La Sapienza e l'Università di Roma

THE NAME ‘SAPIENZA’ AND THE UNIVERSITY OF ROME. The University of Rome, or Studium Urbis, as it was known in the time of Pope Leo X, looked to the Christian concept of knowledge, or sapienza, for its inspiration. With the construction of its historic seat, the Palazzo della Sapienza, the Studio would consolidate that symbolic signification of knowledge, as reiterated in Borromini’s design of the Church of St. Ivo, featuring signs and symbols from the Old Testament. With each important milestone in the university’s history, the meaning of ‘knowledge’ and its every representation would take on new guises, in keeping with social, political and religious changes. In the 19th century, with Rome’s annexation to the Kingdom of Italy, the university’s architecture and aesthetic would be altered to fit the new notions of ‘knowledge’. With the advent of the fascist regime and the ensuing sacralization of the state as an ethical-religious entity, the New Campus of the University of Rome would adopt the Italian state’s symbols and political liturgies, only for these to be reconverted into their Christian antecedents, from the university’s original seat, in the post-war period.