Category: Art and History

Itineraries in Rome - The Great Patriarchal Basilicas (the pride of Christian culture)

The Pilgrim had to walk the 5 km that separated the Vatican from the Archbasilica of St. John is called the Cathedral of Rome and the Mother Church of Christianity . It was the Emperor Constantine, who had just converted to Christianity, who ceded the ownership of the Lateran Palaces to the Bishop of Rome in order to place the Cathedral there in 313, the year of the famous Edict of Milan where the Emperor promulgated freedom of religion for all citizens. Thus was erected the Basilica, which, within the architectural complex of the Lateran, was the official residence of the Popes for about a thousand years. The huge Piazza di San Giovanni , one of the largest and most beautiful squares in Rome, is now a venue for concerts, political and cultural events. In the centre the oldest Egyptian obelisk in Rome guides the Christian along his religious pilgrimage from one Basilica to another.

Much of the history of the Church was written in this basilica: several crusades were proclaimed, the first Holy Year and the Lateran Pacts signed. Under the building, the remains of the barracks of Emperor Constantine's horse guard are still visible. Over the centuries the Cathedral underwent great transformations and destruction, until in 1650 it was rebuilt by Borromini. The work was completed in 1740 with the erection, by the Florentine Alessandro Galilei, of the splendid façade where the Baroque and Neoclassical styles merge. Not to be missed are the Baptistery, from the age of Constantine, with its typical octagonal shape that has become a model for all the baptisteries in the Christian world, and the Cloisters dating back to 1220 with 125 small arches and typical twisted columns.

On the eastern side of the square is the Holy Staircase. According to mediaeval tradition, the 28 steps of the Staircase are precisely those of Pilate's Praetorium in Jerusalem that Jesus climbed and descended during His trial and on which He left traces of His blood. No foot may tread on this relic and the faithful may only climb the Holy Staircase on their knees.

The Holy Staircase leads to the Chapel of San Lorenzo or Sancta Sanctorum, so called because it houses some of the most sacred relics of Christianity. We stop to admire the Acherotipa image of Christ, of non-human origin, which in the Middle Ages was carried in procession to ward off the Plague.

We move on to the Esquiline Hill to admire the imposing Patriarchal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore: the Basilica where different architectural styles blend most harmoniously. It was founded in 352 by Pope Liberius, on the very spot where the Virgin Mary had indicated to him in a dream that he would find snow. The coffered ceiling, the delightful Romanesque bell tower, the famous mosaics of the Coronation of the Virgin, the Sistine and Pauline Chapels are works of art not to be missed, as well as, the religious relic consisting of fragments of Sycamore that, according to legend, belonged to the manger that had been Jesus' cradle.

Our route starts from the splendid Piazza Risorgimento , the historic and neuralgic point of the city, from where, skirting the high walls surrounding the Vatican State, we approach the renovated entrance to the Vatican Museumsarranged for the occasion of the Holy Year 2000. What awaits us is the vision of one of the greatest and most magnificent art treasures of humanity . The Vatican Museums Rome are located within the splendid Renaissance palaces built by Popes such as Sixtus IV . Over the centuries the buildings were enlarged to contain the priceless works of art collected by the Popes and today also include the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms. We enter through the spectacular helicoidal staircase designed in 1932 by Giuseppe Momo. Roma Insieme proposes an itinerary inside the Museums with the idea of showing the most famous and extraordinarily beautiful works, but together with the Tutor, the Guest can choose a different thematic route.

We begin our tour at the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, and then move on to discover Classical Greek and Roman art, inside the Belvedere Palace. Here, in the Octagonal Courtyard, we can admire the Apoxyomenos (the Athlete), Canova's Perseus, the Herpes, the extraordinary Laocoon Group depicting the Trojan Priest fighting with his two sons against the serpent, and the Apollo of Belvedere, one of the most famous works of the classical world. Through the Sala degli Animali , a real marble zoo, we reach the first floor of the Gregorian Etruscan Museum, with a collection of objects, vases and jewellery from Etruscan tombs.

We continue through the Galleries of Candelabra, Tapestries and Maps to the Raphael Rooms. These four rooms were the private flats of Pope Julius II, who commissioned the great master to decorate them. The work lasted 16 years and brought the painter the same fame that Michelangelo had in those same years when he frescoed the Sistine Chapel. Past the Rooms of Constantine, Heliodorus, the Segnatura and the Fire of the Borgoentriamo in the Sistine Chapel.

Some of the greatest masters worked in the Sistine Chapel, named after Pope Sixtus IV, including Michelangelo, Perugino, Botticelli and Ghirlandaio who frescoed the two side walls with 12 paintings depicting scenes from the lives of Moses and Jesus. In the centre on the main altar wall is Michelangelo's masterpiece: the Last Judgement.
The artist worked on it for seven years alone, depicting the souls of the dead awaiting the Last Judgement. 226 metres of painted wall, 314 characters depicted including Michelangelo himself as St Bartholomew

Leaving the Sistine Chapel, we walk through the Braccio Nuovo gallery, where the works taken by Napoleon and returned in 1817 are located, and from the atrium of the four gates we reach the Vatican Picture Gallery, where we can admire the works of the greatest masters such as Giotto (Stefaneschi Polyptych), Caravaggio (The Deposition), Raphael (The Coronation of the Virgin), Fra Angelico, Gentile da Fabriano, Melozzo, Pinturicchio, Perugino and many others.

The largest and most splendid of the Roman imperial villas stands about 20 km from Rome, on a low plateau south of the city of Tivoli, an area that was very famous at the time and characterised by numerous residences of aristocratic families. The huge complex of buildings was built (probably between 118 and 134 A.D.) at the behest of the Emperor Hadrian: a restless and intellectual character, inconstant and adventurous, a lover of travel and Greek culture, as well as a lover of architecture, he personally participated in the planning, probably designing many of the buildings. Thus, scattered over an immense area (at least 120 hectares), numerous groups of buildings arose, arranged in an apparently random - but in reality carefully studied - manner and separated by vast and luxuriant gardens.

Hadrian - as his biographer, Aelius Spartianus, tells us - wished to ideally unite in his palace the main monuments of the empire, in particular those of his beloved Greece; the sites of the villa - buildings, baths, nymphaeums, gardens and valleys - often bore the name of one of these monuments, and imitated, so to speak 'in miniature', their appearance. There was the Valley of Tempe, the Egyptian city of Canopus; also the Lyceum, the Academy and the Stoà Poikile, all famous buildings of 5th and 4th century BC Athens.
The richness of the architectural and sculptural decoration of the villa was extraordinary: despite the fact that it has been excavated several times and 'despoiled' of its most precious pieces, which now adorn the most famous 
Museums in Rome and around the world (including more than 500 statues of the highest quality in coloured marble and numerous mosaics with very fine tesserae; the famous one of the doves, now in the Capitoline Museums), one is still struck by the refinement of the floors in coloured marble scales ( opus sectile ), of which splendid examples remain. No less interesting is the architectural aspect: many of the villa's buildings feature bold and original innovations, perhaps conceived by Hadrian himself, including domes and cross domes and very complex floor plans, in a continuous succession of straight and curved, concave and convex lines, which appears new in Roman architecture, and is strikingly reminiscent of the buildings of Baroque Rome.
Among the most interesting complexes is the 'Pecile' (perhaps inspired by the 'Stoà Poikile', a famous portico in Athens), a monumental four-sided portico enclosing a garden with a large central pool. To the east of it are the 'Baths with Heliocaminus', a special room heated by means of stoves and sunlight, used for sunbathing in winter. Not to be missed is the 'Canopus', a long basin of water surrounded by porticoes and flowerbeds, and concluded by a large nymphaeum in the shape of an exedra, probably used for open-air banquets; the monument recalls the Egyptian city of Canopus and the long canal that connected it to Alexandria, famous for the night festivals that took place there. But the most singular and fascinating building is perhaps the so-called 'Maritime Theatre'. Circular in shape, it encloses a canal, in the middle of which rises a small round island, connected to the mainland by two revolving bridges (now replaced by a masonry one). The island is occupied by a dwelling and a small spa: a secluded residence with every comfort, certainly intended for the emperor himself for his quiet moments. Due to the originality of its conception, as well as the daring architecture of the island dwelling - with a complex alternation of concave and convex walls and large windows opening onto the water - the Maritime Theatre can perhaps be considered a symbol of the entire villa and the genius of its designer.

Statius, a Latin poet, called it 'regina viarum' because of the splendour of the sepulchral monuments, the sumptuous villas of the suburban section, and the evocative beauty of the route. In the valley separating the Caelian from the Aventine was once Porta Capena, now disappeared, where the most imposing of Urbe's consular roads, the Via Appia, began.

Opened in 312 B.C. during the Samnite wars by the censor Appius Claudius to unite Rome 'caput mundi' with the southern provinces of the peninsula, with Africa and with the East, it quickly became the chosen road, sacred to the cult of the dead, crossed on Latin holidays by masses of people on their way to the temple of Jupiter on the summit of Monte Cavo or to the temple of Diana on the shores of Lake Nemi.

The Appian Way ran straight - hence the name 'recto' - towards the Albani hills and down into the Agro Pontino. After Foro d'Appio it reached Terracina and continued through Fondi to Capua . A few years later it reached Benevento and Venosa, home of Horace, and a hundred years later Taranto and Brindisi. In the early 2nd century AD, Emperor Trajan added his name to it. With the new Via Appia Traiana it was possible to go from Rome to Brindisi in 13/14 days along a total route of 540 kilometres.
Via Appia had a standard width of about 4.15 metres, enough to allow two carts to pass at the same time in both directions. Two beaten earth pavements bordered by a stone kerb flanked the carriageway. Every 10 to 13 km on the busiest sections of the road, post houses for changing horses and 'taberne', places of refreshment and accommodation for travellers, lined the road.

The construction required immense work, it was built overcoming great natural difficulties with a surprisingly modern design plan that made it solid, rational, and easy to navigate. Strong bridges were thrown across the rivers, valleys were filled in, hills were flattened, canals were dug, embankments were raised to contain the waters of the torrents, and the road was paved with polished blocks of hard basaltic lava that still emerge from the asphalt today.

The fall of the Western Empire and the barbarian invasions marked the abandonment of the road. Unguarded monuments were stripped of their artwork and coverings, the road became covered with wild grasses and disappeared from view. Columns, marble, capitals, statues, friezes , bas-reliefs went to enrich the new buildings of the Urbe, the nascent Christian basilicas and baronial castles. It was not until the mid-18th century that people began to dig up the fallen works and collect the fragments. The first Christian cemeteries arose on the Appian Way at the end of the 1st century: along this road the most important underground necropolises were excavated, the Catacombs of St Callistus , dating back to the 2nd century, and those of St Sebastian , which for some time guarded the bodies of the two founding Apostles of the Roman Church.
History has established that the Apostle entered the city along the Via Appia. The most interesting section of the Appian Way runs from the tomb of Cecilia Metella to Casal Rotondo, about km. 4.500: ruins, covered with marble, bas-reliefs or adorned with mutilated statues, others bare or covered with creepers, line the edge of the road between gigantic pines and cypresses in the surrounding Roman countryside; On one side run the imposing arches of the Roman aqueduct, on the horizon is the outline of the Castelli and towards the sea stretches the plain, in a timeless vision that has fascinated many great poets, from Horace to Ovid , Goethe , Byron , Carducci , D'Annunzio.

The oldest church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin. Legend has it that it was erected over an oil spring where the birth of the Saviour was foretold in 38 BC. Among the first places where Christians freely held services, it was started under Pope Callistus between 221 and 227 and finished by Julius I . Under the Trastevere pope Innocent II it was completely renovated and redecorated in the Baroque period. Today it is one of the most beautiful churches in Rome.

The façade is decorated with a splendid medieval mosaic depicting the enthroned Virgin and Child flanked by a procession of 10 Virgins.
The bell tower is from the 12th century, one of the tallest and most typical in Rome. The interior is 12th century, bare columns with capitals from an Egyptian temple, the floor is partly Cosmatesque. The ceiling is by Domenichino .
The true jewel of the church are the mosaics decorating the 12th century apse with the triumph of Mary. Below are frescoes and mosaics by Pietro Cavallini from the 13th century depicting episodes from the life of Mary.
Noteworthy are the tiny tabernacle chapel, a Rococo work by Raguzzini, and the Avila Chapel, considered the greatest Baroque work in Rome after the period of Bernini and Borromini .
In the sacristy, two lovely mosaics from the 1st century AD are preserved.

The topographical centre of Rome, more than a square, Piazza Venezia is a crossroads of streets, with a lot of traffic, but it is an excellent starting point to start exploring Rome, as it is located at a strategic point between medieval and Renaissance Rome and the centre of archaeological Rome. In the past, the square was much more modest, divided into two small squares by Palazzetto Venice .

The square in front of Palazzo Venezia connected the Via Papalis from the Vatican to the Lateran with the Via Lata , which led to the city centre from Porta Flaminia . On the square, in place of today's Palazzo delle Assicurazioni, was Michelangelo's art workshop . The decision to build on the side of the Capitol the monument to Victor Emmanuel II caused the destruction of the papal square to create the new political-moral centre of the new Italy. The new arrangement, the result of demolition and reconstruction, reflects the new ideology of grandeur and the desire to create the myth of the 'third Rome' on the remains of imperial and papal Rome. Opposite the façade of Palazzo Venezia rises the modern Palazzo delle Assicurazioni (Insurance Palace), mirroring the forms of the famous opposite. On the north side at the corner with the Corso is the 17th century Palazzo Bonaparte, named after Napoleon's mother, who after the fall of the emperor lived there until her death in 1836. Still perfectly preserved is the little balcony with green canopies from which the old lady used to spy on passers-by without being seen. At Christmastime, the colourful Christmas tree is placed in the centre of the square, a pendant to the Vatican tree in St Peter's Square, which makes the large flowerbeds in perpetual blossom even more attractive.

It is the most characteristic square in the city; the whole district where it is located, with its narrow streets and dark alleys, its closed buildings testify to a past world and a glorious tradition full of charm. The history of the square dates back to ancient Rome. On this area stood Emperor Domitian's vast circus, on the steps of which the houses surrounding today's square are built. Mock naval battles, grandiose public spectacles, jousts, etc. took place here.

Later, although the complex had fallen into disrepair until it disappeared, the people continued to entertain on the site. In the Middle Ages, popular festivities continued to take place here. Even in the 19th century, wandering comedians with their antics entertained the people here, who, on Sundays and feast days in August, would spend long periods of time splashing about in the water overflowing from the fountains, much to the amusement of the cardinals and the rich, who threw money from their cars to add to the people's merriment. Today, the large Christmas market remains, recalling the square's past. The present form of the rectangular square, with its fountains, the church of St Agnes, the Pamphilj Palace and the rented houses surrounding it, was already built between 1600 and 1700. Since those times almost nothing has been changed and in this fact lies the secret that characterises it. Pope Innocent X began the redevelopment of the Piazza, until then dirty and neglected, with the reconstruction of Palazzo Pamphilj, which he ordered from Girolamo Rainaldi. The grandiose palace with its simple mass immediately gave the whole environment a distinct character on which the other buildings were later based. The interior is remarkable for the decoration of the hall with frescoes by Pietro da Cortona, a renowned Florentine artist. The pope also had the church of St Agnes erected on the site where the saint suffered martyrdom. Already in the Middle Ages, a first church had been erected here on the walls of the Circus. The remains of this can be seen under today's church. The church is the work of Borromini (1645-50). The artist was particularly criticised and mocked for the Baroque swaying of the façade, the lightness of the towers and dome, and the boldly new conception of the whole. The most merciless of critics was his eternal rival Bernini . The artist, suffering and weak of nerves, was so distressed by the incessant criticism that he ended up committing suicide. The interior of the church is by Carlo Rainaldi, richly decorated in accordance with the Baroque spirit. The founding Pope Innocent X is buried here. When the square was completed, the pontiff continued to embellish it with the construction of two fountains. One of these, a masterpiece by Bernini, is the central Rivers Fountain . On the group of cliffs sit the giants symbolising the rivers of the four continents: the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube and the Rio de la Plata. At the top rises the obelisk of Domitian . The other, in front of the Pamphilj Palace, is the Moor Fountain . The third fountain on the other side of the square is a recent work from the 19th century. Today, the square is surrounded by characteristic cafés and wine bars. In the centre of the square, painters exhibit their works, and Romans, young and old, come to stroll around, creating an indissoluble harmony between art, history and real life.

The square is one of the most characteristic spots and offers a splendid panorama of the centre of Rome. Dominated by the façade of the Church of the Trinità dei Monti, built in 1502 and consecrated in 1587 by Sixtus V, who made it a key point of his ambitious urban plan, became the starting point of the Via Felice, later the Sistine Way, a straight road that led pilgrims to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

In the centre of the square is the obelisk, the convergence point of several roads. A Roman imitation of Egyptian obelisks, it dates back to imperial times and came from the Orti Sallustiani, but was placed here as a connecting element between the church and the steps. The hieroglyphs were carved in Rome imitating those of the obelisk in Piazza del Popolo . At the corner formed by the convergence of Via Sistina and Via Gregoriana is Palazzetto Zuccari , designed by Federico Zuccari and known by the nickname 'house of monsters' because the windows on the sides are modelled like the mouths of monsters. It was inhabited by the Polish Queen Maria Sobiesky . Proscenium to the church is the monumental staircase of Trinità dei Monti designed in 1726 by Francesco De Sanctis and built entirely in travertine. Choosing the number three as his inspiration, in honour of the church of the Trinity, De Sanctis created a series of ramps divided into three parts that then join and immediately converge in two directions in an alternation of convexity and concavity of the walls, of steps and resting levels. Since 1951, a large azalea exhibition has been held in April-May, giving the stairway a very special charm.

Venice Palace forms the western side of the square. It was the first Renaissance palace built in Rome in 1455 for the Venetian Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who later became Pope Paul II. The design is attributed to Leon Battista Alberti.

The palace has the characteristics of a fortress on the upper floor the elegant and refined cross-ribbed windows show Renaissance elements.
The portal, attributed to Giovanni Dalmata, bears the seal of the Barbo family. Splendid is the inner courtyard whose order of the columns, Tuscanic on the first floor and Ionic and Corinthian on the second, recalls the arches of the Colosseum.
Inside, the Sala Regia has traces of paintings by Donato Bramante and the Sala del Mappamondo is decorated with classical perspectives by Andrea Mantegna . The palace was ceded to the Venetian Republic in 1564 as the seat of ambassadors. After the Treaty of Campoformio it passed to Austria for its embassy, and in 1916 the palace was claimed by Italy.

It owes its fame to the fact that it was here that Mussolini set up his headquarters, occupying the immense world map hall and launching his speeches to the masses from the small balcony on the second floor.
Passing by night through the deserted Piazza Veneziaa window with a perpetually lit light could be seen: a sign that the fascist government never rested. And as long as that light was there to watch over the night, Italians could sleep soundly. He was there to protect everyone... Today the Palazzo is home to the Museo del Venice Palace, rich in varied collections, tapestries, marbles, weapons, silver, ceramics, and the very important Library of the Institute of Archaeology and Art History .

Last among the Imperial Forums, in order of time, to be built, was also the grandest. Begun in 107 (the year of Trajan's triumph over the Dacians), it was completed in 113 AD, by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus . He, in order to create space for the construction of the Forum, had the saddle that formerly joinedCapitol e Quirinal . Testimony to this is the inscription at the base of Trajan's Column: "ad declarandum quantae altitudinis mons et locus tantis operibus sit egestus" ("To indicate how high the hill was that was demolished with these works"): the column thus also served to indicate the original height of the hill cut down to free the area for the Forum. This 'liberation' entailed the destruction of the Atrium Libertatis (where the liberation of slaves took place), and a section of the Servian Wall between the Capitoline and Quirinal Hill, which was now devoid of function

The Forum, 300 m long and 185 m wide, was divided into terraces elevated above each other. The entrance was from the side of the Forum of Augustus through a large single-arched arch, surmounted by the statue ofTrajan on a triumphal chariot, pulled by six horses (we have evidence of this through coins). The vast rectangular square, in the centre of which was the grandiose equestrian statue of Trajan, had two sides closed by colonnaded porticoes at the bottom of which opened semicircular exedras (perhaps used as seats for schools). Of the two, the eastern one is clearly visible, at the height of the Trajan's Markets from which it was separated by a wall made of peperino blocks. Statues of previous emperors and members of their respective families were to be displayed in these porticoes. The bottom of the square was occupied and barred by the imposing Basilica Ulpia (from Marcus Ulpius Trajan, full name of the emperor): measuring 170 x 60 m it was the largest ever built in Rome. The interior, accessed by three steps, was divided into five naves by four rows of columns: among the functions of the Basilica, besides the ordinary, judicial and economic ones, was the one inherited from the demolished Atrium Libertatis. Behind the Basilica were the two libraries, the Greek and Latin, which framed the column. The latter, which is 29.78 m high (but reaches about 40 m if the base is also considered), is made of 17 large blocks of Luni marble: in the base is the entrance door, facing the Basilica, which leads to the interior and to the spiral staircase, lit by narrow slits, which led to the top of the column. The purpose of the column was to serve as the emperor's tomb: in a small room in the base was in fact kept the golden urn with Trajan's ashes. On the shaft of the column the bas-relief narration of the two wars waged at the beginning of the 2nd century A.D. by Trajan against the Dacians unfolds in a spiral (23 turns for 200 m long!). The figure of a Victory writing on a shield serves to indicate where the narrative of the first war ends and that of the second begins. The relief was made when the column had already been raised, so the observer's point of view was taken into account: the bands increase in height as one goes upwards, so that from below they all look the same. The reading of the relief was then aided by its original polychromy. Behind the column, after the death of the emperor and his wife Plotina (121 AD), a grandiose temple dedicated to him was built by Hadrian, of which only one white marble column remains. The column is said to have survived thanks to Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) who, struck by a scene showing Trajan helping a woman whose son had been killed, prayed for the salvation of the emperor's soul. God then granted grace to the pope, warning him, however, not to pray for pagans any more. According to legend, when the ashes were exhumed, Trajan's tongue, still intact, told how his soul had been saved from hell. The earth was then declared sacred and the column was spared. It is interesting to recall that a small chapel, leaning against the base of the column, and therefore called San Niccolಠad Columnam, had its bell tower in the column itself, at the top of which the hermit, who officiated at the chapel, had placed a bell that he himself rang by means of a long rope. This little chapel, very old, since it is mentioned in a document from 1336, was demolished in 1500 by order of Paul III . At the time of Sixtus V , around 1587, the statue of Trajan, placed on top of the column, was replaced by that of St Peter . Fortunately, the cost of transporting the column to France was so high that Napoleon III, in 1865, had to renounce the robbery of this work of art: he then limited himself to having its bas-reliefs engraved in plaster. It was on that occasion that traces of gold and vermilion and blue enamel were noticed on it. A considerable excavation campaign is currently underway, which also tends to bring to light new elements but above all to restore unity to the Forum, hitherto cut off by the presence of modern roads.