142.

Chiesa e Monastero dello Spirito Santo, delle Canonichesse Lateranensi

This view down Via delle Sperse is rather unique in the Magnificenze series because none of the buildings depicted here survive today. The ones on the left were demolished during the French occupation in the early years of the 19th century to excavate the Basilica Ulpia in the Forum of Trajan, Plate 38. The ones on the right and at the end of the street were demolished in the early 1930s to clear the way for Mussolini's Via del Impero (now Via dei Fori Imperiali) and to free more of the Forum of Trajan from post-classical structures. Via delle Sperse takes its name from the early 17th century church of S. Eufemia (3) at the far end, which had a shelter for zitelle sperse (lost spinsters). In the middle of the block the late Renaissance facade of the church of the Spirito Santo (4) (Holy Spirit) juts out into the street. On the right Vasi shows the Palazzo Conti (2) directly behind the facade of S. Lorenzo ai Monti (1) which he turns toward the viewer when actually it was aligned with the edge of the street. Its name reminds us that this lost neighborhood, part of the area known as Pantano, was part of the Rione Monti.