The title of Giovanni Omiccioli’s work “Saint Peter’s Before the Demolitions” refers to Spina di Borgo.
This was a long, narrow block – the origin of its name “Spina” meaning “spine”– between the square in front of Castel Sant’Angelo and the one in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. It was “born” and then “died” after demolitions to build Via della Conciliazione (1936-1937).
In 1935, the Italian Government and the Holy See agreed to entrust the project to the Governorate of Rome, which commissioned Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli to devise possible solutions. After approval from Mussolini and Pope Pius XI, demolition began. In a single year, from October 29, 1936, to October 8, 1937, the block between Borgo Vecchio and Borgo Nuovo was destroyed.
Our painting by the artist Giovanni Omiccioli is a moving testament to a wounded Rome that has disappeared.
The painters of the Roman School and the School of Via Cavour, Mario Mafai, Scipione, and Afro were drawn to the theme of demolitions, taking care to immortalize on canvas a Rome that would no longer exist.
The exhibition Noi, gli Omiccioli [We, the Omicciolis] at Villa Altieri (July 2023) another work on the theme by Giovanni Omiccioli was shown, the 1935 painting Demolition in Piazza Bocca della Verità from the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Rome
