Sampietrini: The Cobblestones of Rome

Sampietrini, Piazza Navona

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The American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64) memorably described Roman streets as being 'uncomfortably paved with little squares of lava that to tread over them is a penitential pilgrimage'.  

The author of The Marble Faun was referring to the smooth black cobblestones known as sampietrini or sanpietrini, so called as they first appeared in Piazza San Pietro (St Peter's Square) during the reign of Pope Sixtus V (r. 1585-90) before spreading throughout the city.  

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