Charity, architecture and urban development in post-Tridentine Rome : the hospital of the SS.ma Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti (1548-1680)

This dissertation analyzes the institutional, architectural and urban history of charitable institutions in Rome from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. It highlights the previously ignored central role that these institutions played in the consolidation of papal power and the political administration of the city. The study focuses on the SS.ma Trinita dei Pellegrini at Ponte Sisto, a shelter of pilgrims and convalescents, and one of the four large public hospitals in the city. The building history of the Trinita is analyzed from the middle of the sixteenth century to the end of the seventeenth. The impact of the Trinita on the neighborhood is also examined. This reveals an instance of collaboration among three institutions -- the Trinita, the Monte di Pieta, and a Hospice for Beggars built by Sixtus V -- and a papal family, the Barberini, in the transformation of their quarter. These institutions were also an integral portion of papal urban plans. Their large complexes were part of an urban system that included a bridge, the main supply route of the city, and an urban barrier that separated the poorer quarters of the city, and the Jewish Ghetto, from those where wealthy families were building their palaces. Finally, the analysis of the economic context of the Trinita and similar institutions emphasizes the connection between their sources of wealth and the ways they displayed their identity.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Keyvanian, Carla L. (Carla Lucia), 1962-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Henry A. Millon.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8830

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8830