Via della Conciliazione  Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation) is a street in the Rione of Borgo within Rome, Italy. Roughly in length, it connects Saint Peter's Square to the Castel Sant'Angelo on the western bank of the Tiber River. The road was constructed between 1936 and 1950, and it is the primary access route to the Square. In addition to shops, it is bordered by a number of historical and religious buildings – including the Palazzo Torlonia, the Palazzo dei Penitenzieri and the Palazzo dei Convertendi, and the churches of Santa Maria in Traspontina and Santo Spirito in Sassia. Despite being one of the few major thoroughfares in Rome able to cope with a high volume of traffic without congestion, it is the subject of much ire both within the Roman community and among historical scholars due to the circumstances under which it was constructed. The area around the church was rebuilt several times following the various Sacks of Rome, and again after having deteriorated due to the loss of prosperity resulting from the Papacy's relocation to Avignon during the 14th century. Through all of these reconstructions, the area in front of the short courtyard of Saint Peter's Basilica remained a maze of densely packed structures overhanging narrow side-streets and alleyways. Plans were drawn up several times over the years for the construction of a major link between the Vatican City and the centre of Rome; the number of submissions increasing dramatically with the onset of the Italian Renaissance. The first design was submitted by Leone Battista Alberti during the reign of Pope Nicholas V, and formed one of the two perennial designs proposed for the area. Alberti envisioned an "open" plan, consisting of a single voluminous V-shaped boulevard, widest at St. Peter's Basilica itself and tapering as it approached the Tiber. The other scheme of designs submitted by architects was a "closed" plan that would consist of two roads arching outwards in an ellipse, with the Tiber and the Square at opposite ends. Proponents of a closed plan would usually suggest that the space between the two causeways be separated by a colonnade, or by a row of inhabited structures whose designs would be scrutinised and approved by architects employed by the Holy See. Variations on both themes were submitted time and time again. Proponents of an "open" plan included such architects as Giovanni Battista Nolli and Cosimo Morelli.