A STROLL WITH A PAPAL PEDIGREE
Elisabeth Rosenthal

The New York Times
June 29, 2008

WHEN Romans want to fare una passeggiata (take a stroll), they
inexplicably tend to head to the Via del Corso, Rome’s soulless
main shopping street. But you can see Zara and Rolex stores
(not to mention McDonald’s) in any city. If it’s beauty, history
and stress-free strolling you’re looking for, head to Via Giulia,
a roughly half-mile-long cobbled street that is lined nearly end to
end with churches and elegant palazzi. This summer is a perfect time
to explore the street, which is celebrating its 500th birthday and
is being feted with various tours, concerts and renovations.

Commissioned by Pope Julius II (for whom the street is named),
Via Giulia was built in the early 16th century, part of a plan to
build a square of roads near the Vatican. The project was never
completed. But to this day, Via Giulia is lined with an array of
extraordinary churches and cultural buildings, as well as some of
the fanciest homes in Rome.

Via Giulia offers a walk unusual in Rome for several reasons. It is
wide enough that you are not dodging cars and scooters or inhaling
their fumes; arrow straight, so you will not get lost; intimate and
quiet enough to appreciate what you are seeing.

Via Giulia starts with an ivy-covered arch, designed by Michelangelo;
it was part of another unrealized plan, this one to connect the
Palazzo Farnese (now the French Embassy) with the Villa Farnese,
on the other side of the Tiber. The connection was never made, so
the arch instead functions as a sort of majestic entryway.

Just after the arch is the white stone church of Santa Maria
dell’Orazione e Morta, decorated with skulls and etchings of skeletons,
home to the medieval fraternity tasked with burying the dead found
on the streets in Rome. Just beyond that is a gorgeous white palazzo
belonging to the 16th-century Falconieri family with a sumptuous inner
courtyard. Remodeled in the 17th century by Borromini, it houses the
Hungarian Academy.

After that, from the days when every nation and city-state had to
have its own church in Rome, there are churches representing Spain,
Armenia, Siena and Florence, to name just a few. The altar of the
Sienese church, with painting by Girolamo Genga, has been restored
for the anniversary.

EACH church brings a taste of its home base to Rome. The small Armenian
church, for example, has a delicate iron cross on top and an iron
fence that would seem more at home in the Armenian countryside. The
vast white Florentine church at the end of the street, San Giovanni
Battista dei Fiorentina, reflects the grandeur of the Medici family
(who had a palazzo just next door). By far the largest and grandest
church on Via Giulia, it was begun in the early 16th century and took
more than 200 years to complete and includes work by both Borromini
and Bernini. As part of the birthday celebrations, the church is to
host a narrated homage (with music) this weekend to Pietro da Cortona,
the artist whose paintings adorn the altar.

Does Via Giulia sound like a movie set? Not at all. Via Giulia is
very much a street where people — most very rich — live. It is
filled with antiques shops as well as a smattering of more pedestrian
establishments like hardware stores and nail salons. One of Rome’s
best high schools, Liceo Virgilio, is on the street.

And, to remind you that all is not saintly in Italy these days:
Italy’s anti-Mafia commission has its imposing offices on Via Giulia
housed in a vast former jail — thick bars on the windows speak to
its prior function.

While many of the churches and palazzi are closed to the public,
some will open their doors in honor of Via Giulia’s birthday this
year (check for a schedule of tours, concerts
and events). If you see a door open, peek inside. And, if you want
to live like an aristocrat, there are even short-stay apartments for
rent there.