Description

Religious processions were common occurrences in medieval Rome. Romans took to the streets to celebrate religious holidays, feast days, baptisms, and funerals almost weekly. The largest and grandest of the processions occurred more rarely: the coronation processions for the newly elected pope. On these processions, the pope would set off on a parade through the streets of Rome, stopping to address his subjects from places of significance around the city.

The papal processions brought people of all classes together, while also highlighting the communities, institutions, and monuments on the processional route. Without the processions, these communities and spaces were separated by the physical barriers of the disabitato–the uninhabited part of Rome–and the Tiber.

The tradition of processions in medieval Rome led to specific developments in Catholic liturgy, as well as significant infrastructure projects that reshaped the city streets.

This 7 kilometer (3.4 mile) walking tour follows the processional route of the 1198 coronation of Pope Innocent III. The procession began  at the steps of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, and ended at the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano; the two religious boundaries containing Catholic Rome. The stops elaborated on in the tour are considered to be among the most significant, both in terms of the liturgy of the processions, and impact on the people and neighborhoods of Rome.

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