The entry into Rome of Charles V, on the 5th of April, 1534, first aroused the Romans to the deplorable condition of their city, and, under the Pope's enlightened guidance, the preparations for the imperial visitor took the form of permanent and far - reaching municipal improvements, which improvements were carried on throughout the entire period of Paul Ill's pontificate. The enlarging of such great thoroughfares as the Babuino and Condotti date from this time, as does also the modern Corso, this last finally superseding the Via Giulia as the fashionable resort. Paul III preferred the old Palazzo di Venezia at its foot to any other residence, and he connected it with the Campidoglio by the great viaduct, lately destroyed; while for him Michelangelo designed the Campanile of the Senate House. A great Roman of the present day asserts that the fifteen years of Paul Ill's pontificate comprise one of the happiest periods in the city's life.

When Margaret of Austria rode through the Porta del Popolo, "two hours before sunset, dressed in white satin embroidered in pearls and gold," it was not merely a curious crowd who met and welcomed her. That concourse of citizens represented the self-respect of the Romans, risen from the abasement of a decade, and eager to prove to the daughter of the world's greatest sovereign their worthiness to be her subjects. They could not know that Margaret felt contempt for her youthful husband, nor that in the long duel between Paul III and the Emperor of Austria she stood not for Rome but for Austria, saying once when her assistance was sought that she had rather cut off her children's heads than ask her father to do anything that displeased him ! These were matters for the Farnese to deal with. So far as Rome was concerned, with the entry of the Emperor's daughter, its place among the cities of the world became once more important and imposing.

Charles V might despise the upstart Farnese as Francis I had laughed at Cesare Borgia, but the self-made Italians of the Renaissance-churchmen, merchants, and condottieri, were forces which hereditary monarchy could not do without. Spain had the riches of the New World; France and England were breeding the manhood of Europe; but Italy held the keys to the past-to the culture for which men's souls longed. The time was not yet-in 154o-although it was close at hand, when Italy's deliberate choice of evil rather than good finally made her, by weakening and corrupting her, a captive to Spain.