NATIONAL STREET

VIA NAZIONALE
Via Nazionale

Connection between Termini Station and Via del Corso layed out following the route of the ancient Roman road Vicus Longus, along the valley of S. Vitale, after the capital of the Kingdom of Italy was transfered to Rome in 1870

The Vicus Longus was in the valley in between The Quirinal and Viminal Hills 17 m (56 feet) below the level of Via Nazionale today
The area was very little inhabited at the time and the land had been purchased by the Belgian Monsignor Francesco De Merode purposefully in anticipation of this use

The first part of today's Via Nazionale, urbanized by De Merode, was called STRADA NUOVA PIA (New Pius Road)
The historical STRADA PIA was the road called today Via XX Settembre, rebuilt and enlarged by Pius IV Medici (1559/65) to create a scenic perspective between Porta Pia and the papal residence of the Palazzo del Quirinale

The idea was to open a fast and straight as possible link between the central station of the capital and the Tiber River, beyond which was expected, since 1873, the intensive urbanization of Prati di Castello
This intention was put into practice in 1886, with the resolution of a second wide route between Piazza Venezia and the river, which became the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II

Along Via Nazionale were built in the last three decades of the 1800s several important buildings:

Large hotels in the upper part including the Hotel Quirinale (1865)

Church of St. Paul's Within the Walls (1880), the first non-Catholic Christian church built in Rome after the unification of Italy

Exhibition Palace (1883)

Eliseo Theater (1901)

Palace of the Bank of Italy also called Palazzo Koch, headquarters of the Bank of Italy (1892)

Residential properties for the new middle class of the capital city

Works for the construction and urbanization of Via Nazionale demanded, among other things, the demolition of the Teatro Drammatico Nazionale (National Drama Theater), which allowed the discovery of exceptional bronze statues, the “Hellenistic Prince” and the “Boxer” now at Palazzo Massimo and the excavation of the northern part of the garden of Villa Aldobrandini, with the construction of the retaining wall
During these same works (1875) traces of Porta Sanqualis of the Servian Walls emerged currently visible in the middle of Largo Magnanapoli

HUMBERT I TUNNEL

TRAFORO UMBERTO I
Via Milano/Via del Traforo

1902/03 Alessandro Viviani (1825/1905)
End of the tunnel on Via Milano 1905 by Pio Piacentini (1846/1928) and Giulio Podesti (1857/1909)
End of the tunnel on Via Due Macelli by Angelo Tommasi

It is 347.70 meters long (1145 feet) and 17 m (56 feet) wide

In 1902, during the work, was found, about 160 m (525 feet) from the beginning of Via Rasella, a room lined with white marble friezes, bas-reliefs, architectural fragments, all with traces of fire
From the inscriptions on the pipes of lead archaeologists have been able to figure out the name of the owner of the room: Fulvius Plautianus praetorian prefect, father of Plautilla, wife of Caracalla (211/217)
Some of the many statues found here are now in a section of the museum in the Centrale Montemartini

ELISEO THEATER

TEATRO ELISEO
Via Nazionale 183 a

1901 as outdoor arena with the name of Apollo
Rebuilt 1906/10 masonry

“They were very advanced technical solutions adopted and the coverage of the room is probably the first built in Rome with reinforced concrete structures” (Piero Ostilio Rossi)

Interior completely renovated with rationalism in the years 1936/38 by Luigi Piccinato (1899/1984)
The stage was installed a rotating sector of 11 m (36 feet) in diameter, the first of its kind in Italy

Modernization in 1982 by Giancarlo Capolei with reduction to 956 seats
Between the Teatro Eliseo and the Teatro Piccolo Eliseo there are EX-STORES ROVATTI 1901 with cast iron and reinforced concrete structures

St. PAUL'S WITHIN THE WALLS

ST. PAUL'S WITHIN THE WALLS
Via Napoli 58/angolo Via Nazionale

1872/76 George Edmund Street (1824/81) for Rev. Robert Jenkins Nevin

PORTAL
Mosaics “St. Paul teaching the gospel in Rome” - with quote from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians: That in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, I will rejoice and I will continue to rejoice - and on the corners of the rose window “Four evangelists” 1909 by the American George William Breck (1863/1920)

On either side of the façade “Iron gates” 1879 by George Edmund Street made in England and transported to Rome by sea

“The decorative motifs of flowers and plants of the gates anticipate solutions of Art Nouveau” (Flaminia Giorgi Rossi)

“Bronze doors” 1977 by Dimitri Hadzi (1921/2006)

American Protestant Episcopal Church

First non-Catholic Christian church built in Rome after the fall of the Papal States

COUNTER FAÇADE
Mosaics “Adoration of the Magi” and around the rose window, “Old Testament scenes”: “Creation of the World”, “Adam called to life”, “Bethlehem” and “Jerusalem” 1913 by George William Breck with glass by the firm Castelli of Murano which was responsible for all the mosaics of the church

“Compared to the atmosphere of rarefied melancholy and refined symbolism, which dominates the mosaics of Burne-Jones, one can find in the mosaics by Breck, by this time an artist of the new century, a certain vitality and optimism expressed through the use of vivid and dazzling colors which are the key features of American painting” (Flaminia Giorgi Rossi)

Rose window in glass painted with “Christ and the saints” 1876 by the British firm Clayton and Bell

“Two sarcophagi” of the second or third century AD donated by the Rev. Robert Jenkins Nevin

IN THE NAVE
Pillars with columns of red granite from Sardinia surrounded by four half-columns of Carrara marble
Thirteen stained glass windows with “Scenes from the Life of St. Paul” 1876 by the British firm Clayton and Bell

NEXT TO THE 1^st COLUMN ON THE RIGHT
“Sarcophagus” of the second or third century AD

AT THE END OF THE RIGHT NAVE
“Marble baptismal font” 1100s/1200s

APSE WITH MOSAICS:

BASIN
“Christ in glory between the archangels and the heavenly Jerusalem” 1885 with the writing in Hebrew: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and in Greek In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

WALLS OF THE APSE
“The Church Triumphant and the Church Militant” with “Five groups of people: ascetics such as St. Francis receiving the stigmata, a group of women, the most important people of the church in front of St. Paul, the procession of virgins and martyrs and Christian warriors patron saints of various countries”

WALL APSE
“Paradise on Earth with Christ on the tree of life in between Adam and Eve” 1904

TRIUMPHANT ARCH
“Annunciation” 1881/98 all works of Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833/98) with his pupil Thomas Matthew Rooke (1842/1942), who completed the triumphal arch in 1907
Burne-Jones was chosen by Street in 1881 before dying

He represented political and ecclesiastical authorities of his time:
In the role of Christian warriors Burne-Jones portrayed the US president in 1873 General Grant (St. Patrick, 3^rd from left), Giuseppe Garibaldi (S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli, 2^nd from left), Abraham Lincoln (St. Andrew, 4^th from left), Theodore Roosevelt, father of President Roosevelt, who in 1874 had made a donation for the construction of the church, and, standing with his spear, the pupil Thomas Matthew Rooke

In the roles of the most important of the church Burne-Jones portrayed himself as St. John Chrysostom, to the left of St. Paul

In the procession of virgins and martyrs St. Barbara with the tower has the features of his wife Georgiana and St. Dorothy with roses those of his daughter Margaret

“He summoned the medieval Byzantine tradition, but with imaginative tone, modern eye and unique iconography. From the gold background characters emerge evocative of an ideal beauty and of an inevitable end: key ideas of the culture of his time. The work made a strong impression on the Roman artistical scene of the end of the century suspended between symbolism and decadence. First of all, Giulio Aristide Sartorio, who considered the mosaics by Burne-Jones as the best example of the evolution of the Pre-Raphaelite style in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance” (Flaminia Giorgi Rossi)

ON THE DOOR OF THE SACRISTY
“Bronze plaque commemorating the Rev. Robert Jenkins Nevin” by George William Breck

NEXT TO THE 1^st COLUMN ON THE LEFT
“Wooden pulpit” 1909 by George William Breck

SACRISTY
Ancient and medieval pieces from the Nevin Collection including medieval friezes and a statue in marble of “Poseidon with dolphin” of the second or third century AD

RECTORATE
Adjacent to the church on the side of Via Napoli in Venetian Gothic style

St. VITALIS

S. VITALE
Via Nazionale 194

412, consecrated by Pope Innocent I (401/417) as Titulus Vestinae for the donation of the matron Vestina who wanted to help, with the proceeds from the sale of her jewelry, an already existing chapel dedicated to the brothers martyrs Gervasio and Protasio sons of Vitalis to whom it was eventually dedicated at the end of the sixth century

The church is officially known as BASILICA OF Sts. VITALIS, VALERIS, GERVASE AND PROTASE. Valeria was Vitalis’ wife
S. Vitalis was a martyr of the first century from Milan whose worship had however been discredited because the evidence of his martyrdom was considered false

Largely rebuilt about 800 by Leo III (795/816)
Restored 1475 a fundamentis (from the foundations) as the inscription on the lintel of the entrance portal mentions and reduced in size by excluding the two side naves by Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84)

Granted to the Jesuits in 1598 and fully restored by them with the donation of Isabella Della Rovere who, as Vestina 1200 years before, had sold her jewels

Restorations 1937/38 during which the gap with Via Nazionale was filled with the addition of the staircase by Carlo Forti

Via Nazionale corresponds to the ancient Vicus Longus and it is at the same elevation of the valley between Quirinal Hill and Viminal Hill. The original level of the valley was that of the church

1940/48 restorations that restored the original appearance of the narthex

Here the “Capitoline Venus” of the Capitoline Museums was found

Magnificent WOODEN DOORS with “The Martyrdom of Sts. Vitalis, Gervase and Protase, stories of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier” about 1605 maybe by Giacomo Taurino and Giovanni Paolo Taurino Brothers and Jesuits from Milan

FLOOR and CEILING 1931/34

DECORATIONS OF THE INTERIOR
Designed in 1597 by the Jesuit Father G.B. Fiammeri for Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605)

COUNTER FAÇADE
On the left “Martyrdom in Syria of Sts. Vittore and Corona”, on the right “Soldier sprinkled with honey” 1599 by Tarquinio Ligustri (about 1563/1621)

WALLS
Frescoes “Martyrs of saints” and architectural structure painted with “Paired columns, friezes and floral festoons” by Annibale Priori and from 1599 to 1603 by Tarquinio Ligustri
“Prophets” maybe by Andrea Commodi (1560/1638), first master of Pietro da Cortona

RIGHT NAVE
Fresco “The Martyrdom of St. Andrew Tribune”

1^st ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
“Triumph of the holy virgins” about 1598/1600 by G.B. Fiammeri
Fresco “Martyrdom of the Egyptian monk Paphnutius”

2^nd ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
“Assumption of the Virgin Mary” about 1598 maybe by G.B. Fiammeri
Fresco “St. Ignatius of Antioch mauled by lions” with the Colosseum in ruins

PRESBYTERY
On the right “Stoning of St. Vitalis” 1601/03 by Agostino Ciampelli (1565/1630)
Plaster statues “St. Ambrose” and “St. Augustine” of the end of the sixteenth century
On the left “Martyrdom of St. Vitalis” 1601/03 by Agostino Ciampelli
Plaster statues “St. Gregory the Great” and “St. Jerome” of the end of the sixteenth century

MAIN ALTAR
In between two black columns of Portoro “Sts. Vitalis, his wife Valeria and their children Gervase and Protase” beginning of the 1600s by an anonymous seventeenth-century artist
On the right “Martyrdom of St. Protase” and on the left “Flagellation of St. Gervase” about 1599 by Andrea Commodi (1560/1638)
Altar front in flowered alabaster of the end of the seventeenth century

APSIDAL BASIN
“Way to Calvary” about 1599 by Andrea Commodi

“A strength of Nordic ancestry pervades the scene. In this representation the human suffering of Christ is focused in the fast pace of the minor episodes - like the sad task of the erection of the crosses - connected, in the intense colors of the landscape and in the changing tones of an exasperated late Mannerism by a spirit of deep participation” (Alfredo Melchiorre Gunter)

WALL OF THE APSE
Above “Angels” maybe by Agostino Ciampelli
In the lower right side “Victory of Gideon over the Midianites” and on the left side “Samson finding honey in the lion's mouth” maybe by Tarquinio Ligustri

LEFT NAVE
Fresco “Martyrdom of St. Clement”

2^nd ALTAR ON THE LEFT
Modern picture of the Sacred Heart
Frescoes “Beheading of St. Januarius”, “Extermination of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste” and “Martyrdom of Sts. Martinianus, Saturninus and of the two brothers”
“Wooden Crucifix” by an anonymous eighteenth-century artist

1^st ALTAR ON THE LEFT
“Saints Confessors of the Faith” maybe by Giuseppe Penitz

PALACE OF EXHIBITIONS

PALAZZO DELLE ESPOSIZIONI

Via Nazionale 194

1880/83 Pio Piacentini (1846/1928)

Statues on the FAÇADE by Bertoli, Trabacchi, Biggi, Concetti, Galletti e Fallani

Restoration 1987/90 by Costantino Dardi (1936/91)

After five years of restoration the building reopened in 2007 with more than 10,000 m² (2.5 acres) divided into THREE FLOORS used for temporary exhibitions

It also features a 139-seats CINEMA HALL, an AUDITORIUM (multimedia room for 90 people) and a FORUM (multipurpose room), as well as a café, a restaurant and a bookshop

During the construction a votive deposit was found of which the “Vase of Duènos” was part. It has an inscription in Latin of the early sixth century BC one of the oldest ever found. It is now in the Museum of Berlin

Maybe it was kept in the TEMPLE OF FORTUNA located on the Vicus Longus (in part corresponding to Via Nazionale). According to tradition it had been founded by Servius Tullius

Nearby there was the SACELLUM OF PLEBEIAN PUDICITIA founded by a certain Virginia in 296 BC, a counterpart to that of the Patrician Pudicitia in the Foro Boario

PALACE OF THE BANK OF ITALY

PALAZZO DELLA BANCA D'ITALIA

Via Nazionale 90/91

1887/1892 Gaetano Koch (1849/1910)

Offices of the senior management of the bank, some departments of the central administration and “Paolo Baffi” library

ROOM OF THE COUNCIL

Frescoes by Giulio Bargellini (1896/1936)

Museo della Moneta

Museum of Coins

Selection of about 40 tablets of Mesopotamian origin. Studies of these tablets proved that from the third millennium BC silver and gold were used as means of payment, measure of value and store of wealth

About 800 coins in gold, silver, copper and alloy from the ancient Greek period to modern times, including “Silver Stater of King Croesus” 561/546 BC

450 notes and paper documents

ODDO COLLECTION with over 3,800 pieces of gold, silver, copper and alloy from emissions of southern Italy and Sicily referring to the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to modern age