The Rome you don't see. Glimpses of medieval Rome among fortresses, towers and porticoes

CYCLE: Open Doors. Rome through the centuries, at the centre of the world.
SPEAKER: Sandro Carocci
DATE: Thursday 6 February, 6 pm

Few traces remain today of the way the inhabitants of medieval Rome lived. Basilicas, churches and monasteries still characterize the urban landscape; by contrast, almost nothing appears of the world of the laity. Only a trained eye can spot the many traces still visible of the buildings constructed by medieval families.
The meeting aims to illustrate not only how to discover these traces, but also how to interpret them. Towers, arcades, fortresses and palaces dotted the territory, sometimes taking on forms unknown in the architecture of other cities. In order to interpret them, it is necessary to understand how they were intended to better respond to the needs of political and social life, which, in turn, was significantly conditioned by the peculiar types of urban settlements built by the nobility.

Sandro Carocci, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, coordinates international research and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the journal ‘Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales'. His books include: Barons of Rome (1993); Vassals of the Pope (2010); Lordships of Southern Italy (2018); Rome in the Middle Ages. Stealing landscape, art and society (11th-15th centuries) (with Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani, in press).

Free admission subject to availability.

Reservations at the link.