Arquitectura comercial de la ciudad de Roma. Una aproximación a la definición de las avenidas de carácter suntuario: de la vía Sacra a la Quinta Avenida

Abstract

The present work aims, firstly, to analyze the changes in the commercial topography of the city of Rome in classical times and second to discuss surroundings of the emergence of new avenues of luxury character. The Roman expansion by the Mediterranean and the Atlantic during the republican period allowed to reaffirm Rome over the rest of the cities. War booties, new colonized territories, and a more globalized economy fostered the interests of an increasingly rich section of the population. Traditional elites and newcomers competed for the most unique and unique products of the known world. With the change of era, the craftsman specialized in the elaboration and subsequent sale of luxury products in Rome was acquiring the control of the premises closest to the political-administrative center of the Urbs. Thus, to the important historical value of the area was added a concentration of diverse specialized trades vertebrates by the sacra via, varying the commercial character of the urban center, transforming itself from an agricultural commerce to a luxurious one.
In order to know what the interests of the urban elites of the ss. I-III A.D. I studied the different commercial sectors highlighted in the epigraphy of the characters involved in the luxury trade in Rome. In a second section, I compared this information with the current one to verify if it is possible to determine a pattern of similarity, first, in the taste for the sumptuary and second, in knowing what type of businesses turn out to be the most notorious in sumptuous avenues. To do, I examined the five most important commercial avenues of the years 2015/16 according to the ranking prepared by the real estate consultants Cushman and Wakefield in the publication Main Streets Across The World.