Piazza Barberini is a large

piazza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

in the ''centro storico'' or city center of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and situated on the

Quirinal Hill The Quirinal Hill (; la, Collis Quirinalis; it, Quirinale ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palace ...

. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt. The current appellation was given in 1625 when it was named after the

Palazzo Barberini The Palazzo Barberini ( en, Barberini Palace) is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome. History T ...

, the substantial

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

palace built in an elevated position on the south side of the piazza for the

Barberini The House of Barberini are a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban palace ...

. Originally, there was a large entrance gateway to the palace designed by the Baroque painter and architect

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

on the south east corner of the piazza but this was demolished to make way for the construction of a new road in the 19th century. However, its appearance is known from engravings and early photographs of the piazza. At the centre of the piazza is the ''Fontana del Tritone'' or

Triton Fountain Fontana del Tritone (''Triton Fountain'') is a seventeenth-century fountain in Rome, by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Commissioned by his patron, Pope Urban VIII, the fountain is located in the Piazza Barberini, near the entrance to ...

(1642–3) sculpted by

Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

. Another fountain, the

Fontana delle Api Fontana delle Api (''Fountain of the Bees'') is a fountain located in the Piazza Barberini in Rome where the Via Veneto enters the piazza. It was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and completed in April 1644. Description ''Fontana delle Api'' co ...

(1644), also by Bernini is in the nearby Via Vittorio Veneto but it has been reconstructed somewhat arbitrarily following its removal from its previous position on the corner of a palace where the Piazza Barberini meets the

Via Sistina Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...

.Blunt, Anthony. ''Guide to Baroque Rome'' , Granada, 1982, p. 230 Until the 18th century, unknown human corpses were displayed here for public identification. Between 1632 and 1822 an antique

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

stood here; it was transferred to

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

Modern geography

Fontána tritonů na nám Barberini Roma 2011 4

Today, the piazza is large crossroad for Rome's traffic and, since 1980, has accommodated a station on Line A of the

Rome Metro The Rome Metro ( it, Metropolitana di Roma) is a rapid transit system that operates in Rome, Italy. It started operation in 1955, making it the oldest in the country. The Metro comprises three lines – A (orange), B (blue) and C (green) � ...

, called ''

Barberini – Fontana di Trevi Barberini–Fontana di Trevi is an underground station on Line A of the Rome Metro, inaugurated in 1980 and situated under Piazza Barberini in Trevi. Originally, the station was simply named Barberini, and the name was extended in 2000. The ent ...

''.

References

External links

Piazza Barberini with a lot of pictures

{{Authority control

Barberini family Rome R. II Trevi Rome R. III Colonna