Spaniards and Sbirri: Violence and Diplomacy in the Streets of Early Modern Rome

In the summer of 1627, a series of violent conflicts erupted between the papal police, colloquially called the sbirri , in Rome and soldiers and servants of the Spanish ambassador. The epicenter of this violence was the Piazza della Trinità dei Monti, the location of the ambassador’s palace that soon gave its name to the square. After the initial skirmish between the police and Spaniards took place in late June, the next months witnessed daily street battles between the two sides with the ambassador’s men patrolling the streets that opened out from the Piazza della Trinità dei Monti all the way to the Corso, a huge swath of urban territory. Calling this area, “il Quatiero degli Spagnoli” (the Spanish quarter), the Spaniards robbed passersby and prevented the police and other papal officials from carrying out their duties in the area. The ambassador himself was quite active in defending his embassy and the surrounding area. His majordomo, his son, and other important members of his household led the attacks against the police. Moreover, he also secretly brought Spanish soldiers into Rome via the southern gate of the city and the River Tiber. This episode in Rome’s history demonstrates how important controlling its urban space was to Spanish ambassadors, especially during the Thirty Years War and the pontificate of Urban VIII, a partisan of France. Through violence, the ambassadors defended their rights and visibly asserted the will of their king. Moreover, papal government proved ineffective at quelling the violence of ambassadors as other clashes in the 1630s and 1640s reveal.