Via della Conciliazione
March 7, 2012, 6:57 pm
Posted by Robert P. Imbelli
I know many have walked down the broad boulevard leading to Saint Peter’s Basilica. And most know that it was planned by Mussolini after the Lateran Treaty. I also knew that many old buildings had to be torn down to construct it. But I had never seen what it was like before the demolition. Then a friend sent me this link. (HT:RS)
I love the translation, “the suburb thorn.”
Aerial views of La Spina, as that wedge of a neighborhood was known, show its shape clearly. I’ve often thought its destruction was a great loss, not just because of the unlovely boulevard that replaced it, but because I suspect it changed the entire experience of seeing St. Peter’s for the first time — as in so many Italian cities, you walk through narrow streets and stumble upon something grand and unexpected. Coming upon St. Peter’s that way would have been a wonderful thing, I imagine. Which is why I used to try to sneak first-time visitors up the Borgo Pio to the right of the basilica and through the colonnade. It was often a successful bit of theater.
Then again, “everything must change so that everything can remain the same,” and St. Peter’s is a fairly new and even modern structure, “just” 500 years old. I think I would have loved the old crumbling edifice.
David,
I have a good friend who lives on the Borgo Pio. From his roof one can see both the Dome of St. Peter’s and Castel Sant’Angelo.
A few years ago, as we were eating supper “all’aperto,” he noticed that the Dome had not yet been illuminated. Being an expert, modo italiano, he shouted: “Benedetto, luci.”
Needless to say, the Dome was immediately lit.
He didn’t say “Fiat lux”?!
They occassionally, for some holiday or other, used to put actually tapers on the dome’s exterior as in days of old. Not sure if they do any longer, and likely no a good idea.
Some hundreds of miles to the north, by the 1930s, electric lights were used to illuminate Brunelleschi’s great dome in Florence for holidays (like that of June 24, San Giovanni, for the city’s patron). Candles, however, were used for the Palazzo Vecchio (or Palazzo della Signoria, if you’re a purist).
Haussmann’s wide boulevards in Paris are much more popular even though they also ruined picturesque neighborhoods. Some cynics observe that often the same Americans who condemn Robert Moses for his urban projects and defend Jane Jacobs love to visit Paris in order to enjoy the grand axial perspectives put in place by Haussmann.
Robert Hughes in his recent book on Rome thinks that Mussolini was trying to impress Hitler (he was scheduled to visit Rome) with the new Via della Conciliazione. ”The result was a giant avenue in the manner of Albert Speer,” writes Hughes. And all the easier for the Swiss Guard to turn back an assault by heretics and infidels.
Haussmann and L’Enfant are almost universally praised, Moses and Mussolini almost universally condemned. Of course it is the Venetians who take the correct approach – - we should replace streets with canals.
Patrick, do you know that Haussmann was doing a work of high priority for national security? The boulevards were designed to be wide enough to enable the troops to aim and open fire, if there happened to be a popular insurrection.
Claire,
Yes, I’ve read that. Though the Haussmann boulevards didn’t seem to slow down the Les Soixante-Huitards, did they?
It’s interesting that the U.S. inter-state highway system was also justified by national defense considerations in the Eisenhower period. Quite a stretch, but such seems to serve as an effective argument for many kinds of public works.
I’m still confident that the Swiss Guard will prevail in any battle on the Via della Conciliaztione.
Patrick,
only because all the Carabinieri will be on their telefonini checking out the calcio scores
We would certainly have triumphed at Porta Pia had the cell phone been in existence then.