122.

Chiesa di S. Paolo Primo Eremita ed Ospizio del Frati Eremiti di detto Santo

The impressive cavalcade of carriages and horses moving toward us along the Via Felice appears to be heading for the door of the hospice (3) in the title of this print. Via Felice was one of the streets built under Sixtus V Peretti (1585-1590) radiating from the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore (1) whose rear facade is the real protagonist of this view. The domed chapel on the left of the church was built by Sixtus V, who also had the obelisk taken from the Mausoleum of Augustus) placed in the piazza at the end of the street. The symmetrical domed chapel on the right was added by Paul V Borghese (1605-1621), who was also responsible for placing the column, visible to the left of Sixtus V's dome, in front of S. Maria, Plate 48. Both the 16th century church of S. Maria della Sanità (2) and the hospice of St. Paul were demolished at the end of the 19th century to make way for the modern Piazza del Viminale. Vasi provides a second view of this scene in one of his four large prints of the Patriarchal basilicas. In that version the view is more comprehensive being taken from an elevated vantage point further back on the Via Felice at the intersection marked by the Quattro Fontane, Plate 36A.