Squares of Rome

Piazza Augusto Imperatore - Emperor Augustus Square

It has this name because it contains the Mausoleum of Octavian Augustus who wanted it in 29 A.D.: it is 44 meters high and has a diameter of 87 meters. It suffered due to the decay at the end of the empire and in the Middle Age (in the twelfth century it had been transformed into afortress by the Colonna family and then dismanted by Popr Gregory IX) was trasformed, like many others, into a marble, travertine and bricks quarry to built other buildings. In the XVI century it was transformed into an arena for tournaments and later on into the  “Teatro del Corea” (named after the Corea family that had taken the place of Soderini family in the management), it was then covered with a skylight in metal sections and glass and transformed into the “Anfiteatro Umberto” during the new italian Kingdom and then rent to the sculptor Chiaradia ( the same who, among others, is the author of the huge statue of Vittorio Emanuele II (the first Italian King) in Piazza Venezia). At the beginning of the nineteenth century it became the famous “Auditorium Augusteo”, a concert hall. Betwenn 1934 and 1940 the restructuring of the place led to the biulding of the square: restoration works were limited to the Mausoleum only. Between the square qnd the river stands tje “Ara Pacis Augustae”, that was built to bear witness of the peace established all over the worls by Emperor Augustus’s army.

Piazza Barberini - Barberini Square

It remained long an inaccessible subsidence in the suburbs of ancient rome (the city extended on the other side), crossed by a borrok, only at the end of the sixtennth century it began to have an urban look. Along the centuries tha are had different owners: one of the eldest ones was the poet Martial who lived there in one of his villas, tha last was the Barberini family. Around the end of the sixteenth century it was crossed by Strada Felice (today’s Via Sistina) and Pope Urbano II Barberini transformed the old Villa Sforza into an imposing palace. The most important artists of the time worked at the building, from Carlo Maderno to Francesco Borromini, Pietro da Cortona and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Bernini was also requested to built two fountains, the Triton one, still standing in the middle of the square today, and the “Fountain of the Barberini bees” standing today at the beginning of Via Veneto.

Piazza del Campidoglio

While it was initially occupied by temples and sacella, The Capitoline Hill had a premonition of what it would became later on when in 78 A.D. The Tabularium (the archive of the documents of the Roman State) was built. In the fifth century it went to rack and ruin and was replaced by a fortress of the Corsi family, in the IX century it was transformed into the seat of the new Roman Senate. Later on the Conservatory Palace was built (on the right facing the Senate). In 1536 Pope Paul III Farnese entrusted Michelangelo with the building project of the so called “Platea Capitolina”: tthe first part of the works included moving Emperor Marcus Aurelius equestrian statue to the middle of the square (it had escaped destruction because it was wrongly believed to be Constantine’s statue, the first Christian Emperor). Immediately afterwards the imposing double staircase leading to the entrance of the Senator’s Palace was built, at its base the fountain was placed that was flanked by the statues of the Tiber and Nile rivers that were previoisly in the by now disappeared Constantine’s thermae on the Quirinal Hill. After Michelangelo death the works were completed by Giacomo della Porta: even if as a matter of fact all was realized by the end of the eightteenth century, one should note that the floor of the square (sampietrini, typical Rome cobbles, and travertine stripes designed by Michelangelo) was realized in 1940.

More articles about Rome