ancient cities

676 Rome, Italy
populace abandoned most of the city and clustered
in the Campus Martius near the banks of the
Tiber. Ancient Roman ruins were plundered for
building materials. Innumerable precious statues
along with vast quantities of marble were stripped
off monuments and burned in lime pits, some of
which were set up in the Forum itself. A few structures
were preserved by conversion to new purposes.
Thus, the Mausoleum of Hadrian was
transformed into a papal fortress, the Castel St.
Angelo, and the Pantheon was consecrated as a
Christian church and acquired two awkwardly
affixed bell towers.
Despite these depredations, the city continued to
have wider importance as the seat of the Popes.
Pope Gregory the Great (AD 590–604) laid the
groundwork for the political influence of the popes,
and throughout the medieval period, they engaged
in a series of uneasy and constantly shifting alliances
with various powerful European kings. Rome also
endured several more occupations and sacks, including
one by a Moorish fleet in AD 846. The political
turmoil was intensified by constant infighting among
the powerful noble families of Rome, such as the
Colonna and Orsini, frequently over the selection of
papal candidates. During the later Middle Ages,
there were sporadic attempts to establish a secular
authority over the city, such as the establishment of
a comune through the efforts of Arnold of Brescia
in the twelfth century, and the short-lived republic
of the “tribune” Cola di Rienzi in the fourteenth.
During this period, the papacy also experienced
great instability, and the popes were removed to
Avignon in France from AD 1309 to 1377; this was
followed by the great schism, during which there
were two (and even three) rival popes. Order was
finally restored in 1420 with the reestablishment of
unified papal authority at Rome, where it has
remained until the present.
During the Middle Ages, the most noteworthy
new additions to the physical city were a number of
significant churches, including Santa Maria in
Cosmedin, the basilica-style San Paolo fuori le
Mura, the Romanesque San Giovanni a Porta
Latina, and the Gothic Santa Maria sopra Miverva.
Renaissance and Baroque Rome
From the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries,
the papacy dominated Rome politically. Under the
energetic patronage of popes such as Julius II, an
array of brilliant architects, artists, and sculptors
utterly transformed the city and produced some of
the greatest works of art in the Western tradition.
One focal point of these efforts was the Vatican
itself, where the old St. Peter’s Basilica was demolished
and a spectacular new basilica and square
were erected over the course of several centuries,
incorporating design elements from a succession of
gifted artists including Bramante, Michelangelo,
and Bernini. Michelangelo also painted the famous
frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, and Raphael similarly
adorned other spaces within the Vatican.
In this period, the public streets and spaces of
the city acquired much of their modern form as
many of the grand boulevards were laid down,
replacing winding medieval alleys. These roads culminated
in ornate public squares frequently sporting
fountains, and notable spaces such as the Piazza
del Popolo, Piazza Venezia, and the Piazza Spagna,
and fountains such as the Trevi, date to this era.
Contributing to Rome’s general adornment, the
great Roman families built magnificent palaces for
themselves such as the Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo
Farnese, and Palazzo Chigi, which continue to
serve today as museums or government buildings.
Many of Rome’s churches also were either built or
rebuilt and decorated with the works of artists such
as Caravaggio and Bernini. While this period when
the papacy dominated was marred by notable
instances of decadence and corruption, it also gave
form to the streets and spaces of the modern city,
and produced an influential artistic legacy.
Roma Capitale
At the dawn of the nineteenth century, Rome and
the papal states were captured by the armies of
Napoleon Bonaparte, and the French continued to
play a key role in Italian affairs for much of the
century. One consequence of this occupation was
that many of Rome’s artistic treasures were looted
and sent to France. Starting in the 1820s, there
were movements led by men such as Garibaldi and
Mazzini to unite the various Italian states and
establish a new, unified Italy. These conflicts flared
sporadically for decades, with several abortive
attempts to establish a republic, and the French
often siding with the popes against Italian forces.
The Kingdom of Italy under King Vittorio Emanuele