Francesco Redi architetto 

Small cloister / Piazza Colonna, Rome

 

The building involved is located in the Rione Colonna adjacent Piazza Colonna, more precisely at the corner of Via dei Bergamaschi and via della Colonna Antonina. The square, rectangular and with a central column of Marcus Aurelius, was built in the late sixteenth century by Pope Sixtus V. It is not certain the presence of the building before the construction of the plaza. In the first representation of the map of Rome by the cartographer Leonardo Bufalini dated 1551, we can see the presence of the building. It is represented only by a boundary line as the rest of the buildings shown in the above mentioned plan. In succesiva, in order of time, cartography drawn bird by Antonio Tempesta can be noticed that the building involved, in its development in height, exceeds by few floors the buildings belonging to the same block and appears to be in adherence with the architectural complex of Santa Maria della Pieta, used as a hospital for the mentally ill and called "Pazzerelli Hospital ". In the design of _ Felice Della Greca dated 1658, representing the square, we can note the presence of an arc that joins the two complexes (Pazzerelli arc). In 1699 or so, the arc is demolished, is also widened the alley between the two buildings, now Via dei Bergamaschi. In subsequent cartographic representations we find no further changes, except that of the rustic cadastre of the province of Rome, dated 1870, in which for the first time is represented the internal courtyard of the building involved. The attached map of 1939 fully reflects both the rustic cadastre that the current status.