The builders of antiquity
Very little remains of the great Etruscan civilization. Only funerary remains have survived, which can be seen north of Rome at Cerveteri. His inventions, however, were widely adopted by the Romans, from architectural elements such as the arch or the vault, to urban planning concepts. To build faster and on a larger scale, the Romans also used new materials such as brick. Costing less than stone, brick was also lighter and easier to handle. But the great Roman invention was, of course, concrete. Like brick, it's easy to produce and use. Thanks to concrete, the Romans were able to build their vaults and domes on an ever larger scale and without intermediate supports. Masters of civil engineering, the Romans competed in ingenuity when it came to building monuments, many of which can still be seen today. Aurelian's fortifications encircling the city for almost 20 km, the 80,000 km of roads they built across the Empire and their impressive water supply and treatment system are perfect examples. They were also ingenious urban planners, devising a standard layout organized around two axes - the Cardo and the Decumanus - which intersect at a center where the forum, the heart of the city, is established. All the buildings of power are located here. The Roman temple stands on a high podium leading to a portico. The entrance is through the façade, and to facilitate its integration into the surrounding urban fabric, the temple is no longer entirely surrounded by columns, but has columns inserted into its walls on the sides. Roman religious architecture was also characterized by the use of domes. Hadrian's Pantheon is the most famous. Alongside the temple was the basilica, the city's center of commerce and trade, and of course the curia, the seat of power. This political architecture was complemented by a leisure architecture. Theaters and amphitheaters sprang up all over the city. They rubbed shoulders with architecture that could be described as commemorative, with triumphal arches and columns, edifices glorifying the history of Rome, such as the Trajan column. To cope with the ever-growing population, the Romans also invented collective architecture with theinsula. Built over several storeys, it could accommodate hundreds of people. Comfort was more than rudimentary, in stark contrast to the gentle way of life that prevailed in the villas whose aristocracy populated the countryside: all fantasies were permitted, and it was in these villas that the Romans developed their talent for staging terraces and gardens, as in the incredible Villa Adriana at Tivoli.
But above all, the Romans developed a taste for ornamentation and illusion. Where Greek architecture was concerned with truth and sobriety, Roman architecture was concerned with appearances. Everything had to impress. This is how they developed cladding and stucco techniques to mask the poverty of materials (brick, mortar) under marble slabs or several layers of plaster. Alongside the materials themselves, the Romans invented their own decorative style, taking the Greek orders (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian) and adding the composite or Tuscan order, a decorative formula combining the Ionic and Corinthian orders. Ornamented columns are set into the walls or juxtaposed to the arcade, losing any load-bearing function and becoming purely decorative elements. The Colosseum 's facade is the finest example of this concern for ornamentation, where the three orders are juxtaposed, with arches and columns adding an astonishing rhythm.
The beginnings of Christianity
The most surprising witnesses to early Christian activity are undoubtedly the catacombs. These 240 hectares of tunnels dug beneath the roads leading to the city are populated by cavities of varying degrees of richness, designed to house the remains of the dead. The early days of Christianity were also marked by the appearance of the first churches, built on ancient basilicas. From commercial temples, basilicas became religious temples. Their structure met the needs of Christian rites, in which the faithful had to be able to turn towards the altar and the priest. The rectangular plan of basilicas was thus transformed into the longitudinal plan of churches. The entrance is often preceded by a portico called the narthex. The main nave is lit by a series of openings at the top of the walls, while the vaulted apse is preceded by a triumphal arch. The nave's double-sloped roof rests on a wooden framework, generally concealed by a flat ceiling, as in the churches of Saint-Pierre and Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs. Gradually, the interior took on new structuring elements and spaces, such as the stone balustrades or chancels, the presbytery reserved for clergy and the cathedra for officiants. Eastern influences also transformed this early Christian architecture, as in the basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, with its triple apse and mosaic decoration. Sainte-Marie-Majeure demonstrates the evolution of Christian architecture. While its interior colonnades are ancient, its apse and mosaics are Byzantine, its bell tower is Romanesque, and its richly decorated chapels bear witness to the power of the papacy in later centuries.
The Roman Renaissance
After more than a century of exile in Avignon, the Papacy returned to Rome in 1420. In the other great cities of Italy, the first Renaissance of the Quattrocento was already working wonders, but in Rome, everything had to be done. And the Papacy understood this. It embarked on unprecedented patronage campaigns to build new buildings and carry out major urban renewal. In the 15th century, there were still few outstanding achievements, with the exception of the Palazzo Venezia and the enlargement of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo. By contrast, the 16th century was a century of creative effervescence. The architect became a recognized artist, emerging from anonymity. The creativity of the great masters of architecture was particularly evident on facades, where sculptural decoration became richer and more dynamic. One of the leading architects of this revival was Bramante, whose Tempietto is the finest example. As a rule, this type of memorial building follows a Greek cross plan, with the tomb of the martyr celebrated at its center. Here, however, Bramante opts for the purity of a circular plan. The colonnade surrounds a small cylindrical building surmounted by a dome, reminiscent of the ancient Pantheon. Bramante embraced the great principles of the Renaissance: a return to ancient forms and a constant search for proportion, perspective and harmony. Bramante was to apply all these principles in his plan for the reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica, a project entrusted to him by Pope Julius II, a great admirer of his Tempietto. The objective was clear: to appeal to the classical canons and favor a central plan, symbolizing the unity of the Church. Bramante therefore imagined a Greek cross plan with, at the crossing, a dome 40 m in diameter resting on four piers. 40 years after the foundation stone was laid, Michelangelo took over the project. He adopted Bramante's great ideas, but strengthened the pillars supporting the dome, and simplified the interior for greater clarity. Michelangelo's successors were to erect the great dome. The Palazzo Farnese is the finest example of civil Renaissance architecture. Antonio da Sangallo, a member of a prolific architectural dynasty, was the first to affix his signature to the building. He set the standard for this type of palace: quadrangular plan, inner courtyard with columns and pilasters one above the other, simple, sober façade with a clear separation between floors. He also imagined a gigantic vestibule with three naves. On his death, Michelangelo took over the project, harmoniously superimposing his vision on that of his predecessor. He covered the building with a cornice, and in the courtyard opted for purely decorative arches pierced in their centers by windows. On the façade, he replaced the arches and colonnades with pilasters and windows surmounted by pediments richly decorated by himself. The building was completed by Giacomo della Porta and Vignole, who applied Michelangelo's plans to the letter. Villas, too, were reinvented with Italian-style gardens. For the popes and the Roman aristocracy, taming nature by creating oases of precious essences punctuated by superb fountains and sculptures was another way of signifying their power.
Mannerism and Counter-Reformation
In 1527, Charles V's troops sacked the city. The ideals of the Renaissance began to waver. Some artists therefore sought to break away from them and infuse them with their own vision, in a cult of personal style or maniera. Mannerism was an art in movement, and it had to provoke surprise. The masses are accentuated, the forces and the weight highlighted in order to make the architecture more expressive. In 1539, while in charge of the redesign of the Capitoline square, Michelangelo imagined a new order: the colossal order. Rejecting conventions, he blurs the lines of sight by distorting perspectives, changing proportions and piling up or breaking ornaments. These effects of dramatization and this game with the codes are found in his work on St. Peter's Basilica, even if in this case Michelangelo respects more the classical canons. Baldassarre Peruzzi and his Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne with its facade worked with decorative moldings are also great representatives of this Mannerist trend that prefigures the arrival of the Baroque.
Faced with the vehemence of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church organized its response. The Council of Trent issued a certain number of rules to be applied, particularly in terms of architecture. The church of the Gesù is the most emblematic witness of this. Cardinal Alexander Farnese commissioned Vignole, known for his practical and rational architecture, to build it. With this church, Vignole established a model that would be used throughout the world: a single nave that directs the gaze of the faithful towards the priest, communicating chapels surmounted by tribunes, a barely marked transept whose crossing is surmounted by a dome, a very short choir and a two-story facade topped by a pediment.
Baroque shows
The Roman XVIIth century is the one of the movement and the setting in scene. It is that of the baroque. Still fighting against the Protestant Reformation, the Church wanted to edify and surprise the faithful. The baroque will be its style of propaganda. To break the lines and the forms, to curve them, to twist them, to create an ascending impulse, to play with the contrasts between shade and light, to scramble the tracks with the trompe-l'oeil, to alternate, to oppose, to put in movement: such are the great principles of this Roman baroque. Its two great representatives are Gian Lorenzo Bernini, known as Le Bernin, and François Castelli, known as Borromini. A visionary, Le Bernin envisaged his creations as a scenographer and expressed his taste for grandeur and effects. According to him, the church of Saint Andrew of the Quirinal is his most perfect creation. In addition to the unusual elliptical plan, Bernini framed the church with two concave screens. Another masterpiece of the master: St. Peter's Square. Its gigantic dimensions, its division into two spaces to allow the faithful to gradually isolate themselves from the city, its perimeter circumscribed by a double symmetrical colonnade (which he called "the maternal arms of the Church"), its double portico with 284 columns and 88 pilasters 20 m high and its 162 statues forming a procession leading to the basilica make it the symbol of the unified Church. Borromini, on the other hand, was interested in the complex patterns and forms of late antiquity, creating astonishing buildings. His church of Saint-Charles-aux-Quatre-Fontaines is a model of a Baroque building. The multiplication of ellipses gives the impression that the building oscillates and undulates, as does the façade built from concave and convex planes. The monumental effect is increased by the concentration and accentuation of elements whose lines of force tend upwards. In Piazza Navona, Borromini surprises with the façade of the church of Sant'Agnese, whose concave shape gives the impression that the square enters the building, while the church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza plays with curves and counter-curves and innovates with its poly-lobed dome.
From rococo to neoclassicism
Inspired by the grandiose, theatrical Baroque style, Rococo appeared in Rome in the 18th century, as in the piazza Sant'Ignazio, where the elegant facades of the three palaces are arranged like the backdrops of a theater stage. Its architect, Filippo Raguzzini, wanted to create a melodramatic effect in this piazza, which serves as the setting for the church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola. But the most famous example of this Rococo style is the monumental Trevi Fountain, which superimposes the façade of the Palazzo Poli on a triumphal arch with four colossal columns.
Gradually, however, the style returned to clearer lines and simpler forms. This was the advent of the neoclassical style. Where French classicism merely reproduced the surface decoration of ancient buildings, Roman neoclassicism resurrected Antiquity in all its grandeur and complexity. From the end of the 18thcentury , and throughout the 19th, intellectuals rediscovered Antiquity through archaeology. Excavations multiplied and incredible ancient sites were unearthed. One of the great names of this neoclassical movement was Giuseppe Valadier, an architect in the service of the Papal States and an urban planner. From 1813 onwards, he oversaw the major transformation of the city. To widen the Piazza del Popolo, he had his convent demolished. He also had two convents demolished to free up the Forum di Traiano for a piazza. He also imagined a piazza in front of the Pantheon to better appreciate its volumes. His aim was to redevelop the city while preserving and enhancing its heritage. In 1873, another urban planner, Alessandro Viviani, launched a new regulatory plan for Rome, to provide it with new infrastructures and larger districts to cope with its constant growth.
Gigantism and rationalism
At the beginning of the 20th century, Rome underwent major new urban transformations, including the creation of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, in the center of a brand new residential area. Also, two major roads (via Nazionale and via Cavour) were created to connect the center to the new train station. After a timid incursion of Art Nouveau in the Coppedè district, Rome turned to gigantism to symbolize the power of the unified nation of which it was the capital. In 1911, on the occasion of the International Exhibition, the Vittoriano was inaugurated, a gigantic monument in honor of Victor Emmanuel II. It prefigures the arrival of architectural rationalism, of which the Gruppo Sette is the most famous representative. Combining classicism and modernism, it is perfectly in line with the fascist vision of Mussolini who wants to give back to Rome its greatness. For the 1942 Universal Exhibition, he designed the EUR district with its famous Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, nicknamed the Square Colosseum (See thematic dossier).
Contemporary Rome
To coincide with the 1960 Olympic Games, concrete engineer Pier Luigi Nervi built his Palazetto dello Sport, while urban redevelopment projects aimed to relieve the city's traffic congestion. In the 1970s, the city redeveloped its outskirts along the lines of the large housing estates. It was at this time that the Corviale, or Il Serpentone as it is known to the locals, was built. Designed by Mario Fiorentino, the building is one kilometer long and houses 6,500 people. The city also created its own ring road and opened new roads and transport lines to open up its suburbs. At the dawn of the year 2000, the city experienced a new creative effervescence, with major restoration and construction campaigns, notably of churches such as Richard Meier's Dio Padre Misericordioso. Since then, the Eternal City has become home to some of the world's greatest architects. In 2002, Renzo Piano inaugurated his Auditorium Parco della Musica. In 2006, Richard Meier stirred up controversy with his pavilion designed to house the ancient Ara Pacis. Some cried globalization of Roman heritage! In 2012, Zaha Hadid endowed the city with her MAXXI, a beautiful concrete structure with curved lines. In 2016, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas presented their Rome Convention Centre, a transparent glass and steel cube inside which floats the Nuvola, the cloud. In autumn 2018, Jean Nouvel inaugurated his Palazzo Rhinoceros, flagship of the Alda Fendi Foundation. As for the Stadio della Roma, it is due to rise in 2027, for the team's centenary, and thus revitalize the Pietralata district. Other projects are in the pipeline... but will they see the light of day or remain unfinished, like Santiago Calatrava's Cité des Sports, whose structure, a wave of steel lace, is now used as a film set? Only time will tell..
