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All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore.
Page revised in October 2009.

DON'T LET ME DOWN!

Chiesa e Monastero dello Spirito Santo (Book 8) (Day 3) (View C8) (Rione Monti)

In this page:
 The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
 Today's view
 Basilica Ulpia
 Trajan's Market

The Plate (No. 142)

Chiesa e Monastero dello Spirito Santo

This is one of the plates where Vasi turns his attention to the details of everyday life in Rome. The churches and buildings shown in the plate did not attract the interest of other etchers or painters, so that this view is now important as the almost only memory of a part of Rome which was entirely excavated to unearth the Forum of Emperor Trajan and that of Emperor Augustus.
The view is taken from the green dot in the 1748 map below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) S. Lorenzo ai Monti; 2) Palazzo Conti; 3) S. Eufemia; 4) Spirito Santo. The map shows also 5) Trajan's Market.

Small ViewSmall View

Today

The view today
The view in June 2009 (the yellow building is Palazzo del Marchese del Grillo; the loggia belongs to Casa dei Cavalieri di Rodi)

Nothing is left of the churches and the houses of the plate. The buildings on the left side of the street (including S. Eufemia and Spirito Santo) were pulled down between 1812 and 1815 during the first modern excavations of Rome. The houses at the far end of the street were pulled down in 1828, thus freeing Trajan's Markets from medieval additions. In the XXth century S. Lorenzo ai Monti and the adjoining buildings were pulled down to unearth the Forum of Augustus.

Basilica Ulpia

Pius VII's excavations
Basilica Ulpia; (inset) inscription celebrating the 1815 completion of the excavations by Pope Pius VII

The main remaining monument of the Forum of Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Traianus) is Colonna Traiana; the other components of the complex were a lost arch at its eastern entrance, a large basilica which had four rows of grey granite columns and two lost semicircular libraries at the sides of the columns.

Trajan's Markets

Trajan's Market
Trajan's Markets seen from Monument to King Victor Emmanuel II (in the background SS. Domenico e Sisto and Torre delle Milizie)

Trajan's Forum included a semicircular square surrounded by a series of shops. Trajan's equestrian statue stood at its centre (see a page which extensively covers Trajan's Markets).

Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:


... si, giunge alla chiesa, che conservandosi nell'antica sua piccolezza: si dice, di s. Lorenzolo, e poi voltando a sinistra evvi la
Chiesa e Monastero dello Spirito santo
Fin dall'anno 1432. fu eretta questa chiesa col monastero per le canonichesse Lateranensi, le quali hanno ornata la chiesa con stucchi dorati, e pitture; quelle nella cappella della Madonna sono di Baldassare della Croce, le altre nella cappella del ss. Crocifisso, di Gio. de' Vecchi; quelle nella volta, di Mario Arconio, ed il quadro nell'altare maggiore è di Luigi Gazi. Siegue dopo di questa la chiesa di s. Eufemia col conservatorio per le povere zittelle orfane, che corrisponde incontro alla chiesa del ss. Nome di Maria,

Next plate in Book 8: Monastero di S. Lucia in Selci
Next step in Day 3 itinerary: Chiesa di S. Maria in Campo Carleo
Next step in your tour of Rione Monti: Chiesa di S. Maria in Campo Carleo