The name Parione comes from the Latin paries (wall) meaning “great wall” and probably refers to the remains of some ancient building located in the area but never identified. In the Middle Ages, this district was the eighth and bore the name Regio Parionis et Sancti Laurentii in Damaso, based on the mentioned wall and the church of St. Lawrence founded in the 4th century.
The coat of arms of Parione is a griffin, according to one version standing on its hind legs, according to another version raising its right hind leg.
The neighborhood is bounded by streets and squares: corso del Rinascimento, piazza delle Cinque Lune, piazza Sant’Apollinare, piazza di Tor Sanguinha, via di Tor Sanguinha, via di Santa Maria dell’Anima, via di Tor Millina, via della Pace, piazza del Fico, via del Corallo, via del Governo Vecchio, piazza dell’Orologio, via dei Filippini, vicolo Cellini, via dei Banchi Vecchi, via del Pellegrino, via dei Cappellari, Campo de Fiori, via dei Giubbonari and via dei Chiavari.
The district has a shape close to a triangle, whose sides border three neighboring districts (Ponte, Regola and Sant’Eustachio), and occupies the central part of the ancient Champ de Mars, where three important buildings were located – Domitian’s stadium, the Odeon (a small musical theater built under the same emperor) and Pompey’s theater.
Several streets in the southern part of Parione still bear the names of the ancient workshops that once stood there. These are, for example, via dei Cappellari (street of hat makers), via dei Baullari (street of chest makers), via dei Giubbonari (street of jacket makers), vicolo dei Chiodaroli (nail makers’ alley), piazza Pollarola (poultry sellers’ square), largo dei Librari (book sellers’ square), via dei Chiavari (key makers’ street), etc.
A description of the neighborhood must, of course, begin with its most famous square, Piazza Navona (1). It is one of the largest squares in the center of Rome, occupying about a fifth of the Parione. It is also one of the most interesting because of its history and the works of art located there.
Piazza Navona is located on the site of Domitian’s ancient stadium and almost exactly follows the shape of its arena, with a rounding at the northern end. In imperial times, sports competitions (Latin agones) were held here. And even when the stadium ceased to exist, the medieval names referring to the surrounding areas continued to have de Agone or in Agone as a part of them.
Until the early 15th century, the future square contained only the remains of the curved end of the stadium and a couple of ancient churches. One was dedicated to St. Agnes and was listed in documents from the late 12th century as ecclesia Sancte Agnetis Agonis, and the other was built around 1200 and dedicated to St. James.
In the second half of the 15th century, private houses began to be built along the contour of the former stadium. The name in Agone was transformed into Navone (“big ship”, probably because of the shape of the square) and eventually became the final Navona, which came into use in the late Renaissance.
At the back of one of the buildings surrounding the northern end of the square, a few meters below the current street level, the remains of one of the entrances to the stadium can be seen.
In 1933, another stadium fragment was discovered on the corsia Agonale, a short street leading to the east side of the square. A number of other finds are on display in a small museum opened in 2014.
Three large fountains immediately attract the attention of the modern visitor to Piazza Navona. In the center is the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1652), topped by an obelisk. Looking at the hieroglyphics covering the obelisk, one might assume its Egyptian origin, but it was actually carved in Rome in the early 4th century.
The other two fountains, the Fountain of Neptune and the Fountain of Moor, located at the north and south ends of the square, seem almost twins, but in fact differ both compositionally and in the time of their construction.
In the center of the western side of the square stands the Church of St. Agnes, which replaced the ancient basilica of the same name. It was built between 1652 and 1672 by Pope Innocent X.
Tradition attributes the creation of the church to Francesco Borromini, whose work happened to be directly opposite the masterpiece of his great rival Bernini. In fact, its construction was started by Girolamo Rainaldi, whom Borromini replaced a year later. It was finished by Girolamo’s son Carlo Rainaldi. Sant’Agnese in Agone is considered a pearl of Baroque art, despite its small depth, limited by the Via Santa Maria dell’Anima, which runs parallel to the square.
The facade of the church is concave. This was done for a better view of the dome and to prevent the entrance steps from protruding into the square. It stands, like its predecessor, on the supposed site of the martyrdom of St. Agnes. In the cellars there are traces of the halls of the ancient stadium and a few fragments of medieval images. The story of the construction of the church and the martyrdom of the young Christian woman can be read here.
Pope Innocent X, who ordered the construction of the church, is buried under the main altar. He also built the large Palazzo Pamphili on the square, which now houses the Brazilian Embassy.
On the curved wall to the right of the main entrance to the church a curious inscription, dated 1838, is faintly visible.
The letters are almost completely faded, but with some effort can be read:
By direction of our Lord, dated August 16, 1838.
the ecclesiastical immunity in this church
is limited to the doorway
and does not extend to the staircase
The fact is that in the Papal Region churches were considered a sacred place where by law no one could be arrested by the police or military. Lots of people took advantage of this opportunity by seeking refuge after committing a crime. One can imagine that the staircase of Sant’Agnese in Agone was constantly filled with criminals, from petty thieves to murderers, lying on the steps for weeks to avoid arrest. Apparently, this measure of limiting immunity to the front doors of the church was taken in order to free the stairs from criminal elements.
The church on the opposite side of the square, almost at its southern end, is far less impressive. Originally dedicated to St. James of Spain, it was built around 1200 by one of the sons of the Spanish King Ferdinand III of Castile in memory of the Christian martyrs killed, according to the beliefs of the time, in Domitian’s stadium.
On the occasion of the Jubilee Year 1450, the Spanish bishop Alfonso de Paradinas rebuilt and enlarged the church building and added an entrance from the square. The tympanum of the pediment above the entrance was decorated with two angels signed OPVS PAVLI (by Paolo Taccone) and OPVS MINI (by Mino del Reame).
In those years, relations between Spain and Rome were particularly close, especially since the two popes of the time, Callistus III (1455-1458) and his nephew Alexander VI (1492-1503) belonged to the Spanish de Borja family, better known in Italy as the Borgias. In 1506, St. James Church was declared the national Spanish church in Rome. However, during the 16th century, after the rebuilding of another Spanish church, St. Mary of Monserrate, the importance of St. James Church diminished and the condition of its building deteriorated. In 1818, most of the furniture and tombs were moved to St. Mary’s, and the Church of St. James of Spain was secularized and sold.
In 1879 at the earliest, Virginio Vespignani restored the building and the church reopened, but under the name of Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart), which it bears to this day. Inside, almost nothing remains of the original building, except for the marble organ balcony from the early 16th century.
In 1938, when the Corso del Rinascimento was opened on the border with the district of Sant’Eustachio, the church was slightly reduced in size and its facade was moved to the opposite side, making it one of the buildings facing the new street.
By the mid-15th century, the block to the left of St. Agnes Church, now fully occupied by the large Palazzo De Cupis, began to take shape. This was the first group of houses built on the square acquired over many years by the De Cupis family. In the mid-16th century, the family combined them into one large mansion. When the De Cupis united with the Ornani family, in 1730 the Ornani Theater was opened on the first floor of the palace, famous for its puppet shows. In 1840 the theater changed its owner and was renamed Emiliani Theater. In the second half of the 19th century, the mansion was acquired by the Tuccimei family, whose two branches had become bitter enemies by the time of the fall of the Papal State (1870). The result was the internal division of the building into two completely independent halves.
The Piazza Navona once had a concave shape that is now almost imperceptible. It was deep enough to be completely flooded and from the 17th century this feature of the square was turned into its landmark. Watertight gates were installed at the entrances, fountain drains were blocked off and local aristocratic families staged performances in which life-size models of ships, probably on wheels, were moved around the square. The idea was obviously inspired by the navmachia of ancient Rome.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, all entertainment on the square was limited to flooding it with the subsequent passage of carriages. This took place in the summer on Saturdays and Sundays. This custom ceased only in 1866.
On weekdays, from the second half of the 15th century onwards, a food market was held here and books were sold in the northern half of the square, by the unfinished fountain. In 1869, the food market was moved to Capmo de Fiori, combining it with the local herb and flower market.
Two years later, the Epiphany Fair, formerly located in Piazza Sant’Eustachio, was moved here. In the days leading up to the feast, sweets and toys were sold here. This tradition has survived to this day, and since the second half of the 20th century the fair has been open for a longer period of time, starting on December 8 and ending on January 6. On these days, the square is filled with carousels and vendors selling jewelry, toys, sweets, cribs and Christmas figurines.
Outside Piazza Navona, near the border with the Ponte district, stands a 15th-century tower (2), once with a crenellated top but now with a roof. It originally belonged to the Mellini family, whose name is inscribed in large letters on the top of the structure. In honor of the family, the tower bears the name Tor Millina (with some distortion), as does the street that runs beneath it.
Located on the border of the district, Via di Tor Millina passes into Via della Pace, which ends in the tiny Piazza del Fico (3), named after the very old fig tree growing on it. For 50 years, the amateur chess community has chosen this square for outdoor matches.
On the opposite side of the square, on the Via della Fossa (parallel to the Via della Pace), you can see an interesting Renaissance house built for the Amedei family (4). It is decorated with paintings that resemble chiseled stone and create a marvelous three-dimensional effect.
Near the southern end of Piazza Navona is a small triangular square that has been home to the most famous of Rome’s “talking statues” since 1501, the Pasquino (5).
From this square originates via del Governo Vecchio, a street with several old houses, one of which (number 123), built in 1500 by Palazzo Turchi (6), is erroneously known popularly as “the house of Bramante”.
There is another tower at the western end of the neighborhood. It is the Baroque “clock tower” (7), built in 1647. In its upper part it is decorated with an oval mosaic depicting Our Lady and Child on a golden background by Pietro da Cortone.
The tower serves as the bell tower for the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, designed by Francesco Borromini, which overlooks the piazza della Chiesa Nuova. The nearby church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (8) rises above a natural depression, which in ancient times was considered one of the entrances to the underworld. Its facade faces the piazza Chiesa Nuova, which lies along the Via Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
The church was built between 1575 and 1600 on the site of an older, 13th-century church, and is more commonly referred to simply as the New Church. It was run by the Congregation founded by St. Philip Neri, and the saint himself is buried here in a marble-lined chapel. The new church is the only one in Rome to have an altarpiece by Peter Paul Rubens. In addition to this master, many other outstanding artists of the 17th and 18th centuries contributed to its interior decoration, such as Pomarancio, d’Arpino, Pietro da Cortona, Federico Barocci, Carlo Maratta, Alessandro Algardi, Gwerchino and others.
On the opposite side of Corso Vittoro Emanuele II is the massive white Palazzo della Cancelleria (9). This palace, built in 1495, is considered a masterpiece of early Renaissance architecture and is attributed to the almost unknown architect Antonio da Montecavallo, possibly the brother of Andrea Brăgno, or perhaps a pseudonym of Andrea himself.
The palace was commissioned by Cardinal Raffaele Riario, one of the grandnephews of Pope Sixtus IV. Apparently, the work was partly paid for by a large sum (60,000 scudi) won by the cardinal at cards from Franceschetto Scibo, the illegitimate son of the reigning Pope Innocent VIII.
Twenty years later, the palace was confiscated because Riario was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to poison Pope Leo X. From then on, the mansion became the papal chancery and during the Napoleonic occupation (1809-1814) it served as the residence of the imperial court. In 1848 it became the seat of the Roman Parliament and in 1849 of the constituent assembly of the short-lived Roman Republic. It now again houses the Apostolic Chancery, the Tribunal and the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology, which enjoy extraterritorial rights.
The palace is famous for its large Hall of the Hundred Days on the first floor. In the mid-16th century, it was decorated by Giorgio Vasari, who painted a cycle of frescoes depicting the deeds of Pope Paul III in one hundred days.
Interestingly, the palace building included the ancient church of St. Lawrence, founded in the 4th century.
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II is surrounded by other important historical buildings. Among them is the Mala Farnesina (10), a mansion built in 1523, named for the lily flowers that decorate the bands between the floors (in Rome, the lily was the symbol of the Farnese family). In fact, the flowers on the building had nothing to do with this family, but with the French crown – the first owner of the mansion, the clergyman Thomas Le Roy, was authorized to add the royal lily to his family insignia.
The facade facing Via dei Baullari is attributed to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. The side of the building facing Corso Vittorio Emanuele II dates back to the end of the 19th century. At this time, before the opening of the great avenue, the building was restored and freed from later additions. The restoration was carried out in accordance with the original style of the mansion.
The Small Farnesina houses a small but interesting museum of ancient sculpture, the Museo Baracco. A visit to the Baracco Museum is also an opportunity to see the interior of the mansion, whose painted ceiling depicts another heraldic element, the scorpion, which belonged to the Silvestri family, who acquired the building in 1671.
Another interesting building is the Palazzo Massimo by the Columns (11) by the architect Baldassarre Peruzzi (1535), residence of the Massimo (or Massimi) family. In the 15th century there was a smaller building belonging to the same family, built on the ruins of the Odeon of Emperor Domitian. Its facade was at the back, opposite the present small piazza Massimo, where the only surviving column from the Odeon stands, restored and installed here in 1950.
In 1467, two German printers opened the city’s first printing house in the mansion. During the sacking of Rome in 1527, a fire almost completely destroyed the building, after which it was rebuilt and enlarged by the architect Peruzzi. Since the foundations of the palace rest on the remains of the ancient Odeon, its current facade follows the curved shape of the theater. The entrance features a small, beautiful porch with columns (whence the name) and a coffered ceiling.
The rear part of the building (the almost preserved original) is today known as Palazzo Massimo Pirra. It received this name after the discovery of a statue of Mars in its foundation, mistaken for a statue of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. After restoration, the façade was completely covered with frescoes by Daniele da Volterra, unfortunately poorly preserved.
Another landmark of the Parione neighborhood is, of course, Campo de Fiori (12). This was originally a neighborhood where herbs and flowers were traded from the 15th century, hence the name Flower Field. It wasn’t until the second half of the 19th century that the foodstuffs previously sold in Piazza Navona were added to the range of merchants. It is still a lively market in the mornings and crowds of young people gather in the evenings until late at night.
However, it was not the market that made the square world famous. During the Counter-Reformation, Campo de’ Fiori became one of the places where death sentences were carried out. Now in its center, where the fountain moved to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri used to be, stands a dark hooded figure. It is a statue of Giordano Bruno, the philosopher burned here by the Inquisition in 1600 on charges of heresy. The statue was erected here at the end of the 19th century, and since then freethinkers have chosen the square as their symbolic meeting place.
Two streets, Via dei Cappellari and Via del Pellegrino, start on the north side of the square. On the left side of the latter, an arched passage leads to a small courtyard surrounded by old traditional houses with a typical external staircase. This is the neighborhood of Arco degli Acetari (13), one of the most hidden gems of Parione for tourists.
A little further on, another arched passage called Arco di Santo Margherita, whose corner is decorated with a tall vertical aedicule with a mid-18th century madonnella (small madonna), connects the two streets mentioned above.
On the south side of Campo de Fiori in antiquity was the Theater of Pompey (mid 1st century BC), the first stone, that is, permanent city theater (previously they were built of wood and dismantled after a while).
Pompey’s theater was also the largest of the Roman theaters, lined with rare for that time marble and richly decorated with frescoes and statues. It even had its own small temple, dedicated to Venus and located at the top of a semicircular area with benches for spectators. This part of the structure is now followed by Via di Grotta Pinta, the arrangement of buildings on which corresponds exactly to the semicircle of the theater. Traces of its foundations have been discovered in the cellars of these buildings.
The narrow passageway of the Passeto del Biscone crosses the base of one of these buildings, connecting the Via di Grotta Pinta with the Piazza del Biscone. In the square, a 17th-century building has a preserved facade with paintings in the upper part.
The building to its right is the large mansion Palazzo Orsini Pio Righetti, or Palazzo Pio for short. The palace was built in 1450 on the very spot where the Temple of Venus stood above the theater. In the mid-17th century, when the Orsini family gave it to the Pio di Savoia family, the mansion was restored in Baroque style and in 1864 a bronze statue of Hercules, now in the Vatican Museums, was found in its courtyard. The name Piazza del Biscone (grass snake) comes from the Orsini coat of arms, which includes, among other heraldic signs, a grass snake.
Outside the remains of Pompey’s theater, where the Via dei Giubbonari now runs, the small church of St. Barbara was built. It is located at the bottom of Largo dei Librari (16), a tiny triangular-shaped square almost in the southernmost part of Parione. To the right of the church is a very popular restaurant opened more than half a century ago. It sells fried cod fillets for takeaway, and in the early evening you can see people of all ages in the square enjoying this dish.
