In the Early Modern period, the concept of national identity differed greatly from the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century ideology of the nation state. The word "natio" defined a group of persons unified by common territorial origins and cultural markers such as language, habits, customs, traditions, and confessions. Like no other city in Europe, Rome, home of the papacy, destination of pilgrims, and metropolis of art, was a perpetual hub for foreigners and thus was an ideal laboratory for the formation of national identities and their representation on an international stage.

The research contributions presented here treat the institutions of six different foreign communities resident in Rome during the 16th and17th centuries. They focus on the question of how national identity was visualized through art and architecture, but also by performative actions such as religious services, rituals and processions.
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RIHA Journal is the eJournal of the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art. The Managing Editor is based at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte.

Proof of reproduction: Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle, ca. 1493, fol. 57v-58r: Rome (detail) (Wikimedia Commons)