When Pope Julius II della Rovere was crowned in the year 1503, it was the fulfillment of his lifelong dream. The new and powerful pope thought of himself as the upholder of several traditions: his uncle, Sixtus IV, had been pope from 1471-1484, so Julius’s election as Pontiff was a means of keeping the title in the family; while as temporal ruler of Rome, the new pope could also think of himself as heir to the power of the Roman Emperors and reviver of the splendors of Imperial Rome.
As was common in the Renaissance, Julius chose to convey such ideas by means of an elaborate program of art and architecture commissioned from such superstars as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante. A respected art historian, Howard Hibbard, both characterized and praised Julius II’s patronage of the arts in the following mannner:
Julius II operated as a patron on a scale and on a level of quality that make him equal to the artists we associate with him: Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo. If, as many believe, this was the greatest assembly of talent ever to work for one man at the same time, we must hail Julius as the most perspicacious as well as the most fortunate patron the world has ever known. (cited from Hibbard’s Michelangelo, London, 1986, p. 86)
Among Julius’s artistic achievements are those of commissioning Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, asking Raphael to fresco his private apartments or stanze in the Vatican Palace, and assigning Bramante the task of tearing down Old St. Peter’s Basilica and constructing a new one.
Yet, like any good Roman Emperor, Julius was interested in the greater well-being of the city and therefore worked even beyond the bounds of the Vatican. As temporal ruler, the pope was responsible for making changes that would improve the city fabric and help restore Rome to a level of beauty and majesty akin that it had achieved in antiquity.
The idea of being a caretaker of the city was one that had been passed down through the della Rovere family, for Julius’s own uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, had himself been a restorer of Rome, replacing an old and ruined Roman bridge over the Tiber with the new Ponte Sisto, thereby connecting one of the city’s most populated areas with the neighborhood Trastevere (the bridge still functions today - see image below).
Following his uncle’s lead, Julius commissioned his architect Bramante to create several long straight streets in Rome, starting in 1508. Among them was the Via Giulia - named for the pope himself - which was meant to connect Sixtus’s Ponte Sisto (as well as the city’s most densely populated area) with the Vatican, thereby allowing for easier movement of people and commercial goods. The street - about a kilometer in length - was to be the longest straight street cut in Rome since antiquity and Julius intended that the project should not just improve Rome’s infrastructure, but should also better city administration, for he asked Bramante to design a giant streetside palace that would house the Roman judiciary and notary courts, the Palazzo dei Tribunali.
The project was begun in 1508 but progressed slowly. It was not yet finished when Julius died in 1513 and though the street itself would be completed, the project for the monumental administrative center was abandoned. (The large, rusticated travertine blocks with which Bramante began the project are now incorporated into one of Rome’s hippest hotels, the Saint George. Click here to read our story.)
Today the Via Giulia celebrates its 500th birthday with a year-long array of concerts, guided tours, and special openings. You can check out the schedule here. The inaugural event occurs tonight when the Sistine Chapel Choir gives a concert in honor of the Papal thoroughfare in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. (We’re quite sure that Julius would be thrilled to have the Sistine Chapel Choir singing in honor of his street as he was fond of taking the choir with him when he led the Papal army to battle. We can only conclude that he was a music lover!).
Throughout 2008, guided tours of the street will be held on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. The first one, Discovering Via Giulia, will be on 15 March at 10.30, meeting in Piazza dell’Oro. The tours cost €5 and must be booked in advance on tel. 066868260 or by emailing prenotazioni@viagiulia500.net.
Other events lined up include an exhibition on The Art of the Easter Egg by Sergio Valentini in the Museum of Sacred Art at S. Giovanni de’ Fiorentini at 19.00 as well as talks on the urban planning of Pope Julius (26 March) and on the area as it was in imperial Rome (10 & 29 April).
