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The Capitoline Hill Piazza Tomb of Venezia Bibulus the Capitoline Hill Via Dei Fori Imperiali

The Capitoline Hill Piazza Tomb of Venezia Bibulus the Capitoline Hill Via Dei Fori Imperiali

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the piazza Tomb of venezia Bibulus The Capitoline Hill

The political and religious centre of and the seat of civic government Vittoriano Via since the end of the 11th century of the modern era, this little hill, with views directly over di San of caesar the , has the city’s historic collections of beautiful ancient . Clivus Argentarius Pietro

in Santi Luca Carcere e Martina ocated in the heart of the city (map p. 654, C3), the Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio) F is the best place to start a visit to Rome. Today it preserves its ancient feeling of piazza pride, combined with a sense of intimate elegance provided by the little piazza d’aracoeli L Tullianum created by on its summit. Here, around the famous equestrian monu- E ment to , stand the town hall of Rome and the Capitoline , with the city’s superb collections of —the arrangement still reflects Cordonata piazza del D A roman their history as the oldest public collection in the world. There are delightful peaceful Roman Via campidoglio Temple of forum tenement gardens off the quiet street which encircles the top of the little hill, from which there delle Tre Temple of are superb views of the city and of the Roman Forum. B Via Campidoglio Pile HISTORY OF THE CAPITOLINE HILL

The smallest of the , the Capitoline Hill is nevertheless the most Capitolinus important. Excavations have proved that it was the first place in Rome to be settled

C Clivus at the end of the Bronze Age (1300 bc). During the early the construc- Via del Monte Tarpeio Temple of tion of a huge temple was begun on its southern summit (the Capitolium). It was dedi- Via di cated to Jupiter, and Minerva in 509 bc and remains of its foundations can still be seen (see p. 44). The northern summit of the hill was occupied by the , or citadel Giove Villa Caffarelli of Rome, and in 343 bc, on the highest point of the hill here, a temple was dedicated to Juno Moneta. The temple was guarded by geese which were sacred to the goddess. In Via del the middle of a dark in the same century, it was their honking which alerted the

Teatro Via del Tempio di Romans to an attempt on the hill by the , and all was saved, although the rest of the city was sacked. The name Moneta came to be connected with the mint established di Marcello here (and hence our word ‘money’). monte caprino gardens By the 8th century ad the site of this temple had been occupied by the church of Aracoeli, which was used as the meeting-place of the Roman Council. Because of its A palazzo Senatorio historic position, the fortress close by (now Palazzo Senatorio) was chosen as the seat B palazzo dei Conservatori of the newly-formed senate of the comune of Rome in the 12th century. From the mid- C palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino forum 14th century onwards the governing magistrates (the ‘Conservators’) of the city car- boarium D E palazzo Nuovo ried out their administrative duties in Palazzo dei Conservatori, though they exercised F Santa Maria in Aracoeli effective power only for some hundred years, sinceNicholas V saw to it that the papacy took control of the city in the middle of the following century, when he had the 118 Blue Guide Rome 119

Michelangelo’s mortal flesh, and they were to be alternated with figures of Victory (one was partially The tomb of Pope Julius II, the famous unfinished masterpiece of Michelangelo, who realised and is in in ). The programme of the whole structure was so harassed while working on it that he called it the ‘tragedy of a sepulchre’, is at could be seen therefore as an allegory of the ascent of the soul, from its battles against the end of the south aisle. Hindered by quarrels with the pope and by the jealousy of the bonds of the flesh, up through the purification afforded by the teachings of the his successors, Michelangelo finally abandoned work on the tomb and the great pon- Church, to its final emancipation in death. tiff, who had contemplated for himself the most splendid monument in the world, lies After Julius died in 1513, the project lost momentum and was eventually reduced to uncommemorated in St Peter’s. Some 40 were to have decorated the tomb, no more than a small façade on a wall, in which assistants contributed major elements. including the two Slaves now in the and the four unfinished Slaves in the Only the Moses, on the insistence of the trustees of the will, was included from the Accademia Gallery in Florence, but no idea of the original design can be gained from original project. N.McG. the surviving unsatisfactory grouping. Only a few statues remain here, notably the magnificent Moses, in whose majestic glance is seen the prophet who spoke with God. Other works of art in the church The satyr-like horns represent beams of light, a traditional attribute of the prophet in In the chapel to the right of the sanctuary (behind glass) is a beautiful painting of medieval iconography, based on a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for the radiance St Margaret by . The bishop’s throne in the apse is a marble chair brought that emanated from Moses’ head after his interview with the Almighty (it was con- from a Roman bath. The 19th-century baldacchino over the high altar is by Virginio fused with the Hebrew word for horns). The figures ofLeah and on either side— Vespignani. In the confessio below are the Chains of St Peter displayed in a 19th- symbols of the active and contemplative life—are also by Michelangelo. The rest is his century casket in a tabernacle with beautiful bronze doors (1477) attributed to pupils’ work, although the effigy of the pope himself was attributed by some scholars Caradosso—however these are not usually visible since they are kept open. to Michelangelo during restoration work in 1999. The pose is based on the reclining figures on Etruscan tombs. TheProphet and are by Raffaello da Montelupo. THE CHAINS OF ST PETER THE TOMB OF POPE JULIUS II The project for the tomb of Pope Julius II stretched over 40 years of Michelangelo’s The two chains with which St Peter was career (between 1505 and 1545) and was in constant transformation during that supposedly fettered in the Carcer (or period. The changes it underwent are documented in six surviving contracts, each Tullianum; see p. 63) are said to have been of which successively reduced the scale of the original scheme. At its inception, the taken to Constantinople. In 439 Juvenal, plan was to create one of the grandest Christian tombs ever built, to be placed above Bishop of Jerusalem, gave them to the Empress the sepulchre of St Peter at the centre of St Peter’s . It was Pope Julius who Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the Younger. She had conceived and begun the building of the new St Peter’s; after his death it was to placed one of them in the Church of the Holy become an everlasting mausoleum to himself. What we see now is a deflated and ill- Apostles at Constantinople and sent the other proportioned shadow of that project: the artist himself would acknowledge as much. to Rome for her daughter, also Eudoxia, the The exact design of the original plan is not clear: but we know that it was to have wife of Valentinian III, who was Emperor of the been a massive, free-standing structure with three tiers in pyramidal arrangement, Western Empire (425–55). In 442 the younger surrounding an internal chamber. At the summit was to have been either the pope’s Eudoxia gave the chain to St Leo I (pope 440– sarcophagus or a seated effigy of the pope. Below this, on the middle level, were the 61) and built this church (called the Basilica figures of Moses and St Paul (emblems of the two Testaments), paired with a sibyl Eudoxiana or St Peter ad Vincula: ‘St Peter in Bonds’) to house it. Later the second and a prophet: of these, the Moses (1515) alone remains. On the lowest level was chain was sent to Rome. On being brought together, the two chains are said to have an allegorical arrangement playing on the way Classical and antique architecture miraculously united. They have ever since been amongst the most revered relics in any uses human figures as architectural elements: in Michelangelo’s conception, the church in Rome. figures were not just supporting the cornice but were miraculously coming to life and breaking free of their bonds. Sometimes called ‘slaves’ or ‘prisoners’, sometimes referred to as ‘dying’ and at other times as ‘awakening’, these powerful figures of In the tiny crypt (closed) there is a fine late 4th-century Roman sarcophagus with New male nudes are seen by some as representing the provinces subjugated by Julius, the Testament scenes, for long thought to contain the relics of the seven Jewish Maccabee warrior pope, and by others as personifying the Liberal Arts, awakened during his brothers (1st century bc). These martyrs are interesting as the only figures in the enlightened reign. For the artist, they were expressions of the soul’s struggle against Old Testament (apart from the archangels) who had a liturgical cultus in the Roman 176 Blue Guide Rome Santa Maria sopra Minerva 177

Sanctuary: At the foot of the sanctuary quary there in San Domenico). It was St steps is a of the Risen Christ (8) Catherine who persuaded Gregory XI to by Michelangelo (1514–21), for which return from Avignon to Rome, and her the great artist was paid 200 ducats (a remarkable letters are preserved. She princely sum). Standing in marked con- was proclaimed a patron saint of trapposto, Christ carries the instruments in 1939 and became a patron saint of of the Passion (rod and vinegar sponge, Europe in 1999. scourge and Cross); the small size of the In the apse behind are the tombs of latter gives it a purely symbolic value. the two most famous Medici popes Michelangelo’s original figure was nude, (10): Leo X (left) and Clement VII, although it has distinctly unclassical designed by Antonio da Sangallo the proportions; the bronze drapery is a Younger, with statues by Raffaello da later addition. Designed to be seen from Montelupo and Nanni di Baccio Bigio below, it used to stand in a tabernacle. respectively (but they are both without Under the 19th-century high altar inscriptions). In the pavement is the (9) lies a marble effigy ofSt Catherine tomb slab of Cardinal Pietro Bembo of Siena, marking the place where her (1547; see p. 174). decapitated body is buried (her head was santa maria sopra minerva Detail of Michelangelo’s Risen Christ (1514–21). returned to her native Siena three years North transept: In a passageway which after her death and is preserved in a reli- serves as an exit, is the pavement tomb

St Catherine’s Room to interrupt his work on his other great presenting Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin, santa maria cycle in the church of Santa also by Filippino. On the left wall is the sopra minerva Maria Novella in Florence when he funerary monument of Paul IV (d. 1559). 15 12 received this commission from Cardinal Outside the chapel is the tomb 1 Baptistery 7 (6) 13 10 10 Oliviero Carafa in 1489. On the right of Guillaume Durand (d. 1296), bishop 2 Ridolfi memorial 14 11 3 Annunciation altarpiece 8 9 6 wall, below, is St Thomas Confounding of Mende, by Giovanni di Cosma, with 4 Institution of the Eucharist the Heretics, the central figures being a beautiful 13th-century of the 5 Cappella Carafa 16 5 6 Tomb of Guillaume Durand 17 Arius and Sabellius. Sabellius’ heresy Madonna and Child. 7 Altieri Chapel tried to confute the idea of the Trinity, The Altieri Chapel (7) has decora- 8 Michelangelo’s Risen Christ maintaining that God was not ‘one in tions of 1671 commissioned by Pope 9 High altar (tomb of St 18 Catherine of Siena) B C three’ but a single ‘unity’. Arius denied Clement X (Emilio Altieri). His pontifi- 10 Tombs of the Medici popes 4 the divine nature of Christ, which cate saw numerous canonisations: the 11 Tomb of Fra’ Angelico A caused one of the most serious crises in altarpiece of the Madonna and Saints by 12 Bonelli monument 13 Pimentel monument 3 early Christianity. The two youths in the Carlo Maratta, also commissioned by 14 Frangipani Chapel right-hand group are probably portraits the pope, is dedicated to them. The saint 15 Sacristy 19 16 Chapel of St Dominic 20 of the future Medici popes Leo X and on the left, shown holding a 17 Tomb of Andrea Bregno Clement VII, both buried in this church with a pistol at its other end, is St Louis 18 Memorial to Maria Raggi 21 (see below). In the lunette above is St Bertrand (Luis Beltrán), who was a mis- 19 Vigevano tomb 20 Redeemer altarpiece Thomas Aquinas at Prayer. On the altar sionary in South America. His attribute 21 Naro tomb 23 wall is the Assumption, with a splendid alludes to his miraculous escape from a 22 Tornabuoni/Tebaldi tombs 22 2 1 group of angels, and an altarpiece of the murder attempt. 23 Diotisalvi tomb Annunciation, with St Thomas Aquinas 368 Blue Guide Rome 369

Cerberus at the door of Hades, seizing Pietro. This was his first large-scale Persephone in his arms as she struggles commission, and although the details of to free herself from his embrace. His the carving reveal Bernini’s precocious right hand clasping at the flesh of her talent, it is a somewhat awkward, unsta- naked thigh is a masterpiece of carving. ble group. It shows Aeneas carrying his Displayed on a table at one of the short aged father Anchises (who clutches the walls is a bozzetto in bronze of Neptune, sacred household gods) away to safety made by Bernini for a fountain group from the burning Troy with the young now in the Victoria and Albert , Ascanius at his feet. London. At the opposite end of the room Also here is a late work (1645) by is a bronze replica by Antonio Susini of Bernini, a female figure representing the celebrated Farnese Bull, found in the Truth: it was made for the vestibule and taken to Naples of his palace on and in the 18th century. remained there until 1924. Bernini planned it as an allegory of ‘Truth Room V: The Sleeping Hermaphrodite unveiled by Time’ but he never finished galleria borghese is a replica of a famous Hellenistic pro- it. Pluto’s bony fingers clutching at Persephone’s thigh: bravura carving by Bernini. totype; above it is an vase on a red porphyry base. The 3rd–4th-century Room VII: Here are hung paintings by mosaic floor shows a fishing scene. Tommaso Conca representing the gods and religions of . Among extraordinarily difficult subject, never ing and her fingers branching into leaf Room VI: The sculptural group of the sculpture is a Satyr on a Dolphin (1st before attempted in sculpture, is the while her expression vividly portrays Aeneas and Anchises was carved by century ad), a copy of an original from dramatic moment when (who has her terror. Bernini when he was only 15 years old Taranto (the head was reworked in the been tricked by into love through Circe (sometimes identified as (in 1613), with the help of his father, 16th century). a golden arrow) reaches his beloved Melissa) by Dosso Dossi shows the sor- nymph after a long chase. Daphne, how- ceress accompanied by a friendly white A controversial view ever, refuses his love as she has, instead, dog. The scene is inspired by Ariosto’s been ‘wounded’ by Cupid with a leaden Orlando Furioso. ‘How Bernini, in Rome, in the presence of the most beautiful statues of antiquity, went arrow. She avoids capture because at so far astray remains a riddle.’ Jacob Burckhardt the touch of Apollo her father has seen Room IV: The decoration of the room is to it that she is turned into a laurel tree. a notable example of 18th-century skill The group was designed to be exhibited and taste in the ornamental arrange- against a wall (therefore seen from just ment of a great variety of precious mar- Room VIII: The Dancing Satyr is a offer a superbly representative picture one stand-point, sideways on as seen bles and the incorporation of bas-reliefs 2nd-century ad copy of an original by of the artist’s skills in portraiture, reli- today as you enter the room). From into the design. The busts of Roman Lysippus, discovered in 1824 at Monte gious subjects and still lifes. The Boy the features of the face, the distinctive emperors, in porphyry and alabaster, Cavo and restored under the direction of Crowned with Ivy, also called the Sick hairstyle and the sandals, it is evident were carved in the 17th century. The Thorvaldsen. There is a Rape of Europa , and the Boy with a Basket of that the figure of Apollo is modelled on Rape of Persephone is the last of the here by Cavaliere d’Arpino, the master of Fruit are both early works dating from the famous (now in three early masterpieces by Bernini Caravaggio. c. 1594. The former is apparently a self- the Vatican). Bernini’s extraordinary made for the Borghese, even earlier than Six paintings by Caravaggio him- portrait: although Caravaggio never sculptural skills are clear to see, with the two already described. This was also self (representing just half of Scipione painted his self-portrait as such, he his almost excessive lightness of touch designed to be seen from just one view- Borghese’s original collection of works often portrayed himself as a participant in the carving of Daphne, her hair flow- point. It shows Pluto triumphant over by this master) are the highlight, and (especially in his religious paintings). 494 Blue Guide Rome San Paolo fuori le Mura 495

umns from the old basilica. On one of the nearest , beneath the frieze, is a 4th- century inscription of Pope Siricius. The main façade (west end) is preceded by a great quadriporticus with 146 enormous monolithic granite columns, added by Guglielmo Calderini between 1892 and 1928. The elaborate frescoes on the façade date from 1885. The central bronze doors (1) are by Antonio Maraini (1928–30). To the right is the Porta Santa (2), which is only opened in Holy Years.

St Paul the Apostle in Rome

As a Pharisee, Paul’s Hebrew name was Saul, and he apparently earned a living as a tent-maker. While on a journey to Damascus, on a mission to persecute the Christians, he had a dramatic conversion—vividly portrayed in Caravaggio’s famous painting in the church of . A Roman citizen by birth, he appealed to Caesar after he was arrested in Jerusalem for his Christian beliefs c. ad 60, and was allowed to be tried in Rome. He travelled here as a prisoner by boat via Crete, Malta (where he was shipwrecked) and Sicily basilica of san paolo fuori le mura (as described in Acts). This was the fourth and last of the long journeys he made during his lifetime (the first three were made as a missionary). later Gregory VII. The façade, overlooking the , was preceded by a colonnaded Paul was met on the Via Appia outside Rome by Roman friends and lived for two quadriporticus. Before the Reformation, the king of England was an ex officio canon of years under house arrest before his martyrdom, at about the same time as St Peter was San Paolo and the abbot, in return, was decorated with the Order of the Garter. This crucified. It is thought there must have been contact between St Peter and St Paul (an great basilica was almost entirely destroyed by fire on the night of 15th–16th July 1823. oratory, now demolished but marked by a plaque outside the Centrale Montemartini, Leo XII ordered the reconstruction, which was directed by Pasquale Belli, Pietro is supposed to mark the site where they took their final leave of each other; see p. 491). Bosio and Pietro Camporese, and afterwards by Luigi Poletti. The decision was taken Paul is thought to have been imprisoned in the Tullianum (see p. 63) and to have been to use new materials instead of repairing the damaged structure, although in plan and beheaded on the site of the abbey of the Tre Fontane (see p. 498). dimensions, if not in spirit, the new basilica follows the old one almost exactly. The Although he was little known outside the Christian world in his lifetime, and transept was consecrated by Gregory XVI in 1840 and the complete church by Pius IX numerous legends grew up around his name, St Paul is well known to us through in 1854. In 1891 an explosion in a neighbouring fort broke most of the stained glass, his remarkable letters. As he says in his Epistle to the Galatians: ‘The gospel of the which was replaced by sheets of alabaster. The church is attached to a Benedictine uncircumcised was committed to me.’ He recognised the importance of also preaching abbey. In 2008–9 the Vatican celebrated the Pauline Year, a celebration of the two to the gentiles and it is generally acknowledged that it was Paul who succeeded in thousandth anniversary of the Apostle’s birth, and an eternal flame was lit. Later in transforming Christianity into a universal religion. Although a Christian community that year, after forensic analysis of the remains beneath the altar confirmed their already existed in Rome, it was as a result of Paul’s preaching that the new cult took a authenticity, Pope Benedict XVI was able to proclaim this site to be without doubt the firm hold in the city. He is now honoured with St Peter as joint patron saint of Rome: resting place of St Paul. The tomb is greatly venerated. their annual festival is held on 29th June.

Exterior of the basilica The Romanesque campanile was pulled down to make way for a bell-tower by Luigi interior of the basilica Poletti: it looks like a lighthouse and consists of a square base surmounted by an octa- The nave and transept form a tau, or Egyptian cross, 132m by 65m; the height is 30m. gon and then a cylinder, with columns rising through the Orders. Poletti was also The highly polished marble, alabaster, malachite, lapis and porphyry give an impres- responsible for the north portico, which incorporates twelve Hymettian marble col- sion of Neoclassical splendour. T P 173

THE PANTHEON The proportions of the building are so harmonious because the distance from the fl oor to the centre of the dome is exactly the same as the building’s diameter. The interior contains, in fact, a perfect sphere.

It is nearly 34m wide and 15.5m deep, and has 16 monolithic Corinthian columns of red or grey granite, without fl utings, each 12.5m high and 4.5m in circumference. Eight of them stand in front, and the others are disposed in four rows, so as to form three aisles, the central one leading to the bronze doors, and the others to the two great niches which may formerly have contained colossal statues of and Agrippa. The superb capitals and the bases are of white marble. The three columns on the east side are replacements, one by Urban VIII (1625), the other two by Alexander VII (1655–67); the arms of these popes can be seen in the deco- ration of the capitals.

THE INTERIOR The huge dome was designed not to be visible from outside and so the visual impact that it produces once you enter the Pantheon is unforgettable. The use of light from the open oculus, which measures almost 9m across, displays the genius of the architect. The great dome has fi ve rows of co” ers diminishing in size towards the centre, and their intricate design contributes to the e” ect of space and light. They were probably originally ornamented with gilded bronze rosettes. The height and diameter of the interior are the same—43.3m. The diameter of the dome, the largest masonry vault ever built, exceeds by more than one metre that of the dome of St Peter’s. Its span, which contains no brick arches or vaults, begins at the level of the highest cornice seen on the outside of the building, rather than, as it appears in the interior, at the top of the attic stage. Santa Maria della Pace / A Walk near 201

A walk through the old streets near piazza navona

This walk explores narrow streets typical of old Rome, passing interesting as well as two important churches in the peaceful district around Piazza Navona.

Piazza Pasquino, a few steps out of Patroclus, a copy of a Hellenistic work the southwest end of Piazza Navona, of the Pergamene school which may is in fact just a busy little open space once have decorated the Stadium of where several narrow roads converge (whose outline Piazza Navona and cars are always parked, so the worn, follows). When it was in a much better mutilated statue on one corner is easy to state, Bernini admired it as the finest miss. But ever since it was placed here in Classical work he had seen. It is the most 1501 this has been one of the best-loved famous of Rome’s ‘talking’ statues, and statues of the Romans, always known slogans ridiculing contemporary Italian as ‘Pasquino’. Apparently named after politicians are still often attached to it, a tailor who lived in the vicinity, it is a although they are now sometimes rather fragment of a marble group thought to too long and complicated and have lost a represent Menelaus with the body of little of their sense of fun and irony. 647

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