Abstract
In all likelihood, Rome was the first global city, holding such primacy for around two thousand years since the time when the Empire built strong integration and interdependence relationships with the whole oecumene. Against the backdrop of long-term beliefs powered by the Papacy, this paper highlights the main features of the global Rome as the very core of Christianity and, after several disruptive events from the Early Renaissance onwards, as a main destination of the Grand Tour. Making use of primary and secondary literature sources as well as of a substantial iconography, the paper investigates the interplay between power strategies and urban morphology—permanence/change—through two main lenses: (i) the ‘inertia’ over time of the radiocentric pattern of the Forma Urbis citywide, according to the old saying all roads lead to Rome; and, (ii) the relentless reuse processes over built-up areas and sense-making dynamics coupling tangible and intangible assets. Accordingly, the Città Antica and the Città Moderna would be intertwined in residents’ and visitors’ everyday experiences until the Age of Enlightenment, when a new sense of history was to require protection measures setting antiquities apart from city life. However, this is another story.
Highlights
This contribution frames the lure of the Eternal City over nearly two thousand years, first as the capital of the Roman Empire and subsequently as the undisputed center of Christianity and primary destination of walking trails and pilgrimage routes from all overEurope
According to methodologies and perspectives offered in the field of urban history, heritage studies and city planning, the paper interweaves two different readings of the interplay between permanence and change in the urban setting: (i) citywide, the material sedimentation over the Forma Urbis Romae dating back to antiquity, that is, its radiocentric pattern—structure and layout—created by the consular roads (Castagnoli et al 1958); and, (ii) the relentless reuse processes over built-up areas and sense-making dynamics coupling tangible and intangible assets (Boyer 1994; Roncayolo 2006; Germann and Schnell 2014; Battaglini 2019)
Global Rome, as the capital of the Empire, the epicenter of Christianity, and a major would initiate a new phase in public affairs; notably, the Edict of Cardinal Pacca issued destination of the Grand Tour, shaped both insiders’ and outsiders’ experience over time in 1820 would enforce proper documentation of monuments and above ground remains while fostering a huge literary production and iconography
Summary
This contribution frames the lure of the Eternal City over nearly two thousand years, first as the capital of the Roman Empire and subsequently as the undisputed center of Christianity and primary destination of walking trails and pilgrimage routes from all overEurope. This contribution frames the lure of the Eternal City over nearly two thousand years, first as the capital of the Roman Empire and subsequently as the undisputed center of Christianity and primary destination of walking trails and pilgrimage routes from all over. The well-known saying all roads lead to Rome was first recorded in 1175 by Albanus ab Insulis, a French theologian and poet, whose Liber Parabolarum renders it as mille viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam (a thousand roads lead men forever to Rome). The ecclesiastical hierarchy prevailing over municipal institutions would carefully define and redefine the images and imagery of the Eternal City, drawing upon pre-existing traditions or shaping new ones in tune with current beliefs. All over the Christian oecumene the establishment of decentralized territorial administrations—the
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