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 Interactive map of Via della Conciliazione | |
| Location | Rome,Italy |
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| Coordinates | 41°54′08.28″N12°27′43.20″E / 41.9023000°N 12.4620000°E /41.9023000; 12.4620000 |
Via della Conciliazione ("Road of the Conciliation"[1]) is a street in theRione ofBorgo withinRome,Italy. Roughly 500 metres (1,600 ft) in length,[2] it connectsSaint Peter's Square to theCastel Sant'Angelo on the western bank of theTiber River. The road was constructed between 1936 and 1950, and it is the primary access route to the Square. In addition to shops, it is bordered by a number of historical and religious buildings – including thePalazzo Torlonia, thePalazzo dei Penitenzieri and thePalazzo dei Convertendi, and the churches ofSanta Maria in Traspontina andSanto Spirito in Sassia.
Despite being one of the few major thoroughfares in Rome able to cope with a high volume of traffic without congestion,[3] it is the subject of much ire both within the Roman community and among historical scholars due to the circumstances under which it was constructed.[4][5] The area around the church was rebuilt several times following the variousSacks of Rome, and again after having deteriorated due to the loss of prosperity resulting from thePapacy's relocation to Avignon during the 14th century. Through all of these reconstructions, the area in front of the shortcourtyard ofSaint Peter's Basilica remained a maze of densely packed structures overhanging narrow side-streets and alleyways.
Plans were drawn up several times over the years for the construction of a major link between theVatican City and the centre of Rome; the number of submissions increasing dramatically with the onset of theItalian Renaissance. The first design was submitted byLeone Battista Alberti during the reign ofPope Nicholas V,[6] and formed one of the two perennial designs proposed for the area. Alberti envisioned an "open" plan, consisting of a single voluminous V-shaped boulevard, widest atSt. Peter's Basilica itself and tapering as it approached theTiber. The other scheme of designs submitted by architects was a "closed" plan that would consist of two roads arching outwards in anellipse, with the Tiber and the Square at opposite ends. Proponents of a closed plan would usually suggest that the space between the two causeways be separated by acolonnade, or by a row of inhabited structures whose designs would be scrutinised and approved by architects employed by theHoly See. Variations on both themes were submitted time and time again. Proponents of an "open" plan included such architects asGiovanni Battista Nolli andCosimo Morelli.[7][8] A number of other architects, such asCarlo Fontana, and at least one Pope (Sixtus V) favoured a "closed" design, with a number of streets radiating from the central square, maintaining the "spina", or spine, of the structures ofBorgo directly between the square and the Tiber.[9] Neither approach moved beyond sketches and blueprints. Both open and closed designs were considered by the Vatican, but were ultimately discarded for reasons of expense. A thorough examination of the costs of constructing a thoroughfare was made by the Vatican-approvedSt. Peter's Building Commission in 1651. Their conclusion was that "thecardinals' proposal to demolish all the buildings between theBorgo Nuovo and theBorgo Vecchio for a greater and longer vista to the church" would be infeasible due to inordinately high expropriation costs and vested property interests.[7]
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Further momentum was lost whenGian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned to redesign the terrace in front of the Basilica in 1656. After discarding several sketches, Bernini settled on a colossal open space in the shape of an ellipse. With the potential expense of clearing Borgo, Bernini decided instead to make use of the warren of poorly maintainedmedieval buildings to obscure any view of the Vatican structures from any significant distance. In this way, pilgrims emerged from the relative darkness of the city into the vast open space and grandeur of the Square and its surrounding buildings – a sight calculated to inspire awe in first-time visitors to the Holy See's seat of power.[5] Bernini had originally planned to demolish a square roughly 100 m to a side directly in front of the square, filling the space with a third colonnade (or "terzo braccio") to match the two still standing today. This would afford a longer vantage point to allow visitors a better viewing angle of the new Basilica. The death of his patron,Pope Alexander VII, put a halt to Bernini's work. The third set of columns was abandoned, and Bernini's piazza remained open-ended and incomplete.[10]
From the final major reconstruction of Borgo in the 15th century, the site which the Via della Conciliazione now covers remained occupied by residential, religious, and historical buildings for nearly 500 years. The final impetus behind the road's construction was primarily political. Borgo, along with the rest of thePapal States outside of the Vatican itself, was taken by theKingdom of Italy during theItalian unification in the 19th Century – leading toPope Pius IX's declaration that he had become aprisoner in the Vatican and the formation of theRoman Question. For the next 59 years, the Popes refused to leave the Vatican, in order to avoid any appearance of accepting the authority wielded by the Italian government over Rome as a whole. Initially, parts of the Italian government welcomed this, expecting the influence of the Papacy to fade to the point that enough political support could be gained to abolish it altogether.[11] However, this failed to come to pass, and eventually a compromise acceptable to both states was reached in theLateran treaty of 1929.
DictatorBenito Mussolini, who had signed the accord on behalf of the King, resurrected the idea of a grand thoroughfare symbolically connecting the Vatican to the heart of the Italian capital. To fulfil this vision, Mussolini turned to the prominentFascist architectsMarcello Piacentini andAttilio Spaccarelli. Drawing inspiration from a number of the designs submitted by Carlo Fontana, Piacentini came up with a plan that would preserve the best aspects of both the "open" and "closed" designs – a grand boulevard that would nonetheless obscure the majority of the Vatican buildings per Bernini's intentions. The vast colonnaded street would require theclearance of the whole "spina" of Borgo placed in between the Basilica and the Castle. Since thefacades of the buildings lining this space did not align perfectly, in order to create the illusion of a perfectly straight causewaytraffic islands would be erected along both sides, with rows ofobelisks leading towards the Square, doubling aslampposts. These were also intended to reduce the effect that the funnel-shaped design would have onperspective when facing the Basilica. The wings of those buildings closest to the square would be preserved to formpropylaea, blocking the greater portion of theVatican City from approaching visitors and framing the Square and Basilica at the head of a grand open space that would allow for easy vehicular access.[12][13]
Demolition of the spina of Borgo began with Mussolini's symbolic strike of the first building with apickaxe on 29 October 1936 and continued for twelve months. Even at the time, the demolition proved controversial, with many Borgo residents displaced en masse to settlements ("borgate") outside of the city.[14] Among the buildings dismantled, either totally or in part, and rebuilt in another position, were thePalazzo dei Convertendi,the house of Giacomo Bartolomeo da Brescia, theChurch of the Nunziatina, and the palacesRusticucci-Accoramboni anddegli Alicorni (the latter had been already demolished in 1931). Other buildings, including thepalace of the Governatore di Borgo and the Churches ofSan Giacomo Scossacavalli andSant'Angelo al Corridore, were not rebuilt after their destruction. Facing into the cleared area are five other historical buildings, thePalazzo Giraud Torlonia, the church ofSanta Maria in Traspontina, thePalazzo dei Penitenzieri,Palazzo Serristori, andPalazzo Cesi (which was mutilated).[15]
The construction of the road was only a small feature in the reconstruction of Rome ordered by Mussolini, which ranged from the restoration of theCastel Sant'Angelo, the clearance of theMausoleum of Augustus, to the vastly more complicated site of theVia dell'Impero through Rome's ancient imperial remains. His plan was to transform Rome into a monument toItalian fascism.[16]
In five years, Rome must appear marvellous to all the peoples of the world; vast, orderly, powerful, as it was in the time of the first empire ofAugustus.
Construction of the road continued long afterMussolini's death and the abolition of Italian Fascism. Theobelisks along the road were installed in time for theJubilee of 1950.[4]
Since its completion, the road has acted as the primary access point to St. Peter's Square, and by extension to the Vatican City itself. At times, such as during thefuneral of Pope John Paul II, it has acted as an extension to the square itself, allowing a greater number of visitors to attend functions conducted there.
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Media related toVia della Conciliazione at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Via del Corso | Landmarks of Rome Via della Conciliazione | Succeeded by Via dei Fori Imperiali |
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