This project is supported by the Science, Technology and Society program. It is a study of engineering and urbanization in Rome that focuses on the period 1557 to 1590 during which the physical city of Rome was transformed by numerous engineering projects: the widening and straightening of streets, the reconstruction of two ancient aqueducts, the construction of numerous fountains, the erection of obelisks at key points in the city, the construction of sewers, the building and renovation of numerous palaces and churches, and major efforts to control the flooding of the Tiber River. Maps and other images of Rome also proliferated as the city was surveyed and renovated to better reflect the power and authority of the papacy and the Church.
The period of the focus of this project is well before the emergence of professional engineering. Engineer/architects, magistrates, learned antiquarians, cardinals, and others participated in discussions and wrote many proposals and tracts concerning various projects and solutions to engineering problems. Because the city was governed by two entities, the papacy and the communal government, much archival documentations also exists concerning their communication and conflicts over engineering projects. The 30 year focus does not signal a narrow local study, but rather enables a full archival investigation of the rich documentation available. This makes possible a study of the processes of engineering, its various discussions and solutions, failures as well as successes, the use of labor on work sites, the varied fates of engineers (ranging from imprisonment to high honors), and the deep relationships of engineering in Rome at this time with antiquarian and humanist learning.
This in-depth study of Roman engineering in the late Renaissance has implications for two major areas of general interest. First, it will be of interest to historians of engineering as well as to those concerned with urbanization and the relationships of physical cities and their infrastructures to cultural mores and political power. These topics concern both early modern historians and many others focused on modern urbanization and political culture. Second, this study concerns the culture of knowledge and its implications for the Scientific Revolution. An important focus among historians of science has been the relationship of artisanal and technical practice to learned cultures in the development of the ?new sciences,? which emphasized experiment, observation, and empirical values. This study investigates the numerous relationships of learned men and practitioners within engineering projects in Rome. Such an investigation in the generation before Galileo will contribute a new vantage point to an ongoing discussion.
This research focused on engineering and the culture of engineering during an approximately 30 year period between 1557 and 1590 in Rome, Italy. This period begins with the catastrophic flooding of the Tiber River in September 1557 and ends with the death of the great "engineering pope," Sixtus V in 1590. During this period Rome was transformed by intense activity involving building construction and urban projects of various kinds--the building and renovation of churches and palaces; the repair and reconstruction of two great aqueducts, the Acqua Vergine and the newly named Acqua Felice; the creation of new fountains made possible by the greatly augmented water supply; the widening and paving of streets; the redesign of streets and plazas; the renovation and new construction of sewers and drains; the repair of bridges; the transport of obelisks from their ancient resting places to new locations; and numerous plans and projects for preventing the periodic disastrous flooding of the Tiber River. The research was carried out in the numerous archives and rare book libraries in Rome. The use of a 30-year period allowed an investigation into the processes involved in making decisions concerning which engineering projects to carry out, who the contractors and engineer/architects would be, and how money would be raised. Failures were investigated as well as successes, including the catastrophic failure of an aqueduct reconstruction in which the responsible engineer, Antonio Treviso, ended in prison, where he soon died. Conflicts between the papal and communal governments, rivalries among engineers, architects, and other skilled workers, and the relationships of engineering projects to political power and social prestige were all investigated in detail. The effects of engineering projects on the people of Rome were also studied, including the workers who constructed buildings, sewers, bridges, and aqueducts, and the people who used the resulting structures. Finally, the processes of construction were investigated, including how materials were obtained and how structures such as new aqueducts or immense domed churches were actually constructed. This contextual approach allowed a study of engineering as part of the cultural and social history of the city. Renovating the physical structures of the city went hand in hand with social engineering in which "undesirable" peoples such as Jews, beggars, and prostitutes, were forced into ghettos, and sumptuary laws were passed in an attempt to enforce dress codes. The investigation included a study of surveying, practical mathematics, and map making in Rome. The study also contributes to a problem in the history of science, namely the extent to which artisan/practitioners contributed to the development of empirical methodologies in the "scientific revolution." The results showed that Rome in this period (in the generation before Galileo) was important for significant communication among practical engineers and learned humanists and patrons. This communication (in Rome and elsewhere) led to an increasing appreciation of empirical methods and approaches to a variety of problems, including investigation of the natural world. In addition to the publications that have already appeared, this research will lead to a book length study of engineering in Rome during this period. It will contribute to a history of engineering and of urbanization, and will lead to an increased understanding of the ways in which empirical methodologies developed in the period shortly before the "scientific revolution.".
