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Roman Renovation Can Richard Meier undo what Augustus and Mussolini wrought? From The New Yorker
Recent events at St. Peter's Square, in Rome, have demonstrated, among other things, the virtues of a piazza. Three million people entered Rome in the course of about five days, and almost all of them came to the piazza outside the basilica. Bernini, the piazza's main architect, conceived the square (which is actually oval) in the seventeenth century as a site of pilgrimage, although he might not have imagined what could happen when Christian zeal is combined with mass tourism. Nevertheless, apart from a few minor incidents, everyone in the square behaved. For the people waiting outside it, in a line to view Pope John Paul II's body which stretched for more than three miles, the arms of Bernini's great flanking colonnades were ahead, like a big stone hug ready to enfold pilgrims and sightseers alike at the end of their ordeal. To read a pdf file (440k) of this story click here. To download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here. Copyright © John Seabrook 2005. All rights reserved
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