Rome

===Early modern history===
{{Main|Roman Renaissance}}
[[File:Wolf-Dietrich-Klebeband Städtebilder G 123 III.jpg|thumb|Almost 500 years old, this map of Rome by [[Mario Cartaro]] (from 1575) shows the city's primary monuments.]]
[[File:0 Castel et pont Sant'Angelo (1).JPG|thumb|right|[[Castel Sant'Angelo]], or Hadrian's Mausoleum, is a Roman monument radically altered in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, built in 134 AD and crowned with 16th and 17th-century statues.]]
[[File:Fontana della Barcaccia restaurata, guardando verso Piazza Mignanelli.jpg|thumb|[[Fontana della Barcaccia]], created by [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]] in 1629]]
In 1418, the [[Council of Constance]] settled the [[Western Schism]], and a Roman pope, [[Martin V]], was elected.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=22}} This brought to Rome a century of internal peace, which marked the beginning of the [[Renaissance]].{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=22}} The ruling popes until the first half of the 16th century, from [[Nicholas V]], founder of the [[Vatican Library]], to [[Pius II]], humanist and literate, from [[Sixtus IV]], a warrior pope, to [[Alexander VI]], immoral and [[Nepotism|nepotist]], from [[Julius II]], soldier and patron, to [[Leo X]], who gave his name to this period ("the century of Leo X"), all devoted their energy to the greatness and the beauty of the Eternal City and to the patronage of the arts.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=22}}

During those years, the centre of the [[Italian Renaissance]] moved to Rome from Florence. Majestic works, as the new [[St. Peter's Basilica|Saint Peter's Basilica]], the [[Sistine Chapel]] and ''[[Ponte Sisto]]'' (the first bridge to be built across the [[Tiber]] since antiquity, although on Roman foundations) were created. To accomplish that, the Popes engaged the best artists of the time, including [[Michelangelo]], [[Pietro Perugino|Perugino]], [[Raphael]], [[Domenico Ghirlandaio|Ghirlandaio]], [[Luca Signorelli]], [[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]], and [[Cosimo Rosselli]].

The period was also infamous for papal corruption, with many Popes fathering children, and engaging in [[nepotism]] and [[simony]]. The corruption of the Popes and the huge expenses for their building projects led, in part, to the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] and, in turn, the [[Counter-Reformation]]. Under extravagant and rich popes, Rome was transformed into a centre of art, poetry, music, literature, education and culture. Rome became able to compete with other major European cities of the time in terms of wealth, grandeur, the arts, learning and architecture.

The Renaissance period changed the face of Rome dramatically, with works like the [[Pietà (Michelangelo)|Pietà]] by Michelangelo and the frescoes of the [[Borgia Apartments]]. Rome reached the highest point of splendour under [[Pope Julius II]] (1503–1513) and his successors [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]] and [[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]], both members of the [[House of Medici|Medici family]].
[[File:Lingelbach, Johannes - Carneval in Rom - c. 1650-1651.jpg|thumb|[[Carnival]] in Rome, {{circa|1650}}, by [[Johannes Lingelbach]]]]
[[File:View of the Piazza Navona, Rome LACMA 49.17.3.jpg|thumb|''A View of the Piazza Navona, Rome'', by [[Hendrik Frans van Lint]], {{circa|1730}}]]

In this twenty-year period, Rome became one of the greatest centres of art in the world. The old St. Peter's Basilica built by Emperor [[Constantine the Great]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13369b.htm |first1=P.M. |last1=Baumgarten |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Basilica of St. Peter |publisher=New Advent |date=1 February 1912 |access-date=3 February 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110133607/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13369b.htm |archive-date=10 January 2010}}</ref> (which by then was in a dilapidated state) was demolished and a new one begun. The city hosted artists like [[Ridolfo Ghirlandaio|Ghirlandaio]], [[Pietro Perugino|Perugino]], [[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]] and [[Donato Bramante|Bramante]], who built the temple of [[San Pietro in Montorio]] and planned a great project to renovate the [[Apostolic Palace|Vatican]]. Raphael, who in Rome became one of the most famous painters of Italy, created frescoes in the [[Villa Farnesina]], the [[Raphael Rooms|Raphael's Rooms]], plus many other famous paintings. Michelangelo started the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and executed the famous statue of the [[Moses]] for the tomb of Julius II.

Its economy was rich, with the presence of several Tuscan bankers, including [[Agostino Chigi]], who was a friend of Raphael and a patron of arts. Before his early death, Raphael also promoted for the first time the preservation of the ancient ruins. The [[War of the League of Cognac]] caused the first plunder of the city in more than five hundred years since [[Sack of Rome (1084)|the previous sack]]; in 1527, the [[Landsknecht]]s of Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] [[Sack of Rome (1527)|sacked the city]], bringing an abrupt end to the golden age of the Renaissance in Rome.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=22}}

Beginning with the [[Council of Trent]] in 1545, the Church began the Counter-Reformation in response to the Reformation, a large-scale questioning of the Church's authority on spiritual matters and governmental affairs. This loss of confidence led to major shifts of power away from the Church.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=22}} Under the popes from [[Pius IV]] to [[Sixtus V]], Rome became the centre of a reformed Catholicism and saw the building of new monuments which celebrated the papacy.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=23}} The popes and cardinals of the 17th and early 18th centuries continued the movement by having the city's landscape enriched with baroque buildings.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=23}}

This was another nepotistic age; the new aristocratic families ([[Barberini family|Barberini]], [[Pamphili family|Pamphili]], [[Chigi family|Chigi]], [[Rospigliosi family|Rospigliosi]], [[Altieri family|Altieri]], [[Odescalchi family|Odescalchi]]) were protected by their respective popes, who built huge baroque buildings for their relatives.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=23}} During the [[Age of Enlightenment]], new ideas reached the Eternal City, where the papacy supported archaeological studies and improved the people's welfare.{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=22}} But not everything went well for the Church during the Counter-Reformation. There were setbacks in the attempts to assert the Church's power, a notable example being in 1773 when Pope Clement XIV was forced by secular powers to have the [[Suppression of the Society of Jesus|Jesuit order suppressed]].{{sfn | Bertarelli | 1925 | p=22}}