II. Rome on the Tiber (Left Bank).
That part of the city which extends to the W. from the Quirinal
and Capitol as far as the river was uninhabited in the most ancient
times (Campus Martius), but was gradually covered with buildings
as Rome extended her sway, and as far back as the Republic, but
more particularly in the reign of Augustus, it became the site of
many palatial edifices. This new town of ancient Rome was almost
the only inhabited district during the middle ages and following
centuries and it is still the most densely peopled quarter. The
present government has undertaken the task of improving this
quarter by the construction of new and broad streets; but apart
from these it still retains the characteristics of the mediæal and
Renaissance city in its network of narrow streets and lanes, enlivened
by the busy traffic of the lower classes, and containing innumerable
interesting churches and palaces. The, Corso, the principal thorough-
fare, is characterized by its imposing baroque façades of the 17th
and 18th centuries.
a. The Corso and Adjacent Side Streets.
The Corso, officially called Corso Umberto Primo, is the
central street of the three running to the S. from the Piazza del
Popolo (p. 178). It corresponds with the ancient Via Lata, begin-
ning at the Capitol and continued outside the ancient city as the
Via Flaminia (comp. p. 429). Its length from the Piazza del Popolo
to the Piazza Venezia is 1650 yds., or nearly a mile.
The N. part of the street is little frequented. No. 518, to the
right, between the first two cross-streets, is the Pal. Rondanini
(Pl. I, 17), now Sanseverino, the court of which contains ail un-
finished Pietà by Michael Angelo, on which he worked up to a few
days before his death. No. 18, on the left side, was inhabited by
Goethe, in 1786; inscription (placed there in 1872): 'In questa casa
immaginò e scrisse cose immortali Volfango Goethe.'
On the right, farther on, is the church of San Giacomo in
Augusta or degli Incurabili, with a façade by C. Maderna. It be-
longs to the adjoining surgical hospital, which extends to the Via
di Ripetta; one of the landings inside bears a fine relief of the Ma-
donna by Maestro Andrea ( 15th cent.; apply to the porter). Nearly
opposite, on the left, is the small Augustine church of Gesùe Maria;
with a façade by Girol. Rainaldi.
In the Via de' Pontefici, the third turning on the right, is the entrance
(No. 57; closed at present) to the Mausoleum of Augustus (Pl. I, 17, 18),
erected by that emperor in 28 B.C. as a burial-place for himself and his
family, and in which most of his successors down to Nerva were interied.
On a square travertine basement, now wholly beneath the level of the