Description

The Porto di Ripetta was a small port on the Tiber. Pope Clement XI officially built the physical port in 1703, but that spot had been used as a landing for boats since ancient Roman times. Though the port was mostly a just a well-used riverbank during the Middle Ages, the Roman government collected tolls from people who landed there. The name “Ripetta” was officially used for the first time in 1389 by Pope Boniface IX. The area around the Ripetta was primarily used to house storage areas for boatmen in the 12th century. During the late 14th century, a group of Slavs made a new home in the port’s surrounding area after being driven out of their land of origin after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. They built a church near the port and dedicated it to San Girolamo degli Schiavoni. The church still stands today after being rebuilt in the 16th century, it can be found on Largo degli Schiavoni, close to the banks of the Tiber. The church is very close to the site of the old port, according to a 16th century map by Antonio Tempesta, the church is immediately inland from the Ripetta. Today, a street named “Via di Ripetta,” which runs from the Piazza del Popolo down past the site of the old port, commemorates the Porta di Ripetta.

Creator

Clare Hiyama (2016)

Coverage

1300s

Source

Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Marder, Tod A. "The Porto di Ripetta in Rome." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 39, No. 1 (March 1980), pp. 28- 56.

Tempesta, Antonio. Plan of the City of Rome. From The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1645.