Piazza Barberini
Encyclopedia
Piazza
A piazza is a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza...
in the centro storico or city center of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy and situated on the Quirinal Hill
Quirinal Hill
The Quirinal Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian Head of State, who resides in the Quirinal Palace; by metonymy "the Quirinal" has come to stand for the Italian President.- History :It was...
. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt.
The current appellation was given in 1625 when it was named after the Palazzo Barberini
Palazzo Barberini
Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome, facing the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi and is home to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.-History:...
, the substantial Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
palace built in an elevated position on the south side of the piazza for the Barberini
Barberini
The Barberini are a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII...
. Originally, there was a large entrance gateway to the palace designed by the Baroque painter and architect Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona, by the name of Pietro Berrettini, born Pietro Berrettini da Cortona, was the leading Italian Baroque painter of his time and also one of the key architects in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important decorator...
on the south east corner of the piazza but this was demolished to make way for the construction of a new road in the nineteenth century. However, its appearance is known from engravings and early photographs of the piazza
At the centre of the piazza is the Fontana del Tritone or Triton Fountain
Triton Fountain
The Triton Fountain is a seventeenth century fountain in Rome, by the well-known Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini...
(1642-3) sculpted by Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
. Another fountain, the Fontana delle Api
Fontana delle Api
The Fontana delle Api is a fountain located in the Piazza Barberini in Rome where the piazza meets Via Sistina. It was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini completed in the April 1644....
(1627-1629), also by Bernini is in the nearby Via Vittorio Veneto but it has been reconstructed somewhat arbitrarily following its removal from its previous position on the corner of a palace where the Piazza Barberini meets the Via Sistina.
Until the 18th century, unknown human corpses were displayed here for public identification. Between 1632 and 1822 an antique obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
stood here but has been transferred to Villa Medici
Villa Medici
The Villa Medici is a mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French...
.
Modern geography
Today, the piazza is large crossroad for Rome's traffic and, since 1980, has accommodated a station on Line A of the Rome MetroRome Metro
The Rome Metro is an underground public transportation system that operates in Rome, Italy and opened in 1955. There are currently two metro lines, the A line and the B line . A third line, the green C line, and a new branch of the B line, are currently under construction. Plans have also been...
, called Barberini - Fontana di Trevi
Barberini - Fontana di Trevi (Rome Metro)
Barberini - Fontana di Trevi is an underground station on Line A of the Rome Metro inaugurated in 1980 and situated under Piazza Barberini in Trevi. Originally, the station was simply named Barberini, but this was extended in 2000....
.
.