Piazza Pia: Rome’s Largest Pedestrian Area

A neglected urban node for centuries and dominated by vehicular traffic for decades, Piazza Pia has been transformed into the largest pedestrian area in Rome for Jubilee 2025. Inaugurated on December 23, just a few hours before Pope Francis opened the Holy Door, Piazza Pia is a symbol of the Jubilee par excellence.

The project was part of a broader plan set in motion to rehabilitate and modernize the capital’s cultural heritage and infrastructure in anticipation of the Holy Year. The intervention in Piazza Pia, conceived and designed by VIA Ingegneria, aimed to strengthen the pedestrian axis between Castel Sant’Angelo and St. Peter’s Basilica, thereby enhancing one of Rome’s most important and scenic vistas, just a stone’s throw from the Vatican and the banks of the Tiber.

Piazza Pia from Jubilee to Jubilee through the Centuries

In the Middle Ages, a colonnaded street led from the square between Castel Sant’Angelo and Borgo, which worshippers followed to reach St. Peter’s while protected from the elements. As early as the 1450 Jubilee, Pope Nicholas V planned to reorganize the area, but the project was never completed.

Later, Pope Alexander VI ordered the demolition of several buildings in the medieval Borgo area to create a new way for pilgrims to reach the cathedral, Via Alessandrina. Inaugurated for the 1500 Jubilee, this route was called Borgo Nuovo to differentiate it from the other principal corridor to St. Peter’s, Borgo Vecchio.

Three streets therefore radiated out from what is now Piazza Pia – then known as Piazza Castello or Piazza di Borgo – with two leading to St. Peter’s, which converged in a wedge-shaped pattern, and one to Borgo Sant’Angelo. Between Borgo Vecchio and Borgo Nuovo, the so-called Spina di Borgo developed, a city block named for its elongated shape, the tip of which pointed to Castel Sant’Angelo and its base to St. Peter’s.

After the construction of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s marble colonnade in the 17th century, St. Peter’s Square essentially took on the appearance it does today. Nevertheless, successive pontiffs continued to view the link between the Spina and the area corresponding to today’s Piazza Pia as a candidate for demolition. And the demolition was eventually carried out in 1936 – following the Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and the Italian government – to make room for Via della Conciliazione, a new grand thoroughfare between St. Peter’s and Castel Sant’Angelo.

In the meantime, between 1875 and 1926, high embankments were built along the Tiber, drastically altering the city’s relationship with its river and resulting in the demolition of the southern portion of Castel Sant’Angelo’s bastions. Then, in 1911, with the inauguration of the Vittorio Emanuele II bridge, Piazza Pia was reconfigured to handle vehicular traffic. The square’s layout, largely unchanged until 2023, was completed in preparation for the 1950 Jubilee.

The Rebirth of Piazza Pia for Jubilee 2025

The latest chapter in the history of Piazza Pia is its revival for Jubilee 2025. The intersection at the entrance to Via della Conciliazione has been pedestrianized through the extension of the Lungotevere in Sassia underpass, a remnant from the Jubilee 2000 works. The entry ramp to the underpass was shifted back to the arches of Passetto di Borgo, the traffic light on Via della Conciliazione was removed, and, finally, Piazza Pia was fully pedestrianized.

Through these measures, the historical hierarchy between the central urban axis – from Castel Sant’Angelo to St. Peter’s – and the beltway outlining the bastions has been fully restored, while retaining the passage beneath the ancient arches of Passetto di Borgo.

The project included replacing all the paving and curbs in the area, installing new street lighting, rehabilitating green spaces, and improving accessibility for people with reduced mobility.

Two large, circular fountains were added to the center of the square, on either side of the pedestrian axis, which further add to the quality of this urban space. Both the physical and visual connections between the square and the gardens of the Bastions of Castel Sant’Angelo were also improved. Finally, new stairs have revitalized the area in front of the Church of Santa Maria Annunziata in Borgo.

In response to high traffic levels and the archaeological significance of the site, the project was carried out to an especially tight schedule, with 110 laborers working three eight-hour shifts over 450 days. Also to address these challenges, the construction site was carefully planned to minimize disruption to the surrounding urban fabric. An area was also set up in the castle gardens for archaeologists to safely catalog and restore any artifacts unearthed during the excavations, to later exhibit them in the local area.

With the project aimed at enhancing both the public space and historical heritage, successful architectural integration was a complex engineering challenge, with two large sewage collectors needing relocation to extend the underpass.

This ambitious project involved architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, engineering, and archaeology. As Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the opening ceremony, the intervention represents “the most significant Jubilee project terms of both its complexity and symbolic value.”

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