Piazza del Campidoglio - Rome, Italy - Renaissance Architecture on Waymarking.com

Piazza del Campidoglio was designed by Michelangelo who designed it in detail, including the paving. Its slightly trapezoidal floor, on which Michelangelo lined the new palaces, had the function to expand the eye to focus on the Palazzo Senatorio.

It is said that the reform of the square was commissioned by Pope Paul III, who was ashamed of the state in which the famous hill was (then called colina caprina, that is, goat hill, being used as pasture for goats), place of the triunfal parade held in Rome in honor of King Charles V in 1536.

Michelangelo designed the new square completely, turning it not to the Roman Forum but to the Basilica of St. Peter, who represented the new political center of the city. Ge also decided to build a new palace, the Palacio Nuovo to close the view to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, redesigned the Palace of the Conservators removing all medieval structures and harmonizing it with the Palazzo Senatorio to adding double staircase used to access the new entry facing the square, not back towards the forum but to the square. Michelangelo aso designed the long stairway of la Cordonata overlooking the Aracoeli Square on a lower plane.

The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in gilded bronze, formerly located in the Plaza de San Giovanni in Laterano, was placed in the center of the square at the behest of Paul III (the original statue, after a long restoration that has brought to light traces of gold, is now preserved in the Capitoline Museums, while a copy was placed in the square).

The work was so slow that Michelangelo could only see finished the double staircase that served for the new entrance to Palazzo Senatorio. Over the years, works ewere completed following the original project and the square was completed in the seventeenth century. The paving, done according to the original designs of the artist was finished only in 1940.

The Cordonata is adorned with several sculptures: at the base are placed the statues of two lions in the middle of the statue of Cola di Rienzo, on top of the staircase are the statues of the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux, from a temple of the Dioscuri in the Circus Flaminius and two marble trophies of arms, called I Trofei di Mario ("The trophies of Mario"), from the eponymous nymphaeum Piazza Vittorio.

The Palazzo Senatorio is now the town hall in Rome, while the Capitoline Museums, opened in 1735 (one of the oldest public museums in the world) are housed in two palaces, linked by an underground gallery, the Galleria Lapidary.

The image of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, and the design of the plaza floor also appear on an Italian passport.

From Wikipedia

"Piazza del Campidoglio is one of the most significant contributions ever made in the history of urban planning." - From Great Buildings of the World

Date of origin:: 1538 to ~ 1650 Architect(s): Michelangelo Buonarroti Style: High Renaissance (ca. 1500–1550) Web site of the object (if exists): [Web Link] Type of building (structure): Other... Address: Piazza di Campidoglio Rome, Italy

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