THE URBAN ROOM
Squares & Gathering Places

Drawings:

1. Piazza del Popolo, Todi (26/9/03)
2. Piazza della Rotonda, Roma (25/3/04)
3. Piazza Pio II, Pienza (12/7/03)
4. Piazza Pio II, Pienza (17/7/02)
5. S. Maria Maggiore di Pietrasanta, Naples (8/3/04)

By far the most important aspect of Italian cities and towns is the prevalence of contained gathering spaces called piazze. Often consisting of a complex matrix of public, private, sacred and secular buildings and functions, the piazza is the most cogent expression of the outdoor urban room. In most Italian cities and towns, the piazza remains the single most important public gathering space — affirming the local identity of the community and commemorating its cultural memory through monuments and other symbolic structures. While many piazze are grand and monumental, most are built at a scale responsive to their immediate context, that is to say they are in harmony with the buildings and blocks that surround them (fig. 1 — Piazza della Rotonda, Rome). In fact, most Italian piazze are no larger than your average suburban neighborhood intersection. It is one of the great ironies of American urbanism that we have a great number of conventional crossroads, but very few urban rooms that achieve the spatial distinction and cultural significance of the Italian piazza.

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