Romein the Age ofBerniniVOLUME I

From the election of Sixtus Vto the death of Urban VIII

BY

TORGIL MAGNUSONThe Swedish Institute in Rome

ALMQVIST & WIKSELLINTERNATIONALSTOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

HUMANITIES PRESS

N.J., U.S.A.

S· Vand Clement VIII16 txt",

The new streets of Sixtus Vradiating from the Basilica ofS. Maria Maggiore, repres.emedby the Madonna in the middle.Engraving by Bordino. (Photo:Vatican Library.)

Urban Development

All this time, while stamping OUtbrigandage with unrivalled energy, reform-ing the Curia and building new aqueducts, Sixtus V was also embarking on aprogramme 01 urban development without parallel in any other Europeancity. Several new Streets were to cross the sparsely populated parts of thetown inside the Aurelian Wall on the Quirinal, the Esquiline and the OppianHills"

The first to be built was the long straight thoroughlare from S. MariaMaggiore to Trinit' dei Monti On Pincio, which was begun in the summer of1585 and which was open to traffic by the autumn of the following year. JJ It~;u named Via Felice after the pope; the modern name Via Sistina-for thepIeceof road" the Trinit' dei Monti end-first appeared after 1870. The roadrum absolUtelystraight and without regard to the nature of the terrain fromthe a~Je of the basilica, Over the Quirinal and steeply down the north side ofthe hdl. to nse gendy towards Pincio at the other end. Via Felice was alsoexte?ded beYond S. Maria Maggiore as far as S. Croce in Gerusalemme--making a highway of almost three kilometres.

From the area by S. Maria Maggiore a road was built leading to the basilica01 . Lorenlo fuori le Mura, and another-Via Merulana-which Gregory

Sixtus V and Clement VIl I 17

Rome at the time of Sixtus V, showing plans for urban renewal. Thick lines indicatestreets actually built, doned lines show some of those planned.

XIII had planned to run from S. Maria Maggiore to the Lateran, was nowcompleted. From S. Maria Maggiore Sixtus also started building the presentVia Panisperna in the direction of Trajan's Column, but the last link had to be,abandoned, partly because the level dropped so steeply but also because themighty ruins of Trajan '5 Forum lay in its path. A similarly straight road ledfrom the Lateran to the Colosseum, replacing the old medieval thoroughfare.A street was also planned from the Colosseum towards the Quirinal Palace-the present Via degli Annibaldi and Via dei Serpenti-but this was not

built until larer.:"It was easy to carve out these avenues and to build them broad and straight,

since they ran largely through areas which had been almost destitute of housessince the early Middle Ages. In the sixteenth century the landscape consistedof little besides gardens, vineyards and allottnents, and the ubiquitous ancientruins. Now everything changed, and the streets opened the surrounding areasfor new building. Substantial tax relief and other privileges were granted topeople prepared to live there." But the settlement of the hilly areas was totake much longer than Sixtus V could ever have anticipated) and for centuriesthe Romans continued to live in cramped proximity with one another in the

18 St,"ltfS IIand lement V/I/

ancient and Swamp)' area of rhe M' I31l1pUS 3rtrus as r ley h,ll: been doing evervince th" Middle Ages.

But the devel pments p 'a' . d b S' V .. 'c.· . I )CClC Y rxt us were even nlllrc extensIve than

thi;. For InStance, One avenue was to lead from the Lateran to S. Paolo fuorile Mura and another. in the pposite direction, to S. Croce 111 Gerusalemme;yet another was to run from the Colosseum to the Circus Maxirnus and theA ventine, Or was the pope Content wirh planning roads through areas thatoffered no obsracles; he was also considering an extensive reorganisation of.'~le Street nerw rk in the ancienr, densely populated areas around the Tiber.I hus a highway was to lead from S. Andrea delle Fram-, at the time still anin 'ignificant little chapel, to Via della Scrofa, cutting across the Corso at anght angle and forming rhe base of a triangle with Via di Riperra and Via delBabuino. Sixtus planned a road to run from the Baths of Iliocletian to S.Virale, c rresponding to rhe eastern stretch of the present Via Nazionale,which was not actually built until the 18605. Ar Ripetra a bridge was to havebeen built over the Tiber, from which a road would have crossed the swampyand comp]etely unpopulated prati-rhe meadows round Castel Sant'Angelo-r some\vhere near the Belvedere in the Vatican. Prari has since becomethe name of this area, which Was not developed until after 18?)O.A cOlltemporary Source tells us of other plans even bolder than these,

among rhem a srrcer Fron, the Palazzo della Cancelleria to the Cesu, possiblyextending as far as Trajan's Column, and another from Porta Salana to PonteSisto.

37

Both these would have involved extensive expropriations and wouldhave been very costly to carry Out. But who would have been able to restrainSixtus if he had lived long enough' In any case, the striking similarity betweenthese plans and those which were put into effect after 1870 surely suggests thatSixtus V was far ahead of his times.

Sixtus also intended to build a canal from the Aniene to the Baths ofDiocletian, but for this enterprise-as for many of his road projects-time ranout too Soon. It 'would have been possible to transport by this canal all thetravenine from the Tivoli area which was needed for the vast buildingprogramme; it would also have made it easier to supply water to the unpopu-lated, hilly pans of the to\\'11.38 But Sixtus launched many other measuresintended to bring new life to these areas. A cattle market which had formerlybeen held once a week in the Campo dei Fiori was transferred to the broadopen space by the Baths of Diocletian , so was an annual market which was ofgreat importance to the whole of the surrounding Campagna. The open spacein from of the exedra of rhe Baths was also cleared, but it can hardly behonoured with the name of piazza since no buildings surrounded it. 39A great deal was done to restore and generally improve the existing streets

in the older districts of Rome. Thus is was decreed that all wooden extensionsprojecting over the street and hindering the traffic should be removed, andpeople were forbidden to hang their washing out across the streets."?There were also plans for regulating the Tiber and preventing the frequent

floods. It was recognised that the bridges hampered the free flow of the water,

Sixtus V and Clement V II I 19

Castel Sant'Angeio with thesixteenth- century bastionsand the Ponte Sant'Angelo(detail from Tempesta'smap of 1593).

particularly the Ponte Sant'Angelo which at that time had only three arches.Sixtus now planned to deflect some of the water round the bridge and theCastel Sant' Angelo by means of a system of broad moats, and a new river bedwas to run straight into this system starting from the river bend beneathMonte Mario and crossing the prati. Afrer the floods of 1589 the pope evenreconsidered certain plans that had been discussed in the 1560s during thepontificate of Pius IV, whereby the Tiber was to be drawn off in a completelynew river bed circling the city of Rome from the Ponte Milvio to Maglianabelow Trastevere. It was estimated that even the more modest plans for moatsround Castel Sant'Angelo and the canal across the prati would cost at least200000 scudi."! This was too much for the papal finances, however, andnothing had come of any of the plans by the time Sixtus V died. No mentionwas ever made of building quays along the river inside the town.The ,most of the new avenues built during Sixtus. V's reign r~diated fro~ I'

S. Mana Magiore and formed an abstract pattern paYIng no attenuon to the he I

of the land. The system undeniably recalls the ideal towns of the Renaissance,l,which may indeed have provided prototypes. If the whole plan had beenrealised, there would have been several similar points with avenues radiatingfrom the Colosseum, the Lateran, Trajan's Column and so on. In other wordsmany of Rome's major monuments, Christian and classical, would have beenconnected by straight thoroughfares. Sixrus V's grand plan was to establish Iconvenient links between all the main basilicas, so that Rome could functionefficiently as the greatest place of pilgnmage inthe Christian world.

42the idea \

of the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches had recently been revived bySt~Philir-Neri and his followers, and It was not uncommon for the pope andseveral of his cardinals to be seen among the pilgrims. But this was not all.There was a deeply felt ambition during the Counter-Reformation to ernpha- I I

sise the dignity of Rome as the capital city of Catholic Christendom, and thisgave a religious dimension to Roman urban development that was unique tothe city. The impact of the new roads on communications was immediate, andpersons of high rank now began to travel by coach instead of riding on

horseback.

There were many conservative features in ixtus V's develgramme; his prototypes were traditional, stemming from Renaling. The first long, straight thoroughfare had been buih in 1499VI, running from Castel Sant'Angelo across the Borge Leonin-entrance of the Vatican Palace. Some years later Julius II buill (another absolutely straight road. Three avenues radiating [rPopolo had been built during the first half of the sixteenth centuRiperra along the Tiber--originally intended to be [he main ththis area-and then Via del Babuino completed under Paul III athe Piazza di Spagna.4J Thus an entirely new and influentialemerged with a system of three radiating avenues; in [he present ceCorso, the Via Flaminia of antiquity, that provided the 'Vain centrPaul II I later had the system repeated on a smaller scale on the 501of Ponte Sant' Angelo. Thus Sixtus V had models close at hand forof roads round S. Maria Maggiore. Legally and administrative],ground was already prepared: Sixtus' immediate predecessor Gn

" had issued a Bull in 1574, Quae publice utilia, which regulated iright to expropriate buildings "for the common well" when newto be constructed or new palaces built." This Bull was basedstatutes laid down by Sixtus IV in the 1480s.The novelty of Sixrus V's urban developments was that wh. earlier

roads were limited to the flat area around the Tiber, the new on 'SS thehilly regions; regardless of the steep Inclines, they cleave their \ 'P anddown the ancient hills. But the chief Innovation wa the monumen •ale onwhich everything was planned and carried out. If Sixtus V had I 'a fewyears longer, he would probably have tran formed the whole of Ro record,ing to his projected town plan. 0 other European city could boas .ythingremotely like this. Although Its population wa little more than 90, . Romeled the field in urban development; Paris may have been three time ,large,but it was still surprisingly rural and hardly looked like a capiral C'V at all,while London with it 10000 inhabitant was simply a chaotic conglomera-tion of small villages.Sixtu V's roads determined the evolution of Rome for several centuries.

Within the area bounded by the Aurellan Wall they provided the keleton of alogical street network, and later pope had no need to Initiate any majoralterations during the seventeenth and eighteemh centuries, Ince ixtus V hadbeen so Far .head of hi time. Indeed, he largely determined the Way the towndeveloped and the way its traffic was or ani ed unril the grand projects underM ussolini and the development explo ion after 195 .Sixrus V is generally iven per onal credit for thi exten ive road pro-

gramme, probabI~ with ju. ti(jcati~n. BUl "?"." leut of the honour shouldcertainly go to his favourite architect, Domeni 0 Fontana. iXIUS, with hisboundless energy and visionary nair, w pre umably behind the basic COn-ception. But Domenico Fontana, who w.u not origin~lIytrained as an archi-tect and was certainly not 10 be: compared wuh gcmuse such as Leon Battista

20 Six/us V and Clement VI/I

-nr pro-t: think-exanderre mainGiulia,rrta del.t Via diifare in.ding torn hadwas thellghway.'rem side..' patterntoo, the"y XIIIctail theds werelim on

Sixtus V and Clement VII f 21

The moving of the Vatican obelisk in 1586. Fresco in Salone Sistine, Vatican Library.

(Alinari.)

Alberti and Bramante, was nonetheless the man who put the papal ideas intopractice. The traditional and conservative elements included in the develop-ment programme are also typical of his own architecture, as we shall see later,

Linked to the concept of the long, straight road or avenues was the idea of 'Ierecting an antique obelisk surmounted by a cross to provide a dramatic focusat the far end of a thoroughfare. Sixtus introduced this system with the obeliskthat now stands in the Piazza of St. Peter's. This massive granite obelisk,brought to Rome by Caligula from Heliopolis and set up in Nero's circus, wasstill standing just south of the Vatican Basilica when Sixtus V became pope; itwas the only one of the many ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome which hadnot been toppled by earthquakes in the course of the Middle Ages." Alreadyin the 1450s Nicholas V had wanted to transfer it to the open place in front ofthe basilica; this had proved impossible for technical and other reasons. Sincethen nobody had dared to undertake the daunting task of moving the stonecolossus. Sixtus V, who never shirked anything difficult, appointed a commis-sion; architects and technicians were invited to submit suggestions for tacklingthe problem. Domenico Fontana produced by far the best idea and obtainedthe commission. He was given wide powers to obtain all the necessarymaterials, in particular great quantities of strong timber for the scaffoldinground the obelisk; some of the beams were so heavy that it took seven pairs ofoxen to transport each one46 On 30 april 1586 the obelisk was carefully laidin a horizontal position. Work stopped during the summer on account of theheat, but when the cooler weather arrived the obelisk was pulled on rollersand dragged up an earthen ramp into its new position, which meant moving ita distance of about 250 metres. On 10 September it was finally raised on itspedestal with the help of forty winches, a hundred and forty horses and eight

, '

22 Sixius II and Clement Ill! [

The Lateran with the obelisk erected in 1588 (detail from Tempesta's map of 1593).

hundred men."? The picturesque story of the workman who saved the wholeenterprise by shouting «Water on the ropes" at a critical moment seems,however, to have been a legend concocted later. 48The transport of the obelisk was a technical achievement that aroused

justifiable excitement at the time, and the pope recompensed Fontana accord-iogly: the architect was raised to the nobility and given generous financialrewards. An awning was put up in the piazza and the men who had broughtthe transport of the obelisk to a successful conclusion were supplied withbread, sausages, cheese and two barrels of wine. Later, in 1590, Fontanapublished a beautifully illustrated book, Della trasportazione dell'obelisco, inwhich he describes the undertaking in detail and compares his own methodfavourably with others that had been suggested.r'"A year later two recumbent obelisks were unearthed in the Circus Maxi-

mus. One of these, carved in rose granite and decorated with hieroglyphs, wasraised in from of the transept of the Lateran Basilica at the furthest point ofthe new highway from s. Maria Maggiore. At 32.5 metres it is the tallestobelisk in Rome; unlike the Vatican obelisk, however, it had been broken intothree parts, so that the task of re-erecnng it, completed in 1588, was a verymuch easier affair. 50 It is also the oldest obelisk in Rome: it had been erectedin the sixteenth century Be by Thurmosis III before Amon's temple inThebes. Augustus wanted to bring it to Rome, but had to abandon the ideawhich was technically too difficult for him-some say there were religious

obstacles-and it was not until 357 AD, under Constantius ill that thetransport was effected with the help of a specially built vessel, the largestanyone had ever seen. The second obelisk in the Circus Maximus had alsobeen broken; it was also smaller, being only 27.3 metres high. It had oncestood in Heliopolis and had been brought to Rome in the time of Augustus.Sixtus V had it -e-erected in the Piazza del Popala immediately in front of thecity gate, which was also the main point of entry into Rome. Two years earlierhe had erected a smaller obelisk in front of the apse of s. Maria Maggiore,which had once stood in front of AugustuS' mausoleum and which had been

found buried nearby.Another of Sixtus' projects at this time concerned the placing of a statue of

St. Peter on Trajari's Column, and tWO years later another of St. Paul on theColumn of Marcus Aurelius. To obtain metal for the statue of St. Peter th,epope had several antique bronzes melted down, and even an early medievaldoor from S. Agnese fuori le Mura.51 Once the statues were in position, thecolumns were to be ceremoniously consecrated, and from the ritual thataccompanied this act we learn a great deal about the attitude in Rome towardsantique monuments of this kind during the Counter-Reformation. Thus the--

I

pope quoted St. Jerome, reminding the people that these splendid monumentswere woven with the sorrows of slaves and captives; their splendour hadministered to pride and vanity, they glorified the brutal spirit of war and lust,giving expression to forces hostile to God. But, ran the pope's message, evenas man is purified in baptism and taken up into the mystical body of Christ, so

Sixius V and Clement V Jl! 23

Piazza del Popolo at the rime of Sixcus V. Fresco in Salone Sisti no. (Pharo: Vatican

Museums.)

3-812563 i\hgnuson

I\

24 Sixtns Vand Clement VJ!1

s. Maria Maggiore and the obelisk erected by Sixtus V in front of the apse. Fresco inSalone Sistine. (Photo: Vatican Museums.')

would these columns be sanctified and placed in the service of a Church

L redeemed, thereby becoming worthy to bear the holy statues. 52 This sort ofsymbol-laden language was typical of the time. A similar ritual was used forthe obelisks, which were consecrated at a special ceremony to render themworthy of bearing the cross: when the cross was placed on the summit of theVatican obelisk the papal choir sang the old hymn Vexilla regis, and the

Piazza Colonna at the time of Sixrus V; in the background, to the right of the column,the Capitoline Hill, Palazzo Venezia, the Collegia Romano and the Cesu. Fresco inSalone Sistine. (Photo: Vatican Museums.)

Six/us V and Clement V III 25

inscription on the pedestal tells of victory over the heathen through the cross dof Christ. 53 Thus this obelisk, which was known to have been dedicated tothe sun in antiquity, came to symbolise redemption through Jesus Christ; )1indeed it was sometimes perceived as a symbol of the cross itself. 54 Thisspecial devotion to the cross was presumably a typical Franciscan feature of

Sixtus V's faith.Other antique monuments were also used by Sixtus V to adorn the new

Rome. On the Quirinal, in front of the entrance to the Baths of Constantine,rhe much admired pair of statues of Castor and Pollux with their horses weremoved to provide a background focus to Via Pia. Sixtus had a fountain built infront of the statues, but the obelisk - which also came from the site atAugustus' mausoleum-was not placed there until 1782.It was an aesthetic innovation to place an obelisk or a sculpture at the

furthest point of a thoroughfare. The effect is twofold. The monument givesthe road a definite visual focus that emphasises its direction and the goaltowards which it leads; at the same time the traveller is aware that the roadgrows wider and abuts into an open place where the lofty stone fingerprovides an ideal central point-marking no particular direction but incorpo-rating all directions within itself. 55This approach to the monuments of antiquity was typical of Sixtus V and of

his age. Monuments were regarded as interesting only if they had an aestheticvalue of their own-as in the case of statues and obelisks-or if they could beexploited in the service of modern urban development by adding to theglorification of Rome. Once when Sixtus was about to demolish CeciliaMerella's tomb on the Appian Way, because he wanted to use the srone forsome other project, the Romans did protest, however, even sending a delega-tion CO the pope. The citizens were told that Sixrus intended to respect thebeautiful monuments but not the ugly ones. 56 That such monuments couldhave an irreplaceable historical and archeological value was an idea quiteforeign to the times. Unfortunately Sixtus included among the ugly monu-ments the last remains of the Septizonium, once a splendid three-storey Facadewith columns and cascading fountains in front of the Palatine at the end of theAppian Way. The Septizonium was ruthlessly demolished; its blocks oftravertine and columns of rare marble were used in several of Sixrus V's newbuildings. 57 At the end of Sixrus V's pontificate, Domenico Fontana wasengaged on a project which, in accordance with the wishes of the pope, wouldtransform the Colosseum into a wool-weaving shop with workshops anddwellings for the craftsmen in the surrounding arcades. Workmen had alreadybegun to cart away the earth round the Colosseum when Sixrus died; therehad not been time to make any alterations to the monument itself. 58

PalacesOne of the most exacting of Sixrus V's enterprises involved the building of thenew Lateran Palace. In 1585, when he became pope, the medieval Patriarchium