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In the past it was more simple, divided
into two squares by a smaller palace, Palazzetto Venezia.
The square in front of Palazzo Venezia linked the Via
Papalis, from the Vatican to the Lateran, to the Via
Lata, which led to the centre of the city from Porta
Flaminia (Flaminian Gate).
On the square, where the Palazzo delle
Assicurazioni stands today, faced Michelangelo’s
workshop. The decision to built on the flanks of the
Capitoline hill the monument to Victor Emanuel II caused
the destruction of the papal square in order to give
life to a new political-moral centre of the new country.
The modern aspect of the square, after
a process of demolition and reconstruction, reflects
the ideology of grandeur and the wish to create the
myth of the Third Rome on the ruins of the imperial
and papal ones. On the other side of Palazzo Venezia
was built the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali in
imitation of the most famous palace.
Situated at the beginnig of the Via
del Corso is the Palazzo Bonaparte. It dates to 1660
and takes its name from Napoleon’s mother, who
after the fall of the Emperor lived here till her death
in 1836.
The roof-loggia is perfectly preserved
and remind us of those days in which that old lady could
observe the passerby without being seen. On Christmans
in the middle of the square rises a colourful Christmas
tree which is a pendant to the one in St.Peter square
and which gives a special flavor to the already splendid
flowered lawn
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