View of the Piazza Cavallo (Veduta della Piazza di Monte Cavallo)

Dramatically located atop the highest hill in Rome, the Piazza di Monte Cavallo was named for the colossal statues of Castor and Pollux standing by their rearing horses (cavallo means "horse" in Italian). The statues, Roman copies of Greek originals, were unearthed in the sixteenth century near the Baths of Constantine. Two important palaces flank the Piazza di Monte Cavallo: the Quirinal, once the summer palace of the popes, now the official home of the Italian president; and the Palazzo della Consulta, housing the supreme court for constitutional matters. The unusual hovering perspective of Piranesi’s print intensifies the incongruities of scale between the hulking statues, the large ruined columns in the foreground, and the human figures, whose activities appear to dwindle into insignificance.