The “Legnara al Popolo- The People’s Lumberyard”

To the right of Porta del Popolo, along Piazzale Flaminio, is an impressive plaque surmounted by a monumental coat of arms, which reads:

PIUS SEXTUS P.M. / NE QUID LIGNIS PERICULI SIT / A LATRONIBUS AB INCENDIIS / AB IMPERVIO AERIS MEATU / PRECIBUS MERCATORUM ET FABRUM LIGNARIORUM / BENIGNISSIME INDULGENS / EX ADVERSO VETERIS AREAE LIGNIS / EXPONENDIS A CLEMENTE XII EXCITATAE / NOVAM EMPTA AD ID VINEA / MURO CIRCUMSEPTAM INSTRUI IUSSIT / GUILLIELMUS S.R.E. CARD. PALLOTTA / PROPRAEF. AERARII APOST. / F.C. / A. MDCCLXXX

The inscription celebrates the work of Pope Pius VI Braschi (1775-1799) who in 1780 expanded the deposit for wood, or lumberyard, built by Clement XII Corsini (1730-1740), to protect the precious material from theft and fire.

The plaque refers to a structure of which no trace remains today, built near the river, outside the walls, known as the legnara; its history is connected to the thriving trade in wood to burn as fuel and for construction. It was transported by river on large rafts from the upper Tiber valley and deposited at various points in the city.

Following a raging fire in 1734, Pope Clement XII ordered the immediate construction of a new lumberyard in an area “outside Porta Flaminia (…) towards the Tiber”. Having become inadequate as early as 1780, Pope Pius VI, indulging the demands of merchants and artisans, fenced off a neighbouring area and also placed a new monumental plaque and coat of arms to commemorate the project.

Over the course of the 19th century, the two 18th-century woodsheds came to border the slaughterhouse and the Campo Boario, built in 1824 – 1825; after some restoration work carried out in the mid-century by Gioacchino Hersoch, the enlargement of the slaughterhouse forced the lumberyard to be downsized and the existing enclosures to be reused for the construction of other structures in the Campo Boario and public slaughterhouse.

Between the late 19th and early 20th century, in order to allow for the construction of the Tiber embankments and the new Regina Margherita bridge, what remained of the wood storehouse was demolished along with the Slaughterhouse and Campo Boario buildings, and the plaque was dismantled and relocated where it still stands today. A small marble plaque below explains that the monumental plaque was moved here from the end of this street close to the Tiber and walled in at this location in 1906.

G. Gregorini, F. Riene Duflos, Gate and enclosure outside the Porta del Popolo to preserve the timber towers from fire, print, 1739
Plaque for Pope Pius VI affixed on the occasion of the construction of the enclosure of the lumberyard by the Tiber, original location, 1905
Marble plaque commemorating Pope Pius VI affixed on the occasion of the construction of the enclosure of the lumberyard by the Tiber, present location
G. B. Nolli, New Map of Rome, Campo Marzio district, print, etching, second quarter of the 18th century, 1748
1. G. Gregorini, F. Riene Duflos, Gate and enclosure outside the Porta del Popolo to preserve the timber towers from fire, print, 1739
2. Plaque for Pope Pius VI affixed on the occasion of the construction of the enclosure of the lumberyard by the Tiber, original location, 1905
3. Marble plaque commemorating Pope Pius VI affixed on the occasion of the construction of the enclosure of the lumberyard by the Tiber, present location
4. G. B. Nolli, New Map of Rome, Campo Marzio district, print, etching, second quarter of the 18th century, 1748
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