The Pope's Straight Street

This dead-straight street, a kilometre long, was laid out around 1508 on the orders of Pope Julius II. It was the first straight street of modern Rome, and the idea was that the administrative heart of the city would rise here.

That plan was never finished. What did appear were palaces, churches, craftsmen's workshops and institutions belonging to the papal machinery: a prison, a bank, and a courthouse that never got beyond its foundation.

As you go, you'll see on your left the enormous rough blocks of that foundation jutting out of the pavement. Romans call them the sofas of Julius II. They're the only part of the building that was ever built, and they've been lying here for more than five centuries.

This street was also the route. The condemned were brought from the prison to the scaffold by the bridge, and people stood along these facades to watch.

We follow the street all the way down to the river and turn right towards the bridge with the angels.