The Via del Corso is a main street in the historical centre 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 ...
. It is straight in an area otherwise characterized by narrow meandering
alley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane ...
s and small
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. ...
s. Considered a wide street in ancient times, the Corso is approximately 10 metres wide, and it only has room for two lanes of traffic and two narrow sidewalks. The northern portion of the street is a
pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically.
The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...
area. The length of the street is roughly 1.5 kilometres.
Description
![Roma-palazzodoriapamphili](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Roma-palazzodoriapamphili.jpg)
The Corso runs in a generally north-south direction. To the north, it links the northern entrance gate to the city, the
Porta del Popolo
The Porta del Popolo, or Porta Flaminia, is a city gate of the Aurelian Walls of Rome that marks the border between Piazza del Popolo and Piazzale Flaminio.
History
The previous name was ''Porta Flaminia'', because the consular Via Flaminia ...
and its piazza, the
Piazza del Popolo
Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian language, Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the Populus, poplars (''populus'' in Latin language, Latin, ''pioppo'' in Italian) ...
, to the heart of the city at the
Piazza Venezia
Piazza Venezia () is a central hub of Rome, Italy, in which several thoroughfares intersect, including the Via dei Fori Imperiali and the Via del Corso. It takes its name from the Palazzo Venezia, built by the Venetian Cardinal, Pietro Barbo (l ...
, at the base of the
Capitoline Hill
The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. Th ...
. At the Piazza del Popolo, Via del Corso is framed by two
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 ...
churches,
Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto
Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto are two churches in Rome.
They are located on the Piazza del Popolo, facing the northern gate of the Aurelian Walls, at the entrance of Via del Corso on the square. The churches are often ...
, and along the street are the church of
San Carlo al Corso
Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso (usually known simply as ''San Carlo al Corso'') is a basilica church in Rome, Italy, facing onto the central part of the Via del Corso. The apse of the church faces across the street, the Mausoleum of Augustus o ...
, the church of
San Giacomo in Augusta
San Giacomo in Augusta (also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili) is a Baroque church in Rome, Italy. It was the church of the Hospital of San Giacomo degli Incurabili.
Location and name
Located on Via del Corso, roughly three blocks south of ...
, the church of
Gesù e Maria
Gesù or Gesu may refer to:
* Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus
** Church of the Gesù (disambiguation), other churches with the name
* Jesus in the Italian language
* Gesù Nuovo
Gesù Nuovo ( it, New Jesus) is the ...
, the
Piazza Colonna
Piazza Colonna is a piazza at the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome, Italy. It is named for the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius, which has stood there since AD 193. The bronze statue of Saint Paul that crowns the col ...
with the ancient
column of Marcus Aurelius
The Column of Marcus Aurelius ( la, Columna Centenaria Divorum Marci et Faustinae, it, Colonna di Marco Aurelio) is a Roman victory column in Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy. It is a Doric column featuring a spiral relief: it was built in honour o ...
, the
Galleria Alberto Sordi
Galleria Alberto Sordi, until 2003 Galleria Colonna, is a shopping arcade in Rome, Italy named after the actor Alberto Sordi.
It was designed in the early 1900s by the architect Dario Carbone and constructed on the Via del Corso as Galleria ...
, the church of
Santa Maria in Via Lata
Santa Maria in Via Lata is a church on the Via del Corso (the ancient Via Lata), in Rome, Italy. It stands diagonal from the church of San Marcello al Corso.
It is the Station days for Tuesday, the fifth week of lent.
History
The first Christi ...
, the
Oratory of Santissimo Crocifisso
The Oratorio del Santissimo Crocifisso or the Oratory of the Most Holy Crucifix is a building in central Rome, Italy. Located next to the church of San Marcello al Corso, it served as a prayer hall and meeting house for the Archconfraternity of t ...
, the church of
San Marcello al Corso
San Marcello al Corso, a church in Rome, Italy, is a titular church whose cardinal-protector normally holds the (intermediary) rank of cardinal-priest.
The church, dedicated to Pope Marcellus I (d. AD 309), is located just inset from Via de ...
and the
Palazzo Doria Pamphili
The Doria Pamphilj Gallery is a large art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, Italy, between Via del Corso and Via della Gatta. The principal entrance is on the Via del Corso (until recently, the entrance to the gallery was f ...
.
From the fifteenth century, the road served as the racetrack during the Roman Carnival for an annual running of riderless horses called the "corsa dei barberi", which is the source for the name ''Via del Corso''. Following the assassination of
King Umberto I
Umberto I ( it, Umberto Rainerio Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoia; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination on 29 July 1900.
Umberto's reign saw Italy attempt colo ...
in 1900, the road was re-named ''Corso Umberto I''. In 1944, it became ''Corso del Popolo'' and two years later reverted to ''Corso''.
Today, the Corso is a popular place for the ''passeggiata'', the evening stroll for the populace to be seen and to see others. It is also an important shopping street for tourists and locals alike.
History
The history of Via del Corso began in 220 BC when
Gaius Flaminius censor built a new road to link Rome with the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...
in the north. The starting point of the road was
Porta Fontinalis
The Porta Fontinalis was a gate in the Servian Wall in ancient Rome. It was located on the northern slope of the Capitoline Hill, probably the northeast shoulder over the Clivus Argentarius. The Via Salaria exited through it, as did the Via Flam ...
, a gate in the
Servian city walls near present-day Piazza Venezia. In its first miles
Via Flaminia
The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had ...
cut through the plain between the
Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...
and the eastern hills in a straight line. The
Field of Mars, as it was called, was at the time used as a training ground and pasture. Numerous tombs must have lined the road similarly to the
Appian Way
The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is ...
.
The open area outside the city walls went through a process of urbanization during the late Republican and early imperial age. The city gradually spread towards north and monumental public buildings were built along the road. A set of dynastic monuments around the
Mausoleum of Augustus
The Mausoleum of Augustus ( it, Mausoleo di Augusto, italic=no) is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The mausoleum is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via ...
was the most important development in the formerly unpopulated northern section of the district.
The ancient name of Via Lata (which means ''Broad Way'') denotes that the street was considered wide, especially in comparison to neighbouring lanes but at three places along its length, it became narrower due to triumphal arches. The first was the ''Arcus Novus'' erected by
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
in 303-304, then the
Arch of Claudius (AD 51-52) stood further ahead (the
Aqua Virgo
The Aqua Virgo was one of the eleven Roman aqueducts that supplied the city of ancient Rome. It was completed in 19 BC by Marcus Agrippa, during the reign of the emperor Augustus and was built mainly to supply the contemporaneous Baths of Agrip ...
aqueduct crossed the road on top of it) and the third was later known as the
Arco di Portogallo.
The most important ancient monuments along Via Lata were
Aurelian's Temple of the Sun, the
Ara Pacis
The Ara Pacis Augustae (Latin, "Altar of Augustan Peace"; commonly shortened to Ara Pacis) is an altar in Rome dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of Peace. The monument was commissioned by the Roman Senate on July 4, 13 BC to honour the return of ...
, the
Ustrinum Domus Augustae, the Ara Providentiae and the
Column of Marcus Aurelius
The Column of Marcus Aurelius ( la, Columna Centenaria Divorum Marci et Faustinae, it, Colonna di Marco Aurelio) is a Roman victory column in Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy. It is a Doric column featuring a spiral relief: it was built in honour o ...
. A densely populated residential quarter from the Hadrianic era was discovered on the right side of the road between Via delle Muratte and Via delle Convertite. With the building of the
Aurelian Walls (AD 271-75) the whole area was incorporated into the city of Rome, and a new city gate (Porta Flaminia) was erected at present-day
Piazza del Popolo
Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian language, Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the Populus, poplars (''populus'' in Latin language, Latin, ''pioppo'' in Italian) ...
where the road left the urban territory.
From around the year 600 AD, the Corso accommodated a welfare centre linked to feeding the populace at
Santa Maria in Via Lata
Santa Maria in Via Lata is a church on the Via del Corso (the ancient Via Lata), in Rome, Italy. It stands diagonal from the church of San Marcello al Corso.
It is the Station days for Tuesday, the fifth week of lent.
History
The first Christi ...
and granaries at its southern end. During the Middle Ages the Via Lata, the present day Corso, effectively denoted a boundary, to the city which mainly developed to the south and east of it. Also for this reason here was built in 1339 the hospital
San Giacomo degli Incurabili
The hospital of ''San Giacomo in Augusta'' (Saint James in Augusta), also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili (Saint James of the Incurables) was a historic hospital located in Rome.
History
The Hospital was built for the first time in 1349 by ...
, later rebuilt in the today form.
From the fifteenth century, the Via del Corso became a fashionable street for new or renovated churches and new palaces for the nobility. However, by the mid seventeenth century, the street remained a mixture of different scales and architectural styles, some unfashionable, a number of churches lacked facades and some buildings were a combination of structures from different periods or were simply incomplete.
The lack of regularity and decorum of this principal street of the city meant that it became a main urban priority of
Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667.
He began his career as a vice- papal legate, an ...
. In pursuing the nobility to complete their properties, he met with limited success; some just did not have the funds, some were content to avoid the issue by continuing to reside on their country estates In the case of unfinished churches, he encouraged ecclesiastical colleagues to act as sponsors.
Where he met with greater success was over imposing order on the street by empowering the ''maestri di strade'', the municipal body in charge of streets, to clear, align and regularize the street .
[The ''maestri di strade'' were established in 1233 and survived until the eighteenth century; Krautheimer, 1980, 284] This meant the properties could be acquired and demolished if necessary, projections from buildings could be removed and others added to so as to maintain a consistent line of street frontage. He even had the ancient triumphal arch, the Arco di Portogallo, demolished because the central gateway of this arch effectively reduced the street width to almost half.
Alexander took a particular interest in regularizing the
Piazza Colonna
Piazza Colonna is a piazza at the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome, Italy. It is named for the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius, which has stood there since AD 193. The bronze statue of Saint Paul that crowns the col ...
, about halfway along the Corso. In 1659, his family, the
Chigi Chigi may refer to:
* Chigi (dog), a crossbreed between a Welsh Corgi and a chihuahua (dog)
* House of Chigi, a Roman princely family
* Chigi (architecture)
, or are forked roof finials found in Japanese and Shinto architecture. predate Bu ...
, bought the incomplete Palazzo Aldobrandini, bordering the piazza and the Corso, and rebuilt as
Palazzo Chigi
The Chigi Palace ( it, Palazzo Chigi ) is a palace and former noble residence in Rome which is the seat of the Council of Ministers and the official residence of the Prime Minister of Italy. Since 22 October 2022, the tenant of the Chigi Palace h ...
. Around the same time, the leading painter of the time,
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 ...
, developed a design for a ‘fountain palace’ in the piazza, a palace with a large fountain at the base of the façade, but this precursor of the
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain ( it, Fontana di Trevi) is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others. Standing high and wide, it is the larg ...
was not built.
The Corso was also tied to Alexander’s intentions to impress significant dignitaries paying official visits to the city. The Porta del Popolo was reworked and the Piazza del Popolo cleared. The two
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 ...
churches facing onto the Piazza marked perpectivised vistas along the
Via del Babuino
Via del Babuino is a street in the historic centre of Rome (Italy), located in the rione Campo Marzio. It connects Piazza del Popolo to Piazza di Spagna and is part of the complex of streets known as Tridente.
History
The origins of Via del Bab ...
to the left, the
Via di Ripetta
Via di Ripetta, also called Via Ripetta, is a street in the historic centre of Rome (Italy), in the rione Campo Marzio, that links Piazza del Popolo to Via del Clementino and, with other toponyms (Via della Scrofa, Via della Dogana Vecchia), re ...
to the right and at the centre, the straightened and regularized Via del Corso leading to the Piazza Venezia. This complex of streets is known as
Tridente.
See also
*
The Corso, Manly
''The Corso'' is one of the main streets and a pedestrian mall in Manly. It connects the Manly ferry wharf to Manly Beach on the Pacific Ocean side of the Manly peninsula.
History
There has long been a track between Manly Cove and Ocean Bea ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Via Del Corso
Pedestrian streets in Italy
Corso
Corso
Corso
Corso