Via della Conciliazione

Coordinates: 41°54′08.28″N 12°27′43.20″E / 41.9023000°N 12.4620000°E / 41.9023000; 12.4620000
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Via della Conciliazione
A view from ground level of the Via della Conciliazione. Note that the dome of the Basilica is not centered, as Piacentini chose instead to centre on the obelisk, which had been moved on the orders of Sixtus V.
Map
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LocationRome, Italy
Coordinates41°54′08.28″N 12°27′43.20″E / 41.9023000°N 12.4620000°E / 41.9023000; 12.4620000

Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation

Palazzo dei Penitenzieri and the Palazzo dei Convertendi, and the churches of Santa Maria in Traspontina and Santo Spirito in Sassia
.

Despite being one of the few major thoroughfares in Rome able to cope with a high volume of traffic without congestion,

Saint Peter's Basilica
remained a maze of densely packed structures overhanging narrow side-streets and alleyways.

Previous plans

A 1776 concept for an open V-shaped boulevard.

Plans were drawn up several times over the years for the construction of a major link between the

cardinals' proposal to demolish all the buildings between the Borgo Nuovo and the Borgo Vecchio for a greater and longer vista to the church" would be infeasible due to inordinately high expropriation costs and vested property interests.[7]

Saint Peter's Square
and the area now occupied by the Via della Conciliazione, taken c. 1900.
Saint Peter's Basilica
in 1946.
Saint Peter's Basilica
, as it appeared in 2007.
View from Via della Conciliazione to Saint Peter's Basilica, as it appeared in 2007.

Further momentum was lost when Gian 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 maintained medieval 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 the

Lateran treaty
of 1929.

Mussolini and Rome

Dictator

perspective when facing the Basilica. The wings of those buildings closest to the square would be preserved to form a propylaea, blocking the greater portion of the Vatican 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]

Construction

Demolition of the spina of Borgo began with Mussolini's symbolic strike of the first building with a

Palazzo dei Penitenzieri, Palazzo Serristori, and Palazzo 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 the

Via dell'Impero through Rome's ancient imperial remains. His plan was to transform Rome into a monument to Italian fascism.[16]

funeral of Pope John Paul II
.

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 of Augustus.

Benito Mussolini[17]

Construction of the road continued long after

Jubilee of 1950.[4]

Today

Via della conciliazione at night.

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 the

funeral 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.

See also

  • Index of Vatican City-related articles

References

Notes

  1. ^ The name finally settled upon for the project was chosen by journalist Franco Franchi after World War II; Delli, Sergio (1975). Le strade di Roma. Rome: Newton & Compton. p. sub vocem.
  2. ^ Microsoft; Nokia (June 6, 2012). "Via della Conciliazione" (Map). Bing Maps. Microsoft. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  3. ^ McClendon, p. 34.
  4. ^ a b Cutler, Teresa. "Via Della Conciliazione". LifeInItaly.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
  5. ^ a b Kirk, p. 1.
  6. ^ McClendon, p. 36.
  7. ^ a b Kirk, p. 2
  8. ^ McClendon, pp. 36, 42
  9. ^ McClendon, pp. 37, 44
  10. JSTOR 989049
    .
  11. ^ Guerzoni, Giuseppe (1882). Garibaldi: con documenti editi e inediti. Vol. 11. Florence. p. 485.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ McClendon, pp. 38–39
  13. S2CID 144244380
    .
  14. ^ Kirk, p. 9.
  15. ^ Kirk, p. 16.
  16. doi:10.1111/j.0435-3684.1998.00042.x
    .
  17. ^ Scritti e discorsi di Benito Mussolini. Vol. 5. Milan: Hoepli. 1934. pp. 243–45.

Sources

  • Kirk, T (December 2006). "Framing St. Peter's: urban planning in Fascist Rome". The Art Bulletin: 1–16.
  • McClendon, Charles B. (1989). "The History of the Site of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome". Perspecta. 25: 34–65.
    JSTOR 1567138
    .

External links
Preceded by
Via del Corso 		Landmarks of Rome
Via della Conciliazione 		Succeeded by
Via dei Fori Imperiali

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