ABSTRACT
Last of all we turn to Rome-a town which is in certain respects unique but which nonetheless follows the general pattern of our capital cities in many ways.1 The early building history of the town can be given only in the briefest outline here. The residential areas in ancient Rome were mainly on the hills, while almost all the large public buildings were located at the foot of the hills or between them. During the Middle Ages, when the city lived on as the centre of the Catholic Church and the most frequented place of pilgrimage in the West, the situation was pretty much the opposite: dwellings were mainly concentrated to the low-lying Campus Martius, while several important churches rose on the hills. It was the prominence of Rome as a place of pilgrimage, with the tombs of the apostles and martyrs and the other traditional holy sites, that lay behind the vast urban planning enterprises of the sixteenth century and, in particular of Sixtus V’s pontificate (1585-90). It was now that the thoroughfares linking the major pilgrim churches and other important buildings were laid out: under Pius IV (1559-65) the Via Pia between Monte Cavallo and Porta Pia, under Gregory XIII (1572-85) the start of Via Merulana between the Lateran Palace and S. Maria Maggiore, and under Sixtus V the completion of this street and the construction of Via Panisperna and Via Sistina running from S. Maria Maggiore to Piazza Venezia and Trinità dei Monti respectively and from S. Maria Maggiore to S. Croce in Gerusalemme (cf. pp. 24 f). To begin with, however, these were little more than connecting links, but they were envisaged as rectilinear streets, and those who chose to build houses along them were given special privileges. The grand innovative architectural schemes, which were subsequently studied throughout Europe, involved the insertion of monumental accents into the urban structure. These included the Campidoglio (figure 2.10), Piazza del Popolo with its three radiating streets, Piazza di S. Pietro and the Spanish Steps. During the Napoleonic era far-reaching plans were forged for the restoration and embellishment of the town, but most of them remained on the drawing board.2
