Piazza d'Aracoeli
Coordinates: 41°53′39.85″N 12°28′51.7″E / 41.8944028°N 12.481028°E
Piazza d'Aracoeli is a square of Rome (Italy), placed at the base of the Capitoline Hill, in the Rione X Campitelli.
The present aspect of the square is not the cozy one it had one time: one of the sides was destroyed during the demolitions for the building of the Vittoriano, begun in 1885, and later in the 1930s the whole area of the Capitoline Hill was isolated. The square was formerly called Market Square; it was divided into two part, the Mercato (Italian: Market), at the slopes of the Capitoline Hill, and the Mercatello (Italian: Little Market), at the opposite side northward. The two toponyms recurred in the dedication of two nearby churches: San Biagio del Mercato, later called Chiesa di Santa Rita da Cascia in Campitelli, still existing but relocated elsewhere, and San Giovanni in Mercatello, later Chiesa di San Venanzio, still remembered in the toponymy. In the surroundings of the square, probably where nowadays the Palazzo Muti Bussi and the Palazzo Astalli rise, two of the many towers of the town stood up: the Torre del Mercato (Italian: Tower of the Market) and the Torre del Cancelliere (Italian: Tower of the Chancellor). The market served not just as a place for commerce, but as a stage for politic debates and religious omilies as well. Here in 1442 the words of St. Bernardino of Siena against gambling and usury resounded. Here in 1551 St. Ignatius of Loyola opened his first school of grammar and Christian doctrine, from which the Collegio Romano sourced, and held his first spiritual exercises. Here in 1713 Rosa Venerini opened the first Roman house of the Maestre Pie Venerini, the first women's public school in Italy. the remarkable buildings in the square are the Palazzo Muti-Bussi, the Palazzo Fani (now Pecci-Blunt ) and the Palazzo Massimo di Rignano, then Colonna, while the central feature is the fountain designed by Giacomo della Porta and realized in 1589 by Andrea Brasca, Pietro Gucci and Pace Naldini. The complicated demolitions Piazza d'Aracoeli has been subjected to, if on one hand have ruined the scenic design that Michelangelo used for the adjustment of the Capitoline Hill, on the other hand have opened a striking view on an outstanding urban landscape: from it is it possible to admire with a single glance the Quirinal Hill, the Trajan's Forum with its column and the Torre delle Milizie at the back, the two churches of Santa Maria di Loreto and of the Santissimo Nome di Maria, Palazzo Venezia and the buildings of the "Angelicum" cloister.
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