During the final two jubilees of the 16th century, Rome witnessed an unprecedented influx of pilgrims. Celebrated only once every 25 years, jubilees offered the faithful a rare chance to obtain plenary indulgences, freeing them from the temporal consequences of sins already forgiven. The gathering of worshippers from across Europe was seen as a powerful symbol of the papacy’s renewed authority in the aftermath of the Reformation. A commemorative print from the opening ceremony of Christmas Eve 1574 captures the scene: Pope Gregory XIII carried in a sedan chair toward the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica, surrounded by immense crowds. Reports claim that around 400,000 pilgrims visited Rome in 1575—remarkable considering the city’s population hovered around 80,000. By 1600, the number swelled to an estimated 536,000 visitors, arriving from places as distant as Armenia, England, Poland, and Spain.
Accommodating so many travellers, particularly those unable to support themselves, posed a significant logistical challenge. Many Romans, including high-ranking clergy, opened their homes. Archbishop Carlo Borromeo of Milan offered his official residence, while others—such as a merchant’s wife who sheltered 30 women nightly, and a noblewoman who hosted more than 90—provided both practical and spiritual care, even washing their guests’ feet in imitation of Christ.
Much of the responsibility, however, fell to Rome’s confraternities—lay religious associations dedicated to charity. Foremost among them was the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents, founded in 1548. What began as a modest effort to house a few pilgrims during the 1550 jubilee expanded into an extensive network of dormitories, dining halls, and a hospital capable of receiving hundreds at once. Supported by donations and Vatican funding, it became a cornerstone of jubilee hospitality. Other guilds also contributed: the bakers’ confraternity cared for 350 poor or infirm pilgrims in 1575, achieving notably low mortality rates compared to other hospitals.
Yet this generosity toward temporary visitors starkly contrasted with attitudes toward Rome’s own poor, whose numbers grew rapidly as the city’s population nearly doubled. The statutes of the Holy Trinity confraternity made clear that its aid was reserved for pilgrims and extended to locals only in “truly desperate cases.” Meanwhile, the streets filled with beggars, prompting authorities to impose strict measures to curb their visibility. Bans on begging, threats of forced service on the galleys, and proposals to confine beggars to designated districts all attempted to control the city’s burgeoning poverty. These policies mirrored other forms of social segregation already in place, such as the Jewish ghetto established in 1555 and the restriction of prostitutes to the Campo Marzio area in 1566.
Efforts to impose order continued. A 1596 decree introduced a licensing system requiring those seeking alms to prove their need through questioning. Successful applicants were permitted to beg only if they wore a visible badge pinned to their left shoulder. This system remained in force well into the 17th century and was partly motivated by fears of impostors—individuals pretending to be pilgrims to exploit charitable networks. Such concerns appear in contemporary prints and confraternity records, which describe procedures for identifying and rejecting those deemed “vagabonds.”
Despite these tensions, jubilee accounts consistently praised the charitable spirit the events inspired. Cardinal Angelo Pientini compared Rome’s achievement in housing thousands of visitors to feeding the workers who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. Observers marveled that the city had transformed itself into a vast lodging house for pilgrims. Yet beneath the celebration lay a persistent distinction between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor—dividing those seen as worthy of assistance from those who were not.
