036a.

Piazza delle quattro Fontane

Vasi's closely related print of the Patriarchal church of S. Maria Maggiore provides an elevated view similar to this but in far greater detail. What Vasi refers to here as the Piazza delle Quattro Fontane is in reality the intersection of two major streets marked by four corner fountains (1). The street procession of carriages is moving in the direction of the distant Port Pia, Plate 4, and away from the Piazza del Quirinale, Plate 61. The ancient street on which they are traveling is the Alta Semita, which was widened, straightened and renamed Via Pia under Pius IV Medici (1559-1565). Via Felice, the other street leading to the apse of the distant S. Maria Maggiore (4); (see Plate 48) was cut through under Sixtus V Peretti (1585-1590). The undulating facade of Borromini's late masterpiece, the church of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (2) appears on the right only a short distance from Bernini's novitiate chapel, Chiesa di S. Andrea Apostoli, Plate 135A. On the left is the Palazzo Albani by Specchi (3), the city residence of Cardinal Alessandro Albani, whose suburban villa is illustrated in Plate 190.