Via della Conciliazione

Logically connected Rome to the Vatican State, by a straight line that connects St. Angel's Castle to St. Peter's Square; until the thin line of travertine that marks the border between the two States, framing scenically the St. Peter's Basilica. It is one of the most controversial urban works of the twentieth century: the road, designed by the architects Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli, was created from 1936 with the demolition of the block of the "Spina di Borgo", canceling the Bernini Baroque invention, who had created an evocative perspective game, putting in line the Borgo with the bronze door that led to the Scala Regia, in the Basilica. The twentieth-century intervention caused the loss of much of the urban fabric of the neighborhood; overall style of the new buildings went to reflect the Neoclassicism of the time.