Piazza della Pace - Piazzas of Italy by Ultimate Italy

Piazza Della Pace

This is one of the oldest piazzas in Rome. It is one of the most perfect examples of Baroque art and architecture. It means square of peace. Pope Sixtus IV chose the name “della pace” in anticipation of the peace he wished to restore in Italy.

The elegant faced of the church of Santa Maria della Pace dominates this square. The first church built here was during the Middle Ages. Baccio Pontelli began reconstruction of this church in 1482 on the behest of Pope Sixtus IV. Between 1656 and 1667, Pietro da Cortona rebuilt the church in the Baroque style in the seventeenth century on the orders of Pope Alexander VII. Many houses were demolished under the orders of Cortona to build the Piazza della Pace.

On the upper half there are a series of Corinthian columns. There is a circular portico below. This is supported by Doric columns, which project into the piazza.

There is a small rectangular nave and an octagonal central body. Bramante designed this. A highly venerated painting of the Blessed Virgin and the Divine Child hangs over the high altar. In 1614 Carlo Maderno specifically designed the High Altar to enshrine the painting.

The Chigi chapel contains Raphael’s famous fresco of the four Sibyls each receiving a revelation from an angel. Further on there is a passage, which leads to the sacristy and then it finally leads to the cloisters. Bramante’s perfect proportion has given the cloisters a beautiful effect of light and shade and a sense of renaissance harmony. It is one among his early works in Rome. Cosimo Fancilli has painted figures of Strength and Prudence over the arch and peace and Justice on the entrance wall.

The street, which leads one away from the piazza, is the Via della Pace. It is L shaped. It has trendy restaurants and cafes including the café pace which is almost 100 years old. It is an ideal place to watch the crowds pass by at any time of the day. This piazza has among the best to offer to enjoy the nightlife in Rome. As the street leads towards the Piazza del Fico there is a spot where there is a picturesque morning market every day.

The church of Santa Maria della Pace is not only the church visited by the fashionable aristocrats from the Palazzos nearby but is also frequent by the Italians and the tourists who come to visit Rome.