1960 – View across the Piazza di San Pietro from the Basilica San Pietro in Rome, Italy, towards east. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
The saying goes: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” – And one young aspiring photographer from Hamburg did exactly this when he visited Rome. He did the tourist-thing, and he captured stunning off-the-beaten-path photo documents.
Today, I am sharing one of the standard shots for any visitor who takes the effort to get up to the top of the Basilica San Pietro, most certainly one of the key attractions in Rome, along with the Piazza di San Pietro in front of it. When you are entering the Piazza, you are already on the grounds of the fully independent Vatican City! The Piazza was built from 1656 to 1667 by Bernini who was quite active in Rome. This is regarded as his masterpiece. Today the place can take up to 60,000 believers.
Anyway, this is the 1960 view towards East across the Piazza and the Via della Conciliazione with the Castel Sant’ Angelo and the Ponte Sant’ Angelo at its end.
The big question is: What changed since 1960?
Surprisingly, very little did change! Of course, there are less cars to be seen today, even if just for security reasons. But other than that, it’s basically the same. I guess that’s why Rome is also called ‘The Eternal City’.
A beautiful destination, in 1960, in 2005 (when we visited the city), and today. 🙂
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 1960 |
| Location | Rome, Italy |
| Camera | Canon AE-1 Program |
| Image Source | Framed Slide Film |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6614 x 4403 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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