Engineering the Eternal City: Power, Knowledge, and Urbanization in Counter-Reformation Rome, 1560-1590
This project is a cultural and social history of engineering in Counter-Reformation Rome during a thirty year period. During this period, Catholic reform and the renovation of the city went hand in hand. Aqueducts were repaired, fountains built, streets paved, and obelisks transported to new prominent sites aligning newly straightened streets.The study focuses on processes of conflict, negotiation, and work, rather than on finished structures. The complex political and patronage situation in Rome led to numerous writings on practical engineering projects and their association with the study of antiquities, ancient texts, and other traditions of learning, thereby facilitating the rising status of technical and practical culture.