Borgo Vecchio (Rome)
Former name(s) | Via Sancta Carriera Sancta Carriera Martyrum |
---|---|
Width | 6.90 m |
Location | Rome, Italy |
Quarter | Borgo |
East end | Piazza Pia |
West end | Piazza Rusticucci |
Construction | |
Demolished | 1936–1940 |
Borgo Vecchio, also named in the Middle Ages Via Sancta, Carriera Sancta (both "Holy road") or Carriera Martyrum ("Martyrs road"), was a road in the city of Rome, Italy, important for historical and architectural reasons. The road was destroyed together with the adjacent quartier in 1936–37 due to the construction of Via della Conciliazione.
Location
Located in the
Denominations
During the Middle Ages the road was called Via Sancta
History
Roman age and Middle Ages
During the
Since the early Middle Ages many sources – starting in the 6th century with Procopius[10] and ending in the 13th century with the author of the Life of Cola di Rienzo[11] – mention a covered passage, the portica, erected to protect from sun and rain the pilgrims going to St. Peter and coming from the city through Ponte Sant'Angelo. These, after entering a gate (later named Porta Castello) could walk through the Borgo of the Saxons (today's Borgo S. Spirito) or run under the Portica or Porticus (named also Porticus Sancti Petri). It is probable that the portico was a path of Roman origin, the Porticus Maior, which had two arches at its ends.[5] According to several scholars, the portico would have been located roughly in the center of today's Via della Conciliazione; according to others, however, it would have had the same layout as the future Borgo Vecchio.[5] An indication in favor of the last hypothesis is Borgo Vecchio's width, which was almost everywhere constant with a value of 6.90 metres (22.6 ft).[12] However, despite the many accounts, during the demolition works for the construction of Via della Conciliazione nothing was found hinting to the existence of a covered passage.[8] It is then possible that as Portica was meant the succession of house porches, a common feature in Roman medieval architecture, which allowed the pilgrims to reach Saint Peter from Ponte Sant'Angelo without walking on open air.[8]
The popes always took great care of this path; Adrian I (r. 772–95) had more than 12,000 blocks of tufa extracted from the Tiber, widening and repairing the road; Paschal I (r. 817–24) and Leo IV (r. 847–55) carried out restorations after the two terrible fires that devastated Borgo; Innocent II (r. 1130–43) renewed the tile roofing of the road.[13]
During the Avignon Papacy the flow of pilgrims to Rome fainted causing Rome and the Borgo to decay. Assuming that the Portica existed, it should have collapsed during this period, and was never restored, since the popes understood well that any covered passage could have been a precious shelter for enemies trying to assault the castle and to reach the bridge.[13] In its place appears in the sources the street called Via Sancta[4] or also, with a term of French origin, Carriera Sancta[5] and Carriera Martyrum.[5][6]
Until the begin of the Renaissance Borgo Vecchio and Borgo Santo Spirito were the only roads which allowed pilgrims coming from the left bank to reach Saint Peter.[5]
Renaissance
In the late 15th century, after the beginning of the Renaissance, two other roads leading to Saint Peter from Ponte Sant'Angelo were built: Borgo Sant'Angelo, also known as Via Sistina after
Due to its diminished importance, the road was less touched than the nearby Borgo Nuovo by the building flurry during the high Renaissance: however, some new buildings were erected in that period also there.[18]
In front of the church of
Another important building was a palazzetto at n. 121–22 erected by Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572–85) as a residence for the staff of the Hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia; it had a rusticated ground floor, windows on the piano nobile with alternate triangular and curved tympanums and an arched attic.[21] It was restored and doubled in 1789 by Giuseppe Valadier on the initiative of Monsignor Francesco Albizzi, precettore of the hospital.[21] The building until its demolition showed above the two doors the coats of arms of Albizzi and the Pope.[18] Its lines (but not the coats of arms) were reproduced in the 4–storey building located at Via della Conciliazione n. 7 at the corner with Via dell'Ospedale.[21]
Not far from piazza Scossacavalli, on the right side of the road, lay the oratory of San Sebastiano a Scossacavalli,[18] a dependency of the nearby church of San Giacomo, whose construction began in 1600 and whose façade remained unfinished.[22]
Behind San Sebastiano the road led to Piazza Scossacavalli, whose southern side hosted
Proceeding further towards Saint Peter, it lay the house of Gaspare Torello, archiater of Pope Alexander VI.[25] At this point, on the south side of the road, in 1565 was built the Palazzo Serristori.[26]
Further west, on the north side, the Cybo, a noble family which reached the papal seat with Pope Innocent VIII (r. 1484–92), erected their houses at the end of the 15th century. In front of them Francesco Armellini Medici, cardinal of San Callisto, let build its palace,[27] which was later bought by the Cesi family. This palace, rebuilt in 1575 by Martino Longhi the Elder, [26] still exists, although mutilated, along Via della Conciliazione.[28]
The last buildings on the south side of the road before its end on piazza Rusticucci were the church of
Baroque and Modern Age
Around 1660, during the reign of
At the beginning of the 19th century, when Rome was part of the First French Empire, the prefect of the city, de Tournon, started the demolition of the spina. Anyway, at the fall of Napoleon only the first house at the east end of the road had been demolished,[32] and after the return of the Pope the previous situation was restored.
At the east end of the spina between Borgo Vecchio and Borgo Nuovo, in 1850 a new building, palazzo Sauve, was erected;
In 1858 at the beginning of the Borghi Pius IX let build by
In 1867, a bomb placed in the Palazzo Serristori (at that time a barrack of the pontifical army) in Borgo Vecchio killed many zuavi (papal soldiers).[36] The perpetrators, Giuseppe Monti and Gaetano Tognetti, two Romans seeking the unification of their city with the Kingdom of Italy, were hanged.[36]
During the 19th century, several buildings of the eastern part of the street until Piazza Scossacavalli underwent restructuring, while the western part could keep its character.[37] At the eve of its disappearance, Borgo Vecchio was a quiet and secluded quarter road, lacking the artistic buildings and the shops of the nearby Borgo Nuovo.[16]
Demolition
Between 1934 and 1936, when the project of Via della Conciliazione was developed, the architects
Notable Buildings and landmarks
- Palazzo Sauve (demolished)
- Palazzo delle Prigioni di Borgo(demolished, elements reused)
- Oratorio di San Sebastiano Scossacavalli (demolished)
- Palazzo Cesi-Armellini (partially demolished)
- Palazzo Serristori
- San Lorenzo in Piscibus (partially demolished)
- Palazzo Alicorni (demolished and rebuilt)
References
- ^ a b Delli 1988, p. 199.
- ^ Cambedda 1990, p. 47.
- ^ Delli 1988, p. 194.
- ^ a b Borgatti 1926, p. 291.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gigli 1990, p. 20.
- ^ a b Castagnoli et al. 1958, p. 363.
- ^ a b c Delli 1988, p. 193.
- ^ a b c Castagnoli et al. 1958, p. 241.
- ^ Gigli 1990, p. 9.
- ^ Borgatti 1926, p. 59.
- ^ Borgatti 1926, p. 60.
- ^ Borgatti 1926, p. 61.
- ^ a b Gigli 1990, p. 21.
- ^ Gigli 1990, p. 22.
- ^ Gigli 1990, p. 25.
- ^ a b Cambedda 1990, p. 61-2.
- ^ Gnoli 1939, p. 40, sub voce.
- ^ a b c Borgatti 1926, p. 159.
- ^ Cambedda 1990, p. 58.
- ^ Gigli 1990, p. 130.
- ^ a b c Gigli 1990, p. 88.
- ^ a b Gigli 1992, p. 18.
- ^ Borgatti 1926, p. 162.
- ^ Borgatti 1926, p. 163.
- ^ Borgatti 1926, p. 164.
- ^ a b Castagnoli et al. 1958, p. 419.
- ^ a b c Borgatti 1926, p. 165.
- ^ a b c Benevolo 2004, p. 86.
- ^ Gigli 1992, p. 136.
- ^ Gigli 1992, p. 138.
- ^ Gigli 1992, p. 154.
- ^ a b Gigli 1990, p. 31.
- ^ a b c Gigli 1990, p. 84.
- ^ a b c d e Gigli 1990, p. 72.
- ^ Delli 1988, p. 604.
- ^ a b Gigli 1992, p. 102.
- ^ Cambedda 1990, p. 57.
- ^ Gigli 1990, p. 78.
- ^ Benevolo 2004, p. 31.
- ^ Gigli 1992, p. 74-78.
- ^ Gigli 1990, p. 33.
Sources
- Borgatti, Mariano (1926). Borgo e S. Pietro nel 1300 - 1600 - 1925 (in Italian). Roma: Federico Pustet.
- Ceccarelli, Giuseppe (Ceccarius) (1938). La "Spina" dei Borghi (in Italian). Roma: Danesi.
- Gnoli, Umberto (1939). Topografia e toponomastica di Roma medioevale e moderna (in Italian). Roma: Staderini.
- Castagnoli, Ferdinando; Cecchelli, Carlo; Giovannoni, Gustavo; Zocca, Mario (1958). Topografia e urbanistica di Roma (in Italian). Bologna: Cappelli.
- Delli, Sergio (1988). Le strade di Roma (in Italian). Roma: Newton & Compton.
- Gigli, Laura (1990). Guide rionali di Roma (in Italian). Vol. Borgo (I). Fratelli Palombi Editori, Roma. ISSN 0393-2710.
- Gigli, Laura (1992). Guide rionali di Roma (in Italian). Vol. Borgo (II). Fratelli Palombi Editori, Roma. ISSN 0393-2710.
- Cambedda, Anna (1990). La demolizione della Spina dei Borghi (in Italian). Fratelli Palombi Editori, Roma.
- Benevolo, Leonardo (2004). San Pietro e la città di Roma (in Italian). Laterza, Bari. ISBN 8842072362.