The intervention, carried out as part of the Jubilee 2025 works, was inaugurated in December 2024. The project made it possible to make more than 75 percent of the square pedestrian-friendly and to create a continuous and protected route to San Pietro and the Metro station through an intervention, carried out at the same time, of redevelopment of Via Ottaviano.
The objective of the intervention was to give the square a new identity by making it dynamic and accessible for both Jubilee visitors and neighborhood residents. In particular, the intervention made it possible to:
Improving the environmental comfort of the public space by increasing the number of trees and shrubs present, creating new green areas on the northeast and northwest sides, installing a new irrigation system for the green areas, and choosing paving materials that reduce the heat island effect and ensure more effective permeability of the area, such as cobblestones and stabilized earth. Thanks to the pedestrianization of the southern part, where the space previously reserved for cars is returned to citizens and the asphalt is eliminated, replacing it with a new permeable stabilized earth pavement, thus reducing heat and creating a new equipped pedestrian transit loop path surrounding the public space of the square.
Increasing livability, through the creation of Parking Islands of different sizes consisting of benches and circular planters with integrated seating, the installation of 15 bicycle racks in the north east and west the creation of stepped macro furniture in the south area of the square, the creation of poured rubber paving in the east area of the square with specific furnishings, the inclusion of services such as toilets – in two prefabricated blocks with eight new ones in addition to the existing ones -, drinking water fountains for free drinking water with “Acea Water Houses” near the pedestrian path northwest of the square, an infopoint on the pedestrian path southeast of the square
Enhance pedestrian mobility, making the paths recognizable and usable, accessible for all through the removal of architectural barriers with the inclusion of ramps and the elimination of elevation jumps, the use of homogeneous materials that improve the perception of the paths and in particular the continuity towards the renovated Via Ottaviano and the colonnade of St. Peter’s, a new lighting that enhances the new spaces of the square, with the insertion of solar-powered stand-alone poles for lighting the parking islands and supporting the roadway at the new flower beds, floodlights installed on existing poles towards the Vatican Walls, in the stepped spaces and the poured rubber area.
