Piazza Barberini is a large

piazza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

in the ''centro storico'' or city center of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and situated on the

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 c ...

. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt.

History

The square is on the site of the ancient circus of Flora, where floral games took place in May to celebrate springtime. The property was previously known as the " Piazza Grimana". It was purchased in 1625 by Cardinal Francesco Barberini in order to construct the

Palazzo Barberini The Palazzo Barberini () is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome. History Around 1549 Cardinal ...

."Piazza Palestrini o Barberini", Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour, Stanford University
/ref> The substantial

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

palace was built in an elevated position on the south side of the piazza. Originally, there was a large entrance gateway to the palace designed by the Baroque painter and architect

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

on the south east corner of the piazza but this was demolished to make way for the construction of a new road in the 19th century. However, its appearance is known from engravings and early photographs of the piazza. The Palazzo contained the "Teatro Barberini", built by Bernini in 1634, and intended as a court theatre. It was entered by way of a large arch."Piazza Barberini", Roma Segreta
/ref> At the centre of the piazza is the ''Fontana del Tritone'' or

Triton Fountain Fontana del Tritone (''Triton Fountain'') is a seventeenth-century fountain in Rome, by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Commissioned by his patron, Pope Urban VIII, the fountain is located in the Piazza Barberini, near the entrance t ...

(1642–3) sculpted by

Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor ...

. Another fountain, the Fontana delle Api (1644), 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, the piazza was one of the locations where unidentified corpses were displayed for the public to identify. Between 1632 and 1822 an antique

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

stood here. It was found in 1570 outside the

Porta Maggiore The Porta Maggiore ("Larger Gate"), or Porta Prenestina, is one of the eastern gates in the ancient but well-preserved 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome. Through the gate ran two ancient roads: the Via Praenestina and the Via Labicana. The Via Pr ...

. In 1632 it was acquired by

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

(Maffeo Barberini) for the grounds of his new family palazzo. In 1822

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464. Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...

had it transferred to the gardens of the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...

. The piazza was the site of the start of the "Triumph of strawberries", a procession of carriages, carts, and agricultural floats adorned with strawberries and festoons of flowers with a statue of S.Antonio at the head. It was led by the oldest peasant to Piazza della Rotonda, where amid folk dancing, fresh strawberries were distributed to those present.

Modern geography

In 1935 the Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni (INA) bought the complex bounded by Piazza Barberini, Via Vittorio Veneto, Via dei Cappuccini (formerly Via Ferrea) and Via della Purificazione; but then had to fend off a purchase by the ''Giornale d’Italia'', backed by the minister for the Press and Propaganda."Il palazzo INA di piazza Barberini conteso al tempo del regime: viaggio tra le carte d’archivio", Corporate Historical Archive, April 20, 2018
/ref> Today, the piazza is large crossroad for Rome's traffic and, since 1980, has accommodated a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

on Line A of the

Rome Metro The Rome Metro () is a rapid transit system that operates in Rome, Italy. It started operation in 1955, making it the oldest in the country. The Metro comprises three lines – A (orange), B (blue) and C (green) – which operate on of rout ...

, called '' Barberini – Fontana di Trevi''. Metropolitana di Roma - logo linea A

Notes

References

External links

Piazza Barberini with a lot of pictures
{{Authority control

Barberini The House of Barberini is a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in the 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban pal ...

Barberini family Rome R. II Trevi Rome R. III Colonna