Immigrant Labor on the Via Sacra
description: The Via Papalis or Via Sacra is a set of streets throughout Rome that connects the Lateran Complex all the way until St. Peter's square, passing through the Castel Sant’Angelo, the Capitoline Hill, and a series of prominent marketplaces along the way. It was the traditional route for the pope to follow upon his election, and as such was also followed by many pilgrims every year. The buildings and streets of the route required significant upkeep, and many of the laborers who did so were immigrants themselves. This is especially true in the early fifteenth century, and may have been due to many foreigners following the popes back across the Alps. These immigrants were used heavily in projects restoring St. John the Lateran and St. Peter’s. Later in the 15th century the popes ordered the Castel Sant’Angelo be reconstructed, and that the Via Sacra be widened in the stretch between the castle and St. Peter’s square. Interestingly, these later projects involved fewer trans-alpine workers, but large numbers of immigrants from other Italian cities. This may have been due to foreigners assimilating quickly into Rome and then changing their last name to “de Roma”, which would mean we could no longer identify them as foreigners from notarial records. These laborers were paid on a day to day contract, and thus enjoyed little stability. The notarial records show some days hiring only 12 murators or skilled laborers, while hiring 94 in others. Manovales, the less skilled counterpart, may have endured even more variation in employment status. Part of this is likely because workers could work on different projects on different days. But in the case of injury or sickness, laborers had no security to fall back on. This was only exacerbated by their immigrant status, which suggests that they may have lacked a support network in Rome to depend upon while recovering. Thus construction work may have been a sort of vicious cycle, appealing only to those desperate for work, but ultimately …
creator: Jack Lightbody (2018)
source: Lee, Egmont. "Workmen and Work in Quattrocento Rome." In Rome in the Renaissance The City and the Myth, edited by P. Ramsey, 141-52. Binghampton, NY: Center for Medieval & Early Renaissance Studies, 1982. Lee, Egmont. " Notaries, Immigrants, and Computers: The Roman Rione Ponte, 1450-1480." In Sources of Social History: Private Acts of the Late Middle Ages, edited by Paolo Brezzi, 239-49. Rome: Istituto di Studi Romani, 1984. P. Ligorio, Urbis romae situs, Rome, M. Tramezzino, 1552.
rights: Rights uncertain for photo: FLAG
coverage: 1400s