; ) is a square in the

rione A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

Prati Prati is the 22nd of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. XXII. It belongs to the Municipio I since 2013, while previously, along with Borgo and Trionfale and Della Vittoria, it was part of the Municipio XVII. Its coat of arms de ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Description

The square lies at the end of

Ponte Regina Margherita Ponte Regina Margherita (Italian for ''Queen Margherita Bridge''), also known as Ponte Margherita, is a bridge linking Piazza della Libertà to Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia, in the rioni Campo Marzio and Prati in Rome, Italy. Description ...

(formerly the last bridge upstream in the town before

Ponte Milvio The Milvian (or Mulvian) Bridge ( or ; or ) is a bridge over the Tiber in northern Rome, Italy. It was an economically and strategically important bridge in the era of the Roman Empire and was the site of the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge ...

) on the right bank of the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest 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 it is joined by the R ...

; from it starts Via Cola di Rienzo, that crosses the rione

ending in Piazza Risorgimento. The square has a rectangular shape and consists of two green areas with flowerbeds; it shows some centuries-old trees and is surrounded by eclectic-style buildings. It dates back to the urbanization of the quarter, started in 1873 according to the so-called "Viviani Town-Plan". The monuments of the square include a 20th-century sacred

aedicula In religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (: ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a Niche (architecture), niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns an ...

portraying the Virgin with the Child, a 19th-century monument to the dramatist

Pietro Cossa Pietro Cossa (25 January 1830 – 30 August 1881) was an Italian dramatist. Life Cossa was born at Rome, and claimed descent from the family of Antipope John XXIII. He manifested an independent spirit from his youth, and was expelled from a Jesu ...

and Casa De' Salvi, an apartment house built in 1930 by architect Pietro Aschieri. The square hosts the seats of the ''Fondazione Internazionale Irina Alberti'' and the ''Fondazione

Gabriele Sandri Gabriele is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name Surname * Al Gabriele, American comic book artist * Angel Gabriele (1956–2016), American comic book artist * Corrado Gabriele (born 1966), Italian pol ...

''.

Establishment of the '' Società Podistica Lazio''

In this square, on January 9, 1900, a group of nine Roman boys - led by the young

Bersaglieri The Bersaglieri, singular Bersagliere, (, "sharpshooter") are a troop of marksmen in the Italian Army's infantry corps. They were originally created by General Alessandro Ferrero La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Royal Sardinian Ar ...

petty officer and road runner Luigi Bigiarelli - made official the '' Società Podistica Lazio'' (with its former name ''Società Podistica Lazio''). The founders, seated on a bench of the square, decided to found the ''Società Podistica Lazio'' and chose its name and colors. The square was the meeting point of the boys, which, after swimming, came up from

through a little staircase. The nine founders were Luigi Bigiarelli, his brother Giacomo, Alberto Mesones, Alceste Grifoni, Odoacre Aloisi, Galileo Massa, Arturo Balestrieri, Enrico Venier and Giulio Lefevre; Rinaldo Fortini, Olindo Bitetti, Tito Masini and others joined the group immediately after. On January 9, 2000, centenary of the establishment, a plaque has been uncovered in the square.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piazza della Liberta (Rome) Liberta (Rome) Rome R. XXII Prati