Villa Medici - A Foreign Queen's Whim

Christina, Queen of Sweden, was for sure one of the most interesting people of the 17th Century. Single by choice, she secretly converted to Catholic religion, in a country where the vast majority is Protestant. 

When her conversion became public, she was inevitably forced to leave her kingdom, and, with a court made only of a few loyal ones, she moved to Rome in 1655, where she was welcomed with all the honors by the reigning Pope Alexander VII. 

A woman of vast culture and multi-faceted interests, she promoted many cultural initiatives in Rome, among which the creation of Rome's bothanical gardens. 

Christina was also a woman with a very strong personality, and she showed it in many occasions,which contributed to building the legend around her,  just like when she insisted in wanting to use one of Castel Sant'Angelo's cannons to fire a shot. 

The heavy stone projectile flew across the river and hit the door of Villa Medici, a beautiful Renaissance palace situated on the Pincio hill, just a few meters away from the Church of the Trinity of the Mountains, which tops the famed Spanish Steps. The building, once bought by the famous Florentine Medici family, hosted the embassy of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, but was later converted into the French Academy, and is used for events such as exhibits or conferences. 

The shot left a round mark on the palace's bronze door, while the cannonball, to remember this event, was used as a decoration for the fountain which is placed exactly in front of the palace's entrance.

So in one of Rome's most scenic corners, the careful observers who wish to see more than the beautiful view over Rome, can see the effects produced by a foreign queen's whim.... 

Below on the map, the trajectory of the shot which, according to the legend, travelled over 1 mile. (click to enlarge).

Related post: http://viewsofrome.blogspot.it/2011/08/angel-on-top-of-castel-santangelo.html

San Clemente - Home to Rome's Ancient Comics and Much More

San Clemente's Basilica,only a few hundred meters away from the Coliseum, halfway between the famous Amphitheathre and S. Giovanni in Laterano, is one of those paleo-christian basilicas built upon one of the ancient temples dedicated to Mithra: an Oriental deity of very ancient origins, whose worship became widespread in Rome between the 1 and the IV Century AD (mysteric cults).

Mithra has some incredible coincidences with Christianity: in fact he was:
- Born on the night between the 24th and the 25th of December;  
- Lived 33 years;
- Resurrected to Eternal Life.

Besides the beautiful church, filled with marvelous mosaics, and the ancient Mithraeum, San Clemente features a fresco which, if not for its strictly artistic significance, has a quite important cultural and lingustic one.

In the inferior Basilica, in the lower part of a larger fresco, there is a depiction of the Miracle of St. Clemente. The tradition tells us that when the Saint was arrested, while he was dragged by the soldiers  he was turned miraculously into a marble pillar. The fresco depicts this moment, with the soldiers struggling to move their heavy prisoner, with the prefect Sisinnius cursing them. 

The officer shouts: "Pull, sons of the prostitutes!" while another soldier says "Push from the back with the help of a pole". The Saint instead says: "Owing to the hardness of your heart, you deserve carrying nothing but stones."

Despite the low interest of the dialogue itself, this fresco is remarkable: firstly because it's one of the most ancient examples of "comic", with words written around the speaker, and because it's an example of "transition" language, between Latin and the Vulgar, which later evolved into the Italian language. Another interesting aspect, is that St. Clemente speaks Latin, probably to remark the Saint's superiority as opposed to the soldiers who captured him.   

San Clemente is a typical place of interest in Rome: slightly off the most beaten path, containing real gems for the art and history lovers, and with a curious and unusual side, making it unique.


P.S.: Special thanks to my bro Claudio for lending me the pictures for this post! :)





Related post: http://viewsofrome.blogspot.it/2011/12/sol-invictus-festivity-before-christmas.html

San Giovanni in Laterano - The Vatican Before the Vatican

Every city has its Cathedral... but if somebody asked you "Which is Rome's Cathedral?", what would your answer be??

Everybody knows the magnificence of the Vatican, with the marvelous Renaissaince and Baroque masterpieces crowding the imposing Basilica.. and many bet Rome's "main" church is St. Peter... But St. Peter was finished in the 16th Century... so where was the Pope before the Vatican was built?

The answer is: In San Giovanni in Laterano. The ancient Basilica, dating back to the 4th Century AD, is one of the first to be built after the Law 313 BC (Edict of Tolerance) which legalized Christianity, and takes its name from the Laterani family, who graciously "donated" the land where the church was built, after the Emperor Constantine seized it from them. 


The evidence of the primacy of St. John comes from its complete (and rather long) name: "Sacrosancta Cathedralis Papalis Archibasilica Romana Maior Sanctissimi Salvatoris et Sanctorum Iohannis Baptistae et Evangelistae apud Lateranum, omnium Urbis et orbis ecclesiarum Mater et Caput" which roughly translates as: "Holy Papal Major Roman Arch-Basilica in Lateran area, dedicated to the Holy Saviour and to Saint John the Baptist and Evangelist, Mother and Head of all the churches on the globe."

Over 130 meters long, 5 naves, Bizantine style mosaic, beautiful "cosmatesque" floors, an imposing "Ciborio" over the altar, S. Giovanni is the quintessence of the art of Middle Age. The Medieval atmosphere is better appreciated entering from the side entrance, on the northern side of the building, from the square with the giant Egyptian obelisk, typical of every major Roman church, to make it easier to spot for the pilgrims. 

The main façade, topped by the statues of Christ with the Apostols, is an addition from 18th Century, and despite being monumental and imposing, is, in my personal opinion, not an example of elegance and correct proportions, even if devoid of all the decorative exaggerations typical of Baroque.

San Giovanni in Laterano has been the Papal See until the completion of the Vatican, and even afterwards, it was chosen as summer residence. The Basilica was where the first Jubilee was celebrated in the year 1300, and also the place of the Baptism of Charles the Great, in 774 AD. An unconfirmed tale has it, that the main disc of red marble in the center of the Basilica is the place where the young Emperor kneeled to be christened. 

These beautiful floors, invented by the Cosmati family (hence the name "cosmatesque") were an extremely smart way of adapting the available materials to create works of art. During the Middle Age, most of the traditional trading routes of the ancient times were disrupted, so materials such as exotic marbles were in  short supply. The Cosmati found a marvelous way of using small marble fragments to form elegant patterns, which became a trademark of Medieval architecture. 


The Basilica also keeps important relics for the pilgrims: the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and a part of what is believed to be the table where Christ and the Apostles had the Last Supper. 

For the lovers of Roman history, there is a little special thing: the majestic bronze door you will find in the main entrance, under the white main façade were the actual doors of the Roman Senate, saved in the ancient times from the Forum and taken to St. John to be spared from sure stealing and melting to be used for other artworks, or even objects of everyday use, as too frequently happened with other Roman objects (e.g. the Pantheon's decorations)... But this is another story... 


So... to wrap it all up... what is Rome's Cathedral again? :)

Campidoglio - 1 - An Ancient Alarm System

The Campidoglio, despite not being the the place of the most ancient Roman settlements, is the most sacred of the Seven Hills of Rome. Home to the temples dedicated to the most revered among the Gods, and the destination of the Triumphs, which saw here the highest point of the celebration, it is also the setting for one of the most famous legends of ancient Rome, one of those who manage merging history and legend with a blurred border, and which is one of those who contributed the most to the building of the Roman national pride.

The occasion was the Gaul invasion of 390 B.C., when the Roman garrison was defeated, and the few citizens who decided not to flee Rome retired atop the sacred hill as their last stand. 


The Romans were resisting well, despite being outnumbered by the enemies, but help was desperately needed: messengers were sent to recall to Rome the Army commander Marcus Furius Camillus. The general was temporarily exiled in the coast town of Ardea, due to his anti-democratic political positions, but promptly organized forces to go to the rescue of his compatriots. The messenger, however was followed by the Gauls on his was back to the Campidoglio, thus revealing a way to break into the Roman fortifications. Armed with this piece of intelligence, The Gauls made their attempt at night, while the defending Romans were sleeping, feeling safe on top of the hill, catching them unprepared for the defense. 


Here the Romans' devotion to the Gods paid off: the Geese who lived in Juno's temple, and who were spared despite the food shortage as they were sacred to the Goddess, started making so much noise that they woke up the defenders. The Romans, led by the former Consul Marcus Manlius, managed to hold on until the arrive of the Army from Ardea. For his bravery, Marcus Manlius acquired the prestigious "Cognomen" of Capitolinus. Here the legend merges with that of Furius Camillus vs. the Brennus the Gaul, to which I will dedicate a new post soon. Stay tuned! :)

Isola Tiberina - 1 - The Legend of Rome's Island

The Tiber only has one island in the urban section of its course: it's a small accumulation of alluvional sediments, and despite being far smaller than the similar one on the river Seine in Paris, it's still  packed with story, legends, mysteries and interesting aspects. This first post is about its legendary origin.

The legend about the origin of the island, called in Latin Insula Tiberina or Insula Tiberis (Tiber's Island), dates back to the 6th Century B.C.: Historical records of the uprising of the Roman people against the last of the Seven Kings, the Etruscan Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquinius the Proud) have it that the people, angried by the heavy taxes imposed by the King, dumped the wheat havested in the Campus Martius (of Royal property) in the river, and that this impressive mass of grain and hay formed the inital core of the island. 


This event, dating back to the year 510 B.C. is clearly legendary, but it's mostly probable that, in the last year of the Roman Monarchy (the Roman Republic was founded the following year, 509 B.C.) many actions of this kind took place in Rome as sign of rebellion against the King, who symbolized the domination of a foreign population and culture: the Etruscan one, more ancient and with extremely interesting and mysterious aspects, which filled the center of the Italian peninsula with beautiful tombs, marvelous golden artifacts, and refined structures such as temples, aqueducts and sewers. 

The "Magic Gate" - Gold Available to the Skillful Code-breaker

In one of the corners of the park inside the central Roman square of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (familiarly called "Piazza Vittorio" by the Romans), amid the mix of market stalls, traffic noise, the international atmosphere of the shops run by Chinese and Indian people, and the old late 19th Century buildings, and people rushing everywhere, standing there quietly there is a riddle made of stone, awaiting a skillful code-breaker to solve it.


The gate is what remains of the former palace of the Marquise Palombara, who built it in the second half of 17 Century, and which has been demolished to build today's Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. 

The Marquise Palombara, who was interested in Alchemy, and who was one of the alchemists of the Palazzo Riario (currently home to the Accademia dei Lincei, the world's most ancient scientific academy), the most illustrious of which was Queen Christina of Sweden, who moved to Rome and  who studied alchemy, having been influenced by the great mathematician and scientist Cartesius, who was her teacher when she was young. We know from the ancient reports that he had his palace on the Esquilino hill built with symbols related to Alchemy.


The legend has it that the Magic Gate was built after a mysterious pilgrim was hosted in the villa for one night, and that, the following morning, he disappeared leaving behind some gold leaves and a sheet of paper explaining the secret to perform an achemcal transmutation. Bring unable to interpret what was written in symbols on the paper, the Marquise decided to have those symbols engraved on the Gate (according to some historians, on all of the 5 gates of the villa, 4 or which were lost) hoping that someone could decipher it.


So the Porta Magica is still standing there, awaiting the skillful code-breaker who can discover the secret to create gold. 

Ancient Superstitions - The Number 17

Unlike most countries around the world, in Italy the unlucky number is 17, not 13. This superstition has a story that traces back to ancient Rome, and refers to 2 specifical facts:


- The number 17 in Roman numbers is written as XVII (X=10 + V=5 + I=1 + I=1, Total = 17). Mixing up the letters, the only Latin word that can be formed is: VIXI, perfect tense of the verb VIVO (to live), which means "I used to live" and thus "I'm dead". 


- 17th Legion of the Roman Army was totally destroyed during the disastrous defeat suffered by the Romans in 9 AD in the German woods near the town of Teutoburg. The legion, at the command of the Consul Quintilius Varus was ambushed by the local troops, and, overpowered by the enemy, caught by surprise and stuck in the muddy soil, was exterminated to the last man. The defeat had such a great effect on Roman people that Legion no. 17 was never reformed, and number 17 became an infamous number, and it stayed as a symbol of bad omen.


The bad luck reputation of number 17 survived until today, to the point that in many contexts  in Italy  no.17 is skipped (or replaced by 16/B), and even on Alitalia flights, there is no row 17.