Roman Age: Ager Vaticanus . The
tuff blocks visible in the lower part of the cylinder are Roman. During the Roman age, the
Borgo district was part of the 14th
Regio (Regio XIV Transtiberim) and was named
Ager Vaticanus, after the auguries (
vaticinii) performed there by the
Etruscan Augurs. Since it lay outside the
Pomerium (the religious city border inside which burial was forbidden) and was plagued by
malaria, this territory was used as a burial place. Some tombs reached notable proportions, including the
Terebinthus Neronis, which was a round tomb surmounted by a narrow tower, and the
Meta Romuli, a
pyramid similar to that still standing near
Porta San Paolo) that was demolished only in 1499. At the foot of the
Vatican Hill, two
roads started: the
Via Cornelia, which joined the
Via Aurelia near
Tarquinii, and the
Via Triumphalis (
Triumphal Road), which met the
Via Cassia a few kilometers north. The latter was so named because, beginning with
Titus, the
Roman Emperors used it to enter the city when celebrating their Triumphs. At the beginning of the
Imperial Age, magnificent
Villae (country houses) and
Horti (
Gardens), such as those owned by
Agrippina the Elder, wife of
Germanicus and mother of
Caligula (
Horti Agrippinae), and by
Domitia Longina, wife of
Domitianus (
Horti Domitiae), were built near the slopes of the
Gianicolo and Vatican hills. Emperor
Gaius (also known as Caligula) built on the Vatican a
circus (
Circus Gaianus), which was then enlarged by
Nero (
Circus Neronis). The
obelisk standing today in St. Peter's Square was erected along its raised median (the
spina). The circus was connected to the city through an archway (
Porticus). Nero also replaced the timber
bridge of the Via Triumphalis with a stone bridge, (whose ruins can still be seen in the
Tiber during the minimum flow periods) named after him
Pons Neronianus or
Triumphalis. Emperor
Hadrian built near the Tiber his huge
Mausoleum, which he connected to the left bank of the river with another Bridge, the
Pons Ælius (today's
Ponte Sant'Angelo). But what changed forever the destiny of the zone was the
martyrdom of
St. Peter at the foot of the Vatican hill in 67, during the first
persecution of the Christians. The saint was buried nearby, and this turned the Vatican into a place of pilgrimage. Above the tomb of the saint,
Pope Anacletus built an
oratory, which in 324 Emperor
Constantine turned into a huge
basilica devoted to the prince of the
Apostles. This church, known today as
Old Saint Peter's, soon became (until its destruction in the 16th century, when the new
Saint Peter's was erected in its place) one of the centers of Christianity.
Middle Ages: Civitas Leonina During the early
Middle Ages the
bridge of Nero fell into ruins, while the Mausoleum of Hadrian was converted into a stronghold (
Castel Sant'Angelo), the possession of which ensured control of the city. Despite the wars and invasions that plagued Rome during those centuries, the flood of pilgrims to the tomb of the apostle never stopped. Pilgrims of the same nationality gathered together in associations named
Scholae, whose task was to host and to aid men and women of the same nation coming to Rome. The most famous were those of the
Franks,
Saxons,
Frisians and
Lombards. Each
Schola had its own hospice and church. One of the first – the
Schola Saxonum - was built during the 8th century by
Ina or Ine, king of the
West Saxons. That hospice became the core of the future
Hospital of Santo Spirito, one of the oldest and largest in Rome, founded by
Pope Innocent III in 1198. Near the hospital was erected the church of
Santo Spirito in Sassia. The German pilgrims gave the zone around their
Scholae the name
Burg (fortified town), which, italianised, became the name of the quarter. , called in
Roman dialect er Corridore ("the Corridor"), seen from
Borgo S. Angelo:
Via dei Corridori (the ancient ''Borgo dell'Elefante'', so named after
Hanno the elephant), and Saint Peter's dome are in the background Since it lay outside
Aurelian's Walls, the Borgo was always exposed to attacks. During the 8th and 9th centuries, the quarter – together with the basilica - was plundered several times by
Saracens who landed in
Portus, and devastated by fires (that of 847 was immortalised by
Raphael in a
fresco painted in the
stanze vaticane). Finally,
Pope Leo IV built the walls which still bear his name. On June 27, 852 the Pope, accompanied by the clergy and people, started this undertaking walking bare-foot along the circuit of the new walls. Then, in order to augment the population, Pope Leo settled several families of
Corsicans in the Borgo. Since that time, the quarter was no longer considered a part of Rome, but a separate town, the
Leonine City (
Civitas Leonina), with its own magistrates and governor. It was only in 1586, under
Pope Sixtus V, that the Borgo, as fourteenth rione, became again a part of Rome. The Leonine walls, which incorporated an older wall built by
Totila during the
Gothic War, still exist between the Vatican and the Castle, where they bear the name of
Passetto. This constitutes a covered passage, which could be used – and actually has been used several times - by the Pope as an escape route from his residence to the Castle in case of danger. portraying pilgrims reaching Rome during the Jubilee of 1300. They are approaching the Leonine City from N (
Prati di Castello). The hills in the background are (from right to left) Monte Mario, Vatican and Gianicolo. In the Middle Ages, the quarter was not much populated, with sparse houses, some churches and a lot of vegetable gardens. There were also several
brick furnaces, using the clay abundant in the Vatican and
Gianicolo hills. A small harbor, the
Porto Leonino, later used to deliver the
travertine blocks needed to build the new Saint Peter's, existed south of the castle. The pilgrims going to St. Peter's and coming from the left bank through Ponte Sant'Angelo, after entering a
gate (later named
Porta Castello) could walk through the
Borgo of the Saxons (today's
Borgo Santo Spirito) or the Porticus or
Portica (named now
Porticus Sancti Petri), which was still in place. Those coming from
Trastevere along the route that would later become
Via della Lungara used the
posterula Saxonum (today's
Porta Santo Spirito), and, finally, the pilgrims coming from the north (
monte Mario) following the
Via Francigena, entered through
Porta San Pellegrino (also named
Viridaria because of its vicinity to the
Vatican Gardens). In his
Divine Comedy,
Dante describes the great crowds of pilgrims visiting the Leonine City during the first
Jubilee, which took place in 1300 under
Boniface VIII. come i Roman per l’essercito molto, l’anno del giubileo, su per lo ponte hanno a passar la gente modo colto, che da l’un lato tutti hanno la fronte verso ’l castello e vanno a Santo Pietro, da l’altra sponda vanno verso ’l monte. as, in the year of Jubilee, the Romans, confronted by great crowds, contrived a plan that let the people pass across the bridge, for to one side went all who had their eyes upon the Castle, heading toward St. Peter’s, and to the other, those who faced the Mount. During the
Avignon Papacy the Borgo, together with Rome, suffered decay. The Portica collapsed, and on its place was built the road of
Borgo Vecchio, also named
Carriera Martyrum after the martyrs going to death in the
Circus of Nero. During that time only Borgo Santo Spirito and
Borgo Vecchio afforded access to reach Saint Peter's from the left bank.
Renaissance Age played an important role in Borgo's town planning. The most famous among his children,
Cesare Borgia, lived in the Leonine City. The recovery began with the end of the
Western Schism and the beginning of the
Renaissance. By that time, the center of gravity of Rome began to shift from the zone around
Campidoglio, where medieval Rome had developed, to the
Campo Marzio plain. At the same time, the Popes abandoned finally the
Lateran complex for the Vatican, which now became the new center of power in Rome. The large amount of building activity and above all the rebuilding of
Saint Peter, which was the ultimate result of this translocation, attracted several artists to the Borgo, while the renewed flood of pilgrims boosted commerce. Under
Nicholas V,
Bernardo Rossellino planned three diverging roads with arcades going to Saint Peter, but the Pontiff's death blocked the project.
Sixtus IV opened a new road parallel to the Passetto, named after him
via Sistina (later ''Borgo Sant'Angelo''). Magnificent buildings were built at the beginning of the 16th century by high prelates and aristocrats, including
Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila, designed by
Raphael; the
Palazzo Caprini by
Donato Bramante (a house that Raphael chose to buy, and later became part of the
Palazzo dei Convertendi);
Palazzo Castellesi, built by
Cardinal Adriano Castellesi, attributed to
Andrea Bregno or Bramante and a small-scale copy of the
Palazzo della Cancelleria, and
Palazzo dei Penitenzieri, perhaps designed by of
Baccio Pontelli. The last three palaces faced a small square,
Piazza del Cardinale di S. Clemente (later
Piazza Scossacavalli), which became the most important in the Borgo. , demolished in the 17th century to open the new
piazza Rusticucci, so called after the eponymous palace Also wealthy
bourgeoises, such as Febo Brigotti and Jacopo da Brescia, the doctors respectively of
Paul III and Leo X, had their houses built in the Borgo. The Leonine City at that time was also renowned in Rome for its
stufe. These buildings, whose tradition came from
Germany (the name comes from the
German word
stube), were something between a
Roman bath and a modern
sauna, and were often attended by artists, who could freely sketch nudes there (Raffaello himself was owner of a
stufa in Borgo, near his palace).
Golden age and creation of the spina In order to address the traffic problems in the bustling Borgo, a new road, the
Via Alexandrina or
Recta, later named
Borgo Nuovo, was opened during the Jubilee of 1500 by Pope
Alexander VI Borgia was opened between
Castel Sant'Angelo and
Saint Peter's Square. The
Borgo Nuovo paralleled to the north the existing road of
Borgo Vecchio, creating a distinct row of houses between these two roads formed the so-called "spina" (named thus on account of its similarity to the dividing line of an ancient Roman Circus). At about its middle, the spina was interrupted by a small square, called
Piazza Scossacavalli. A recurrent theme of Roman
city planning, were the various projects contemplating the demolition of the spina: starting with, that of
Carlo Fontana in the late 17th century; and ending, in 1936, when, under
Benito Mussolini and
Pius XI, this task was finally accomplished to create the wide
Via della Conciliazione in the space between the form
Borgo Nouvo and
Borgo Vecchio. , is the only church in Rome whose
dome has no
drum. The lower height allowed the Castle's gunners (who owned a
chapel there) to practise their shooting skills on the
Gianicolo. The golden Age of the Borgo reached its apogee during the reign of the two
Florentine Popes,
Leo X and
Clement VII, both members of the
Medici family. Under the latter, the quarter had a population of 4,926 inhabitants, almost all bachelors and non-Roman. Nine out of the twenty five Cardinals belonging to the
Curia, each of whom maintained a court comprising hundreds of people, were living here. . In the background are shown the church of
San Giacomo and on the left side
Palazzo Giraud. In the middle stands the fountain of
Carlo Maderno, now re-erected in front of
Sant'Andrea della Valle, in
Sant'Eustachio. All this came to an abrupt end on May 6, 1527, when the soldiers of
Charles V entered the Leonine City and mercilessly plundered it, so starting the
Sack of Rome.
Clement VII barely escaped capture, running through the elevated Passetto (one block north of the spina) in his night dress and locking himself within Castel Sant'Angelo, while all the
Swiss Guards, except those defending his escape, were killed near the obelisk. Despite this disaster, the quarter was able to recover quite quickly.
Paul III restored the walls, erecting three new
ramparts and the still unfinished Porta Santo Spirito (the work of
Antonio da Sangallo the younger). The Borgo continued to grow to such an extent, that in 1565
Pius IV started the construction of three new roads, all north of the Passetto, named respectively
Borgo Pio (after himself), Borgo Vittorio (after the victory of
Lepanto) and Borgo Angelico (after Angelo, his own first name prior to his election). In order to boost the new settlement, he gave tax privileges to the Romans who choose to build their houses here. New Walls, and a new monumental gate (
Porta Angelica), were built to protect the new area, which in honor of the Pope was named
Civitas Pia.
Pius IV also demolished several old churches and monasteries: among these, in 1564, the old Church of
Santa Maria in Traspontina, which lay directly next to the Castle. A new church bearing the same name was built in 1587 in the middle of Borgo Nuovo.
XIV Rione of Rome On December 9, 1586 (the year when
Domenico Fontana erected in Saint Peter's Square the
obelisk once standing in the Circus of Nero),
Pope Sixtus V declared Borgo the fourteenth Rione of the city. Its
coat of arms represents a Lion (representing the Leonine City), and three Mounts and a Star (taken from the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus). At the beginning of the 17th century
Pope Paul V restored the
Aqua Traiana, an ancient Roman
Aqueduct, and had several fountains built in the Rione (among them, that designed by
Carlo Maderno in
Piazza Scossacavalli, now placed in front of the church of
Sant'Andrea della Valle).
Pope Alexander VII, after the completion of the colonnade designed by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (built between 1656 and 1665), ordered the demolition of the first block in front of it. He created so the
Piazza Rusticucci, the vestibule to Saint Peter's Square. Among the other buildings, which then went lost, there was
Palazzo Branconio. During the 18th and the early 19th centuries, the Borgo kept its characteristics. The bourgeoises abandoned the rione for the new settlements in
Campo Marzio, and Borgo became a quarter inhabited by simple people (artisans or workers at the Vatican), very devoted yet always open to new ideas, and men of the church, who appreciated the vicinity to the Holy See. Many sellers of religious goods, named
Paternostrari or
Coronari (
rosary makers) had their shops here. At the edge of the quarter, in
Vicolo degli ombrellari, a small lane near Borgo Pio, were the shops of the Roman
umbrella makers, gathered there because of the bad smell coming from the oiled silk. In Borgo Vecchio several small
foundries were active, where artistic objects made of bronze were cast. Particularly characteristic was the making of
bells: the last foundry, located in
Vicolo del Farinone, closed around 1995, after an activity lasted about 450 years. In the Borgo were also located many famous
osterie, where Romans and pilgrims could eat and drink wine. Another profession peculiar to the men of the Borgo was that of
headsman ("
boia"). In fact, the executioner was forbidden to live on the left bank, and even to go there (
Boia non passa Ponte, in
English: "the headsman cannot cross the bridge", was a Roman
proverb), but had to stay in the Leonine City. The most important yearly event for the rione was the spectacular
procession of
Corpus Domini, which started and finished in Saint Peter's, and was led by the Pope himself together with the
Cardinal Dean, during which each building was dressed with flags and standards. Things began to change again for the Borgo during the
French occupation under
Napoleon. The
Préfet of Rome,
Camille de Tournon, started the demolition of the spina, but the project had to be interrupted shortly after it began due to a lack of funds. During the Italian
Risorgimento the Borgo, together with Trastevere and
Monti, was one of the quarters of Rome where public opinion supported with great enthusiasm the struggle for Italian independence. When, shortly after the
September 20, 1870 the Italians offered the Pope full sovereignty over the Leonine City with all its inhabitants, this caused violent demonstrations in the Borgo. This offer was refused by
Pius IX, who preferred to declare himself a
prisoner of the Italian State and seclude himself in the Vatican complex. After 1870, the walls of Pius IV, which bordered the Rione to the north, were pulled down, together with the Porta Angelica, to ease communication with the new Rione of
Prati. Between 1886 and 1911 a new bridge,
Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II, located slightly north of the ruins of Nero's Bridge, connected the new avenue of
Corso Vittorio Emanuele with Borgo.
1936-1950: the destruction of the Spina in morning haze. The picture was taken from the
Palazzo dei Penitenzieri, so named after the priests who were in charge of
confessing the foreign pilgrims in Saint Peter, and offered
Absolution touching them with a rod. They acquired the palace in 1655. This situation changed forever in 1936 when Mussolini and Pius XI approved a plan by the Roman architects
Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli to demolish the
spina, a neighborhood sandwiched between the Renaissance-era roads
Borgo Nuovo and
Borgo Vecchio that linked Saint Peter's to Castel Sant'Angelo. An agreement between the two leaders was possible because of the new climate of collaboration between the State and the Church following the signing of the
Lateran Treaties in 1929. On October 23, 1936 (the day after the anniversary of the
March on Rome), Mussolini, standing on a roof, gave the first stroke of the pickaxe. By October 8, 1937, the
spina ceased to exist, and Saint Peter was freely visible from Castel Sant'Angelo. In the space between the two ancient roads, a new road celebrating the reconciliation () of the pope and the Italian State was built, the
Via della Conciliazione. by
Ettore Roesler Franz (about 1880). The house on the left in foreground belongs to the spina. The bell tower of
Santa Maria in Traspontina, located across the
Borgo Nouvo is visible to the right of the lane. Due to
World War II, the work was interrupted. After the war, although the political and cultural climate had changed, the government and the Vatican decided to finish the project. Two
Propylaea were built in front of Saint Peter's Square (inside that on the south side was enclosed the ancient church of
San Lorenzo in piscibus), and two others at the beginning of the road. The road was finished in time for the Jubilee of 1950, by putting along it two rows of obelisks (which the Romans quickly christened "the suppositories"). The result was that almost all the houses of the Rione south of the Passetto were demolished, with mostly new construction lining the
Via della Conciliazione. A few major buildings including
Santa Maria in Traspontina (the
parish church of Borgo),
Palazzo Torlonia, and
Palazzo dei Penitenzieri were spared because they were more or less on axis with the new road. All the others were either pulled down and rebuilt with their fronts on the new roads (like
Palazzo dei Convertendi, rebuilt to align with the Via della Conciliazione, and the houses of Febo Brigotti and Jacopo da Brescia, whose façades were reassembled on the new
Via dei Corridori), or, like the small churches of San Giacomo a Scossacavalli and Sant'Angelo ai Corridori, formerly built along the Piazza Scossacavalli and along the Passetto, simply demolished and never rebuilt. Besides a few drawings, no scientific documentation of the old quarter was taken. Most of the inhabitants, whose families had been living and working in Borgo for centuries, were moved to the outskirts in the middle of the
Campagna, as
Acilia. That happened because no new apartment houses were built, but only offices, mainly used by the Vatican. Judgement about the whole undertaking, controversial since the beginning, appears now to be largely negative. In fact, besides the destruction of many ancient edifices and, above all, of a whole social tissue, what was lost forever was the "surprise" (typical of the
Baroque), when, at the very end of the narrow and dark lanes of the Borgo, the huge Piazza and Basilica suddenly appeared. Now, instead, Saint Peter's appears in the distance, flattened as in a postcard, and the sense of perspective gets lost as well. During the 1930s extensive demolition affected also the northwestern part of the rione (
Via di Porta Angelica e
Via del Mascherino). These were officially undertaken in order to better define the border between Italy and the new Vatican State. File:Demolition of the Spina di Borgo 2.jpg|Demolition of the Spina di Borgo at
Piazza Scossacavalli (1937) File:Demolition of the Spina di Borgo 1.jpg|The first stretch of the Spina di Borgo during its demolition (1937)
Today Since 1950, the remaining
Borghiciani (the name by which the inhabitants of the Borgo are called in
Roman dialect), live north of the Passetto, where the quarter retained until recent times its character. Several high prelates live or lived there: among them, late
Pope Benedict XVI, who had been living in Borgo Pio for more than twenty years before his election to the Papacy. South of the Passetto the quarter houses only some offices (mainly belonging to the Vatican), an
Auditorium, and the huge complex of the Hospital of Santo Spirito. ==Geography==