Italy is the heiress of the great Roman Empire; in modern times, the most striking eras for it were the Renaissance and Baroque. Already the masters of the Renaissance, with their dream of harmony, sought not only to design the building, but also to equip the surrounding space. And the Baroque style embodied a truly large-scale urban development projects. Great examples of the ensemble solution of urban development are the square of Rome.
The first Renaissance ensemble of Rome, performed according to a single plan, was the design of Capitoline Hill. By the middle of the XVI century, the historic city center was in complete disrepair. The hill on which the temple of Jupiter was located in antiquity was devastated by barbarians. Pope Paul III - Alexander Farnese, commissioned the design of Michelangelo’s Capitol Square. The complex was supposed to be located on a hill. The architect used this feature to give the ensemble a solemn monumentality. To get to the square you need to climb the magnificent staircase-ramp - Cordonate, which has very long and slightly inclined steps. The brothers Dioscuri, Castor and Poluks, are entering the square, these are statues from an ancient Roman temple.
In the depths of the square is a three-story, crowned by the Palazzo dei Senatori tower - the Senators Palace, rebuilt by Michelangelo from the medieval town hall. Its facade is decorated with ceremonial, unfolded stairs. In the central niche, Michelangelo planned to place a colossal statue of Jupiter of Capitoline. Instead, there is currently a small statue of the goddess Roma, the patroness of Rome. On her sides are the figures of the Nile and the Tiber, the work of Michelangelo himself. To the right of the entrance of the Palazzo dei Conservatory is the Palace of the Conservatives. The building opposite - the Palazzo Nuovo - the New Palace, it houses the Capitoline Museum. The Palazzo Nuovo is a mirror image of the Palace of Conservatives.
In the center of Piazzale Michelangelo erected an antique equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. This was the first example of placing a sculptural monument in the center of the square. Michelangelo placed the statue strictly on the main axis, thereby directing the movement of a person bypassing the center of the square. The square has the shape of a trapezoid, at the Palazzo dei Senatori it is wider than at the entrance. This achieves a sense of scope, and the building, located in the depths, seems more solemn. Michelangelo used two colors for the blind area. The dynamic spiral pattern seems to scatter from the center, and is opposed to a calm planning decision. The area is unusual not only in shape, it is convex, in the middle it is higher than at the edges. And the monument in the center, and the drawing of the blind area, and the uneven surface, everything impedes the rectilinear movement. A person must walk around the square, and during this movement she appears before him in all the variety of her aspects. Architecture leads both the movement and the development of the senses.
One of the most significant and interesting urban development projects in Rome is connected with the Piazza del Popolo - Piazza Naroda. The beginning of its arrangement dates back to the 16th century, and the final completion to the 19th. Now, having an elliptical shape, the square is decorated with two fountains and an Egyptian obelisk of the 12th century BC. In the XVII century, three streets were laid from People’s Square, straight as an arrow and converging at one point - Obelisk Flaminiev. That is, the obelisk, as a kind of landmark, is visible from the opposite end of each of these streets. The beginning of the three rays was framed by the construction in the XVII century by the architect Raynaldi of two churches - Santa Maria Miracoli and Santa Maria Montezanto. Built almost simultaneously, slightly different in plan and interiors, these churches have exactly the same facades. There are three churches dedicated to the Mother of God in Piazza Naroda, the third is Santa Maria del Popolo with two magnificent masterpieces of Caravaggio.
In Rome, a city with such an ancient architectural history, the shape of the square is often set by the previous building. This is the area of Navona. This baroque square is located on the site of the ancient Domitian Stadium. Some houses in the square were built from the ruins of the stadium, and from it the square got its oblong shape. Piazza Navona is decorated with three fountains, and its architectural center is the church of Sant Agnese in Agone - Saint Agnes in the Arena.
One of the most impressive squares in Rome is the square in front of the Cathedral of Saint Per. This is the creation of Gian-Lorenzo Bernini, he, like no one else, realized that baroque is the art of the ensemble. In fact, this is an ensemble of two squares. The first adjoins the cathedral, it is framed by galleries and has the shape of a trapezoid, expanding in depth. The second has the shape of an oval, it faces the city. The ellipse is surrounded by colonnades, which consist of 284 Doric columns arranged in four rows. Above them are 140 statues of saints. Fountains are installed at the symmetrical points of the oval, and an obelisk between them. The colonnades have an ideal semicircular shape and this is easy to see - if you go to one of the fountains, it will seem that the nearest colonnade consists of one row of columns. The general outline of the ensemble of the square resembles a key, recalling the words of Christ addressed to the apostle Peter: "And I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven." Here you can feel the characteristic effect of baroque pulling into the depth of the architectural space.
