 Via dei Coronari | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| Location | Rome, Italy |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°54′2″N12°28′8″E / 41.90056°N 12.46889°E |
Via dei Coronari (known colloquially in Rome as I Coronari) is a street in the historic center of Rome. The road, flanked by buildings mostly erected in the 15th and the 16th century, belongs entirely to the rione Ponte and is one of the most picturesque roads of the old city, having maintained the character of an Italian Renaissance street. [1]
It is about 500m long and runs in E-W direction, between Largo di Tor Sanguigna and Piazza dei Coronari. From there the Vicolo del Curato is its west extension. Behind Tor Sanguigna the straight path continues east, passing under a scenic arch into Via di S. Agostino and Via delle Coppelle. The continuity between Via dei Coronari and the latter roads was destroyed in the 1910s through the opening of Via Zanardelli. [2]
Via dei Coronari forms the south border of the neighborhood of Tor di Nona: to the southwest it laps the small hill named Monte Giordano, topped by the mighty Palazzo Taverna.
The road existed already in the Roman age, when it was part of the straight road correspondent to the modern axis Via delle Coppelle – Via dei Coronari, known under the arbitrary name of Via recta ("straight road"). [1] [3]
The street name comes from the Coronari: these, also named Paternostrari, were the sellers of rosary beads ("corone" in Italian), holy miniatures and other holy objects; they had their shops along the road, [1] [4] strategically situated, since the way, leading to the Pons Aelius, was part of the itinerary to the Basilica of St. Peter along which walked the majority of pilgrims, entering Rome from the Porta del Popolo. [5]
During the middle Ages, the road linked two different neighbourhoods; to the east lay the Scorticlaria, (a toponym used between the 10th and the 15th century, which during the Middle Ages became also part of the rione's name: Ponti et Scorticlarorum ) so called because of the many dealers there in leather (Latin : scortum) goods; to the West lay the neighborhood Immagine di Ponte (the "image of the Rione Ponte"), named after a wayside shrine rebuilt in the 16th century on a corner of Palazzo Serra and still in place. [6] This was commissioned by Protonotary apostolic Alberto Serra di Monferrato to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. [1]
During the Renaissance, the street was smoothed and paved by pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471–84). [1] As in other roads of the city, the pope ordered that all the porticoes which flanked the street be walled up, consequently the street lost its medieval character. [7] High prelates, nobles and merchants, attracted by the fiscal advantages promised by the pope to those who had built there, erected their elegant houses and palaces here, whose façades were often adorned with sgraffito paintings, most of which are now faded away. [7] [8] Many houses bore (and some still bear) mottos incised in marble plaques, which give us a hint of the owner's philosophy of life. [7]
In the same period, the neighborhood became home to several decent prostitutes, the cortigiane, highly educated women who were lovers of prelates and aristocrats: among them was Fiammetta Michaelis (the lover of Cesare Borgia), whose home still exists in the part of the street west of S. Salvatore in Lauro. [9]
After the Renaissance, the street and its surroundings decayed. The well-off moved from the Renaissance quarter further north to the rione Campo Marzio, in the zone of Piazza di Spagna. [7]
After the Italian conquest of Rome in 1870, there was a project to enlarge the road, but the mayor of Rome of that time, Ernesto Nathan, canceled it. [7]
The road has been largely spared the demolitions which affected central Rome in the Fascist period. Nevertheless, in 1939, because of the policy of diradamento ("thinning"), carried out by the city government in the old center, which envisaged the destruction of single blocks in order to lower the population density, the street lost its unity because of demolitions north of the church of San Salvatore in Lauro and near Via Vecchiarelli. [1]
Starting with the 1950s, the shops of the road were occupied by many junk-dealers, which with time became antique dealers, transforming the road into one of the three centers of art commerce in Rome, together with Via Giulia and Via del Babuino. Since the 2000s, many of these shops have been substituted with others, like pizzerias, gelaterias and souvenir sellers, servicing tourists en route to St. Peter. [10]
Via dei Coronari travel guide from Wikivoyage
Media related to Via dei Coronari (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Piazza Venezia | Landmarks of Rome Via dei Coronari | Succeeded by Via del Corso |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
Campo de' Fiori is a rectangular square south of Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy, at the border between rione Parione and rione Regola. It is diagonally southeast of the Palazzo della Cancelleria and one block northeast of the Palazzo Farnese. Campo de' Fiori, translated literally from Italian, means "field of flowers". The name dates to the Middle Ages when the area was a meadow.
Ponte is the 5th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. V, and is located in Municipio I. Its name comes from Ponte Sant'Angelo, which connects Ponte with the rione of Borgo. This bridge was built by Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD to connect his mausoleum to the rest of the city. Though Pope Sixtus V changed the rione limits, so that the bridge belongs now to Borgo, not to Ponte anymore, the area has kept its name and a bridge as its coat of arms.
Parione is the 6th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. VI, and belongs to the Municipio I. Its name comes from the fact that in the area there was a huge ancient wall, maybe belonging to the stadium of Domitianus; the nickname people gave to this wall was Parietone, from which the name Parione.
Colonna is the 3rd rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. III and located at the city's historic center in Municipio I. It takes its name from the Column of Marcus Aurelius in the Piazza Colonna, the rione's main square.
Regola is the 7th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. VII, and belongs to the Municipio I. The name comes from Arenula, which was the name of the soft sand that the river Tiber left after the floods, and that built strands on the left bank.
Sant'Angelo is the 11th rione of Rome, Italy, located in Municipio I. Often written as rione XI - Sant'Angelo, it has a coat of arms with an angel on a red background, holding a palm branch in its left hand. In another version, the angel holds a sword in its right hand and a scale in its left.
Borgo is the 14th rione of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIV and is included within Municipio I.
Sallustiano is the 17th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. XVII. It is located within the Municipio I and the name refers to the ancient Gardens of Sallust, which were located here.
Castro Pretorio is the 18th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. XVIII, and it is located within the Municipio I. The rione takes its name by the ruins of the Castrum Praetorium, the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, included in the Aurelian Walls.
Campo Marzio is the 4th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. IV. It belongs to the Municipio I and covers a smaller section of the area of the ancient Campus Martius. The logo of this rione is a silver crescent on a blue background.
The Via Giulia is a street of historical and architectural importance in Rome, Italy, which runs along the left (east) bank of the Tiber from Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti, near Ponte Sisto, to Piazza dell'Oro. It is about 1 kilometre long and connects the Regola and Ponte Rioni.
San Salvatore in Lauro is a Catholic church in central Rome, Italy. It is located on a piazza of the same name in the rione Ponte. It stands on Via Vecchiarelli, just south of the Lungotevere Tor di Nona and north of via dei Coronari. It is the "national church" of the marchigiani, the inhabitants of the Marche region of Italy. The current protector of this titulus is Cardinal-Deacon Angelo Comastri.
The Corsican Guard was a military unit of the Papal States composed exclusively of Corsican mercenaries on duty in Rome, having the functions of an urban militia and guard for the Pope.
Santi Simone e Giuda is a deconsecrated Catholic church in the center of Rome, Italy. It is important for historical reasons.
Borgo Nuovo, originally known as via Alessandrina, also named via Recta or via Pontificum, was a road in the city of Rome, Italy, important for historical and architectural reasons. Built by Pope Alexander VI Borgia for the holy year of 1500, the road became one of the main centers of the high Renaissance in Rome. Borgo Nuovo was demolished together with the surrounding quarter in 1936–37 due to the construction of Via della Conciliazione.
Borgo Vecchio, also named in the Middle Ages Via Sancta, Carriera Sancta or Carriera Martyrum, was a road in the city of Rome, Italy, important for historical and architectural reasons. The road was destroyed together with the adjacent quartier in 1936–37 due to the construction of Via della Conciliazione.
Piazza Scossacavalli, also named Piazza di San Clemente, Piazza di Trento, Piazza d'Aragona, Piazza Salviati, was a square in Rome, Italy, important for historical and architectonic reasons. The square was demolished together with the surrounding quarter in 1937 due to the construction of Via della Conciliazione.
Pinciano is the 3rd quartiere of Rome (Italy), identified by the initials Q. III. The name derives from the Pincian Hill. It belongs to the Municipio II.
Borgo Santo Spirito is a street in Rome, Italy, important for historical and artistic reasons. From a historical point of view, it is considered the most interesting street in the Borgo district. Of medieval origin, it is linked to the foundation of the ancient fortified hospice for pilgrims from England, the Burgus Saxonum. The street houses the oldest Roman hospital, the Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Saxia, which gave it its name. Heavily altered during the works for the opening of Via della Conciliazione, it nevertheless avoided the fate of the two parallel streets of Borgo Nuovo and Borgo Vecchio, both destroyed.
