The Streets of Rome - Piazza della Pigna

Turns out not only did Rome's streets get their names for very particular reasons, but their piazzas do too. Today something made me think of the tiny piazza hidden somewhere between the Pantheon and Largo Argentina:

Piazza della Pigna, or Pinecone Square, named for a very famous pinecone found there. The pinecone in question is a massive first century orginal Roman bronze (created by one Publius Cinsius Salvius), dating back to the 1st century AD. It was a fountain at the baths of Agrippa, which were, not surprisingly, located in the exact same area. Imagine the odds!

 

Once water gushed out of the top of the pinecone, as well as from little spouts all around the base. A few of these spouts still exist. Since the Pigna was discovered in the 8th century, the darkest of the dark ages, it would have been at risk of being melted down and used for weaponry, a fate that most ancient Roman bronzes suffered. But the pinecone, being a very spiritual symbol in Christianity, was revered, and so the sculpture was preserved.

In fact, the pinecone is a revered symbol in many religions. For Christians it represents eternal life, but it can also be seen in Egyptian, Mithraic, and other pagan art. Some scholars have suggested that because of this shared significance, the pinecone also represented the temporary peace reached between pagans and Christians in Rome when the latter changed their holy day from Saturday (Sabbath) to Sunday, to coincide with the Pagans' holy day in 321 AD. But now I'm getting way off topic...

Shortly after its discovery in the 8th century, the Pigna was given a place of honor in the center of the courtyard of Constantine's Basilica of St. Peter. There it stayed until the basilica was demolished to make way for the new St. Peter's, 500 years ago, and since then it has resided in an enormous niche in the monumental Belvedere Courtyard at the Vatican, now called the Pinecone Courtyard.

This sculpture has indeed had many things named for it. The courtyard, the piazza, the piazza's modest church San Giovanni della Pigna, the nearby Via della Pigna, and in fact, the whole neighborhood. Pigna is one of the Rome's 22 Rioni (neighborhoods). Rione Pigna is medium-sized, and streches from the Pantheon to Via del Corso, from Piazza Venezia to Largo Argentina, and its symbol is, you guessed it, a pinecone.

Photo sources: 1, 2

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Celebrating Peter and Paul

Happy Saint Peter and Paul's Day!

As the patron saints of the city of Rome, their day is a special occasion (as well as a public holiday) here in the Eternal City. The day begins with a spectacular mass at St. Peter's Basilica which ends with the Pope kissing the feet of the medieval statue of St. Peter.

On tour in the basilica yesterday, as they were setting up for the big event, I was delighted to see the marvelous bronze all decked out in papal vestments and the famous three-tier papal tiara. Despite my many years in Rome, this is the first time that I have seen it all dressed up. The statue itself was almost certainly created by Arnolfo di Cambio, making it a late 13th-century work. The right foot of the sculpture protrudes slightly and for hundreds of years, faithful (and superstitious) visitors have touched, rubbed or even kissed that foot so many millions of times, that its toes have almost completely worn away.

Across town, Peter's co-honoree is celebrated at his mighty church, St. Paul's Outside the Walls with a street fair that lasts most of the day. The second largest church in Rome, and the 3rd most important (after St. John's in Lateran), deserves a post of its own, so I won't go into detail just now. Just one tiny note: even though most of what we see today is no more than 150 years old, due to the heartbreaking damage the great basilica suffered in 1823, nevertheless its external aspect, the courtyard, the columned portico, the gold mosaic facade, the dramatic pediment, is the closest Rome has to offer to what Constantine's St. Peter's Basilica must have looked like in its day.

Photo sources: 1, 2, 3

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Mars of Todi - Etruscan art at its best

Despite having set foot in the Vatican Museums over five hundred times in my life, I had never visited the Vatican's Etruscan Museum until very recently. The Etruscan Museum is slightly off the beaten track for the average 2 to 2 1/2 tour. But recently a private group specifically requested it, which gave me a wonderful opportunity to do some exploring there.

By far the greatest and most important work in the museum is the striking Mars of Todi, a near life-size bronze of a warrior (found without his helmet), making an offering to the gods before a battle. It is an extremely rare and well-preserved example of Etruscan statuary art, and dates to the end of the 5th century BC. It was found in the Umbrian town of Todi in 1853 buried between four slabs of travertine.

While far from being an Etruscan scholar myself, unlike my talented friend and resident Etruscologist Theresa Potenza, it is not hard to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of this work. The Etruscans, a pre-Roman civilization, eventually and unfortunately wiped out by the power-hungry Romans, were strongly influenced by Greek art. They were highly skilled artisans, particularly in gold and bronze, to whom funerary rites were extremely important. Much of the recovered Etruscan art has been discovered within their large and intricately frescoed tombs in towns such as Cerverteri and Tarquinia: chariots, thrones, jewelry, hand mirrors, and many other artifacts.

Still, the Etruscans remain mysterious as their origins are not completely known. Even the Etruscan tongue, completely unrelated to any other known language and read from right to left, was not able to be translated until recently.

An interesting detail of this piece is its inscription, carved into the fringe of the warriors armour, very subtly seen to read "Ahal Trutitis dunum dede" or "Ahal Trutitis gave as a gift." Not the artist's signature but the donor's!

Photo sources: 1, 2

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Il Natale di Roma

On occasion of the birth of this blog, I thought it apt to write a few lines on the birth of Rome, a date celebrated here in the eternal city just last week. April 21st, 753 BC, Rome was founded. Or at least, that's how the legend goes.

I, for one, love legends. And I tend to believe them wholeheartedly. Sure, facts are great, archaeological evidence is terrific. But there's nothing like a good old-fashioned legend to get people really interested. Or is that just the tour guide in me talking? Regardless, Roman history is packed with legends, and none is more famous than that of Romulus and Remus, a story told first by Livy, a Roman historian active during the 1st century BC. To understand Rome, you must understand this legend.

27 hundred odd years ago, there was a princess (all good legends begin with a princess, I think you'll agree) of the kingdom of Alba Longa in the Alban hills, a settlement southeast of Rome. Her name was Rhea Silvia. Her father, King Numitor, was ousted by his younger brother, who then killed Numitor's only son, and forced Rhea Silvia to become a vestal virgin, a chaste priestess to the goddess of the hearth. Any vestal virgin who lost her virginity would be buried alive. A tidy way to cut off Numitor's heirs.

But lo and behold, (and this is where it starts to sound less like history and more like a myth) our young heroine was seduced by the god of war, Mars, while taking a nap in the forest. The result of this coupling was not one, but two twin boys. Tossed into the Tiber River, the abandoned newborns eventually washed ashore on the banks of what would eventually be called the Palatine Hill. It was here that a she-wolf, having lost her own cubs, nursed the twins until they could be adopted by a shepherd and his wife.

(It is interesting to note the the latin word for she-wolf, lupa, was also slang for prostitute. Perhaps there is some basis for this legend after all...)

Upon reaching adulthood, Romulus and Remus decide the hilly region north of the Tiber Island is an ideal place for a new kingdom. Both wanting to be king, they decide to look for a sign in the flights of birds. Romulus takes up position on the Palatine Hill, Remus on the Aventine. Six vultures fly over Remus, and twelve over Romulus. I'm betting you can guess where this is going. After a fight to the death, Romulus emerges victorious. He names the city after himself, founds the Roman Legions and the Roman Senate and becomes the first of the seven legendary kings of Rome.

Happy 2763rd birthday, Roma!

PS The first photo depicts the Capitoline She-Wolf. A bronze Etruscan work from the 5th century BC, it likely had nothing to do with the legend when it was created. The famous suckling twins were added in the late 15th century, most likely by the sculptor Antonio Pollaiolo. It has become the symbol of Rome, and can be seen anywhere, from the backs of buses to the Roma team's football jerseys. The second photo is Peter-Paul Ruben's painting Romulus and Remus.

Photo Sources: 1, 2

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