Piazza della Repubblica - Roma, Italy
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denben
N 41° 54.151 E 012° 29.794
33T E 292348 N 4641983
Piazza della Repubblica is a semi-circular piazza at the summit of the Viminal Hill in Rome, Italy.
Waymark Code: WM10VVJ
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 06/28/2019
Views: 4
The former name of the square, Piazza dell'Esedra, still very common today, originates from the great exedra of the baths of Diocletian, which gives shape to the place. The exedra present in the baths of Diocletian was integrated into the gardens built by Cardinal Jean du Bellay; when he died in 1560, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo acquired the land and it eventually came into the possession of Cardinal Alessandro Sforza in 1579. Between 1598 and 1600 the exedra was converted into a church.
The porticoes around the square, built from 1887 to 1898 by Gaetano Koch, were in memory of the ancient buildings on the same site, while the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli and Martiri is based on a wing of the baths.
The fountain of the Naiads in the center of the square was commissioned by Pope Pius IX in 1870. Completed in 1888, it originally showed four chalk lions designed by Alessandro Guerrieri. These were replaced in 1901 with sculptures of Naiads by Mario Rutelli, the great-grandfather of the politician and former mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli.
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