Via Nazionale

11. Oct, 2010 0 Comments

The Via Nazionale is a mayor thoroughfare in Rome, leading from the Piazza della Repubblica to the Piazza Venezia and crossing the neighborhoods of Castro Pretorio and Monti.

The street was constructed between 1864 and 1871, and is now a mayor traffic vein between the Stazione Termini and the Via del Corso. Several bus lines operate the Via Nazionale, amongst which bus number 64 going from Termini to Vatican City. The route of the Via Nazionale is mostly the same as the ancient Vicus Longus once followed.

The Via Niazole is the result of the Belgian François-Xavier de Mérode, the Vatican Minister of War. De Mérode bought large pieces of land between Termini and the Quirinale from 1860, foreseeing the city’s need for future construction in the area. Much of the property was then sold to speculators for high profits. De Mérode ordered the construction of a street which would originally carry his name, but this idea changed soon after the victory of the Italian king against the Pope and his conquest of Rome in 1870.

To either sides of the Via Nazionale you can see large office buildings, shops and private housing. You can also find remnants of older constructions, such as the church of S. Vitale (originally from the 5th century A.D.).

The beginning and the end of Via Nazionale are marked by huge Roman constructions: to the east by the Baths of Diocletian (located on the Piazza della Reppublica) and to the west by the imperial forums and the forum of Trajan.