The Findspot of the Fragments: The Piazza di Termini

The area where the Kelsey-Hartwig fragments fortuitously came to light almost 100 years ago, the Piazza di Termini in Rome, today comprises the Piazza dei Cinquecento, the Piazza della Repubblica, and adjacent streets. This area underwent a dramatic turn-of-the-century transformation, which the following timeline and images document.

Piazza di Termini: A Timeline of Urban Development

298-305:
The emperor Diocletian constructed the monumental bath complex that bears his name-the largest in antiquity-in part over earlier structures (fig. 1). Particularly striking was the great semicircular exedra on the west side of the enclosure wall. This hemicycle served as a place for recreational sport and exercise. Its remains, surrounded by gardens, were still visible until the end of the 19th century (fig. 2: from the Castato Gregoriano, A.S.R.).

1561-66:
Pope Pius IV, at the behest of Father Antonio del Duca, restored the central section of the Baths, the ancient tepidarium, and transformed it into the Church of S. Maria degli Angeli. The project, originally conceived by Michelangelo, was carried out with the assistance of Jacopp del Duca, nephew of the priest, and therefore became the foremost example of "Michelangelism" in Roman architecture of the late 16th century.

1576-88:
The Cardinal Felice Peretti di Montalto erected, with the architect Domenico Fontana, the magnificent villa that became the prototype for the famous villas of Baroque Rome. The first phase (1576-80) was enlarged after the accession of Pope Sisto V (1585-88); its final dimensions were delimited by the four streets that were opened by this pope in 1585-86 (figs. 3 and 4: from C. D'Onofrio, Gli obelischi di Roma, Rome 1967). The villa contained two residential buildings: the Palazzo Sistino or "di Termini" and the Palazzetto Montalto e Felice.

1864-70:
Monsignor Francesco Saverio de Merode, defense minister of Pope Pius IX, acquired the Villa Strozzi (in the area of the present Teatro dell'Opera) and initiated urban development in the adjacent area. This project created a new axis between Termini and the residential center. This thoroughfare was imposed upon-and interrupted-the axis of the exedra of the Baths and the facade of S. Maria degli Angeli (the Via Nuova Pia, today the Via Nazionale), and included three transverse arteries (the modern Via Torino, Via Firenze, and Via Napoli) and one parallel street (the Via Modena) (fig. 5: A.S.R. Coll. Disegni e Piante; fig. 6: from an 1870 map of Rome). The project was taken over by the Comune and completed in 1871 with the creation of the first "quarter" of "Third Rome" (fig. 7: aerial photograph by Umberto Nistri, 1919).

1872:
The Consiglio Comune approved a proposed architectural complex to crown the Piazza dell'Esedra, which had assumed the role of official entrance to the city, via the Via Nazionale, for tourists and illustrious visitors who arrived in Rome by train. Many years elapsed, however, before this plan was put into effect.

1878:
For the return to Rome of the new sovereigns Umberto and Margherita (November 24), a temporary scenographic backdrop-designed by Settimio Giampietri-was erected at the exedra. It created a concave "theater," which followed the lines of the imperial structure (fig. 8: from Illustrazione Italiana).

1880-81:
In the first competition for a monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the location of which was not specified, many submissions, including the winning design by the French architect Henri-Paul Nenot, expressed a quite opportune preference for the area of the exedra (figs. 9-11: The "Father of His Country" design; the Pieroni plan, Nenot's design, by Massagrande). In the second competition (1882), however, the site chosen was between the Piazza di Venezia and the Capitoline, at the end of the Corso.

1883-87:
The Jesuit Massimiliano Massimo, a member of the last family to own the Villa Peretti, erected a building designed by the architect Camillo Pistrucci (figs. 12-14: Archivio Capitolino) to house the college named after him and to replace the Palazzo "di Termini," which was subsequently demolished (fig. 15: AFC photograph; fig. 16: from a postcard).

1885:
The Giunta Comunale debated appropriating for public use the private area adjacent to the exedra and sponsoring a competition to select an architectural plan appropriate to the importance of the place. The Comune and the property owners reached agreement on the submission of Gaetano Koch, one of the premier exponents of Roman eclecticism at the end of the 19th century. This design balanced the demand for monumentality with the profit motive. Koch proposed two porticoed "palazzi," which would be used for commercial, residential, and official purposes. At the end of the year, an agreement between the Comune and the private property owners was drawn up: the Comune was responsible for the systematization of the public spaces, the pavement of the porticoes, and construction of the stairs and streetlights (figs. 17-20: Archivio Capitolino).

1886:
Construction of the Koch edifices began in a block of the south sector. According to the agreement, it was to be completed in four years. But due to the great crisis of 1887, which paralyzed construction activity in Rome for a decade, realization took much longer.

1888:
The "exhibition" of a new fountain for the Aqua Martia, designed by Alessandro Guerriri, opened in the center of the exedra. The Palazzo "di Termini" and the ex-Villa Peretti were demolished. When the German Kaiser Wilhelm II arrived in Rome (October 11), the first block of the south sector of the exedra had risen to the penultimate story (fig. 21: From Illustrazione Italiana); it was completed in the 1890s (fig. 22: Photography by Alessandro Vasari).

1889:
The Museo Nazionale Romano, the archaeological collection of "Third Rome," was inaugurated in the great galleries of the Baths of Diocletian next to S. Maria degli Angeli and in the rooms of the ex-Certosa.

1896:
The wedding of the Prince of Naples (the future Vittorio Emanuele III) and Elena Petrovich of Montenegro (October 24) was held in the Church of S. Maria degli Angeli. The northern sector of the exedra is still undeveloped (fig. 23: AFC photograph).

1897:
An agreement to construct the "north quarter" of the exedra was struck between the Comune and the Banca d'Italia, the Banca Tiberiana, and the Compagnia Fondiara Italiana; the project was to be completed by 1903.

1900:
On August 9 the funeral of Umberto I, who had been assassinated at Monza on July 29, was held in Rome. The half of the north building of the exedra that faces the Via Nazionale is under construction (fig. 24: Trenkler photograph, Leipzig).

1900-1901:
During the last phase of the construction of the Koch buildings, in the area of the north block, numerous fragments of sculpture that belonged to an unknown monument of the Flavian period were discovered and clandestinely sold on the art market. The fragments are reunited in this exhibition.

1901:
The unveiling on February 10 of the "Naiads" of Mario Rutelli, a controversial new sculptural decoration for the fountain of the Aqua Martia, touched off a public furor. On this occasion, the construction of the first half of the north building was almost complete, while the section facing the Grand Hotel was just underway (fig. 25: Trenkler photograph, Leipzig).

1960:
The "Massimiliano Massimo" College was transferred to a new home in EUR. Its former home in the Baths of Diocletian then suffered a long period of abandonment, during which the roof of one wing of the courtyard collapsed (1975).

1983:
The State acquired the Palazzo Massimo at the Baths and designated it part of the Museo Nazionale Romano. Its prolonged reconstruction was finished in 1992; museum displays are now in final preparation.

1988:
The north building of the exedra received a complete cleaning and successful "facelift." Its southern "twin" is still in need of analogous and identical conservation.

1991:
The rotunda of the Baths of Diocletian, known as the "Sala della Minerva," had, since 1928, served successively as a planetarium and a cinematography studio. After a challenging campaign of restoration, it was refitted as a gallery for Museo Nazionale Romano sculptures found in the Baths and reopened to the public.

figs. 26-27: Two aerial views of the modern Piazza dei Cinquecento and Piazza della Repubblica; ca. 1920 (Min. BBCCAAA, Aereofototeca) and ca. 1960.

figs. 28-29: Two views of the fountain of the exedra, looking toward the railroad station; ca. 1890 (Richter photograph, Rome) and 1939 (Richter, Rome).

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