoman Catholicism and herabdication.[4] Opposite Santa Maria del Popolo stands aCarabinieri station, with a dome reflecting that of the church.
In hisurbanistic project, Valadier constructed the matchingpalazzi that provide a frame for the scenography of the twin churches and hold down two corners of his composition. He positioned a third palazzo to face these and matched a low structure screening the flank ofSanta Maria del Popolo, with its fine Early Renaissance façade, together holding down the two northern corners. Valadier outlined this newly defined oval forecourt to the city of Rome with identical sweeps of wall, forming curvingexedra-like spaces. Behind the western one, a screen of trees masks the unassorted fronts of buildings beyond.
The aqueduct carrying the Acqua Vergine Nuovo was completed in the 1820s, and its water provided the opportunity for fountains and their basins that offered the usual public water supply for therione or urban district. Ever since the Renaissance such terminal fountains also provided an occasion for the grand terminal water show called in Rome amostra or a show. "What makes a fountain amostra is not essentially its size or splendor, but its specific designation as the fountain that is a public memorial to the whole achievement of the aqueduct."[5] Valadier had planned fountains in the upper tier of the Pincio slope, but these were not carried out, in part for lack of water.[6]
Fountains by Giovanni Ceccarini (1822–23), with matching compositions of a central figure flanked by two attendant figures, stand on each side of the piazza to the east and west, flanked by neoclassical statues ofThe Seasons (1828).[7] TheFontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune)[8] stands on the west side,Neptune with histrident is accompanied by twotritons.Rome between theTiber and theAniene on the east side, against the steep slope of the Pincio, represents the terminalmostra of the aqueduct.Dea Roma armed with lance and helmet, and in front is theshe-wolf feedingRomulus and Remus.[6]
At the center of the piazza is theFontana dell' Obelisco: a group of four minifountains, each comprising a lion on a stepped plinth, surround the obelisk.
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Valadier's masterstroke was in linking the piazza with the heights of thePincio, thePincian Hill of ancient Rome, which overlooked the space from the east. He swept away informally terraced gardens that belonged to the Augustinian monastery connected with Santa Maria del Popolo. In its place he created a carriage drive that doubled back upon itself and pedestrian steps leading up beside awaterfall to thePincio park, where a balustraded lookout, supported by a triple-arched nymphaeum is backed by a wide gravelled opening set on axis with the piazza below; formally plantedbosquets of trees flank the open space. The planted Pincio in turn provides a link to theVilla Borghese gardens.
Before its restoration and conversion into apedestrian zone in 1997–1998, the Piazza del Popolo was often choked withtraffic and parked cars.[9]
Media related toPiazza del Popolo (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by Piazza d'Aracoeli | Landmarks of Rome Piazza del Popolo | Succeeded by Piazza della Minerva |
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