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Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars (populus in Latin, pioppo in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name. The piazza lies inside the northern gate in ...
Jun 19, 2017 · Piazza del Popolo is one of the most visited squares in Rome and the starting point to reach some of the main streets of Rome’s city center such as Via del Corso, Via del Babuino and Via di Ripetta.
- Overview
- Piazza di Spagna
- Via Vittorio Veneto
The Corso emerges onto the splendid oval Piazza del Popolo (“People’s Square”), which is monumental without being intimidating. Over a period of 300 years, it was constructed as the ceremonial entryway to Rome, and, although its elements are diverse in style and in age (13th century bce–19th century ce), a remarkable harmony prevails. In 1561 the Porta del Popolo, the medieval gate in the city wall, was rebuilt. Ninety-four years later its inner face was redone by Bernini for the grand entrance of Queen Christina, who had abandoned the Protestant throne of Sweden for the hospitality of Catholic Rome. In 1589 Pope Sixtus V punctuated the piazza’s centre with an obelisk (13th century bce) brought by the emperor Augustus from Heliopolis in Egypt to the Circus Maximus.
The church next to the gate, Santa Maria del Popolo, which stood for centuries before the piazza existed and gives its name to the area, was founded in 1227 to replace a 1099 chapel built over what was presumed to be the emperor Nero’s tomb. It was replaced in 1472–77 by the present-day church, further disguised on the piazza frontage by a Neoclassical facade. The interior is fraught with the works of great Renaissance and Baroque artists. The main chapel has tombs by Andrea Sansovino and frescoes by Pinturicchio. In the Cerasi Chapel are Caravaggio’s The Conversion of St. Paul and The Crucifixion of St. Peter. The Chigi Chapel, unique for the early 16th century in being a miniature church, was designed by Raphael. Bernini sculpted two of the four prophets in the corners.
Running roughly southeast from the Piazza del Popolo, the Via del Babuino leads to the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square). An obelisk there was erected in 1857 to commemorate the 1854 promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The fountain there, the Barcaccia (“Scow”), is fed by the Acqua Vergine, an aqueduct of 19 bce, which escaped Gothic destruction because it was mainly underground and which was repaired in 1447. When the fountain was planned in the early 1600s by Bernini (believed to be Pietro, though some have attributed the work to his son, Gian Lorenzo), there was insufficient water pressure for spouting jets, so the shape of the Barcaccia was conceived: an ancient marble boat foundering endearingly in its marble bath.
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The most striking architectural element in the piazza—indeed, one of the most striking in all of Rome—is the renowned Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti, known as the Spanish Steps (or Stairs). The staircase is a rare case of the failure of French cultural propaganda: although they are called the Spanish Steps—the Spanish Embassy moved onto the square in the 17th century—they are unequivocally French. First suggested by the French about the time the Spanish Embassy was being installed, the idea was approved by papal authorities 100 years later and paid for with a legacy from a French diplomat. The stairs ascend to the French-built church and convent of Trinità dei Monti, begun in 1495 with a gift from the visiting French king Charles VIII and restored by Louis XVIII.
A bit farther east, both Romans and visitors alike continue to congregate at the café tables ranged on the plane-tree-shaded sidewalks of the Via Vittorio Veneto (Via Veneto), a street of grand hotels, offices, and government buildings. Laid out in 1887 between the Villa Borghese gardens (to the north) and the Piazza Barberini (to the south), it ru...
The Piazza del Popolo (meaning The People’s Square) is located inside the northern gate of the city, which was once called Porta Flaminia. The square is situated at the beginning of Via Flaminia and was the main entrance to the city during the Roman Empire.
Monumental and elegant square, Piazza del Popolo is at the top where Via del Babuino, Via di Ripetta and Via del Corso meet, the three main streets of the historic centre of Rome.
Jan 12, 2024 · The Piazza di Pietra is a charming square in the historic center of Rome, near the Via del Corso and the Piazza Colonna. Its name comes from the stones of the ancient Hadrianeum, a temple dedicated to Emperor Hadrian by his son and successor Antoninus Pius in 145 AD.
Situated next to the Aurelian Walls and adjacent to one of the gates of the Imperial Era (Porta del Popolo, formerly Porta Flaminia), this square is one of the largest in Rome, with a surface area of approximately 17,000 square meters. It’s a great starting point for a beautiful Roman walk.
