Marforio: from the Roman Empire to the Oscar night

C'è Roma e Roma keeps on writing about the "City Talking statues" known as "The Congregation of Wits",classical monuments where the Romans posted satirical verses against  the politicians (such as nobles families).  

The best friend of Pasquino (C'è Roma e Roma wrote an article about it)  is "Marforio", a marble statue from the I B.C., today settled in the yard of  Palazzo Nuovo (in English: New Palace), a building which is part of Capitoline Museum.
The sculpture represents a reclining bearded man holding a shell on its hand; this iconography allows to identify it as a river god or the Tiber.  
According to the tradition, the name Marforio is a corruption of the Latin inscription "mare in foro" (in English: the sea in the Forum) which decorated a circular basin discovered in the Forum, near the statue.
Another theory explains that the term Marforio comes from the Marfuoli family that lived near the Forum.
In 1558 Pope Sixtus V ordered to move the sculpture to piazza San Marco, where Giacomo Della Porta planned a fountain using Marforio as a decoration; but in XVII century it was relocated in the yard of Palazzo Nuovo.
The basin was used as drinking trough until 1816 when became part of the Dioscuri Fountain, set opposite the Quirinal Palace.
One of the most famous dialogue between Marforio and Pasquino is an invective against Napoleon; indeed during the French invasion of Italy someone posted on the statue a satyric sheet about the French general, accusing him to steal Italian artworks.
(The Italian dialogue is hard to translate in English. It is a play on words in Roman dialect using the verb "steal" and the surname "Bonaparte").
Today Marforio is famed thanks to the Oscar Movie "The Great Beauty" by Paolo Sorrentino.
The international poster is a brilliant photomontage representing the colossal statue behind the main character Jep Gambardella, dressed like a perfect and bored dandy.

Marforio (Palazzo Nuovo)

International poster of "The Great Beauty"

Circus Maximus

From the gladiators to The Rolling Stones. Circus Maximus is getting one of the most famous archaeological site in the world.
Today we can only see an huge green elliptical expanse, but in the past it was an ancient stadium for Roman chariots racing and public games sponsored by Emperors.
The site was 600 m in length and 200 m in width, accommodating up to 300,000 spectators.
According to the legend, the valley housed the mythical episode of the "Rape of the Sabine women”, in Italian “Ratto delle Sabine” (e.d.: in this context the word rape is wrong, it is better using the word kidnapping), described by Tito Livio.
Romolus, the founder of the city, decided to populate it  kidnapping the wives of Sabini people, which were settled in the centre of Italy; so Romans organized a ceremony in honour of Conso, a god of wheat, inviting them and abducting their women.
The husbands declared war to Rome, but the women, who had reached civil rights and goods, forced them to accept the peace deal.
In VII B.C. Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome coming from the Etruria (a central region of Italy which included part of Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria), created the archaeological site, ordering to reclaim a valley called “Murcia" valley.
According to Livio, the word "Murcia" came from a Roman Genius which had a temple between Aventine and Palatine hills where Circus Maximus was built.
In the II B.C. Julius Caesar planned a masonry structure and few years ago Emperor Augustus moved there the Ramses III Egypztian obelisk, which today is in piazza del Popolo.
In the following centuries Costanzo II  transferred there also the obelisk of Tutmes III, now settled in piazza San Giovanni in Laterano (C’è Roma e Roma wrote a post about it).
The area changed thanks various Emperors such as Tiberius, Nero, Titus, Domitian and Trajan. 
The last two gave to the Circus the actual look. 
In the Middle Ages Circus Maximus became a rural and fortified area of Frangipane, a Roman patrician family.
There is a little tower who belongs to that period and it is called "Torre della Moletta" because of its proximity to a mill, which used the water of river Saint John, diverted from Aniene river.
According to the tradition, in 1223 this tower houses Saint Francis of Assisi, friend of Iacopa dei Normanni (a member of Frangipane family).
These buildings were destroyed in 1943, under the fascist dictatorship, and today we can only guess its original project.




Building under the Palatine Hill

An etching of the 16th century

Torre della Moletta

A view of Circus Maximus

The Rolling Stones at Circus Maximus (copyright Elena Greco)

The Rolling Stones at Circus Maximus (copyright Elena Greco)

The Rolling Stones at Circus Maximus (copyright Elena Greco)

The Rolling Stones at Circus Maximus (copyright Elena Greco)

The Roman talking statues: "Pasquino"

In a city as Rome every single stone hides a mystery to be discovered. Walking throughout the streets near piazza Navona is easy to chance upon Pasquino, a talking statue set in a little square of the same name. The Eternal City houses six talking statues, called also the "Congregation of Wits", and Pasquino is the most ancient of them. Indeed in the 16th century, during the Papal State,  anonymous writers started to post satirical verses against politicians (such as Popes, nobles) on these statues.
Pasquino is a torso of a Roman marble statue of the 1st AD (maybe a copy of a Greek bronze work of the 3rd BC) missing the most part of its body. The monument was found near piazza Navona in 1501 during an excavation ordered by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who saved it from the destruction.
In the 18th century the antiquarian Ennio Quirino Visconti discovered that Pasquino was a part of a double monument  representing "Menelaus with the body of Patroclus", which probably decorated the Stadium of Domitium (Italian: stadio di Domiziano), a famous ancient Roman circus built in 80 AD in piazza Navona area.
The origin of  its name is a mystery. According to the legends it comes from a nearby artisan known for his ability to write satirical poems.
Many people wanted to destroy Pasquino, such as Pope Adriano VI who tried to throw it in the Tiber, or Pope Benedetto XIII, who issued an edict calling for the death penalty for the anonymous writers.
In 1870 Rome became part of the Reign of Italy and people was less interested in this tradition.
In 1938, when Hitler went to Rome, Pasquino talked again criticizing this event (C'è Roma e Roma tries to translate the satirical poem from Roman dialect):
"Poor Rome made up of travertine!/ They are dressing you with rags to be admired by a dauber who wants to be a ruler!"
Restored few years ago, today the monument does not talk a lot. Is it in order to protect the cultural heritage or something else?

Statue of Pasquino

An ancient etching about Pasquino

A poem about the famous Italian actor Alberto Sordi

 
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The Turtle Fountain

The Turtle Fountain (Italian: Fontana delle Tartarughe) is a little treasure hidden in the streets of the historic centre, close to Lungotevere. It is located in piazza Mattei, which comes from the name of the noble family owner of the building near the fountain.
The monument, built in 1581 by the sculptor Taddeo Landini and the architect Giacomo Della Porta, is made up of two levels. The first one is a marble base decorated with four conch shells and dolphins, which are dominated by four bronze ephebes putting their foot on the head of the dolphin and supporting the second level: a bowl surrounded by heads of putti, which spout water into the base below, and four little turtles climbing on the edge.
The original version represented eight dolphins and four of them decorate today the fountain in front of the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
According to the legend, a duke of the family Mattei was a famous gambler and during a night he lost his assets, so the father of the girl, who he loved, refused his marriage proposal.
The duke decided to prove to the father in law his valor, building an amazing fountain in a night. Thanks to this the couple get married and the window used to look at the monument was bricked up.
If you visit the fountain take the chance to walk throughout the ancient Jewish neighborhood and taste the Roman-Jewish food. One of the most famous dishes is called "carciofi alla giudia" (English: Jewish style artichokes), a particular kind of fried artichoke.
Here the recipe!
                                                       Jewish style artichokes
Peel off the external leaves from the artichokes, till you reach the inner leaves that are fresh and white at the base.
Cut the heart in half vertically to reveal the inner fuzzy..
Rub the heart with lemon, then place it in the bowl of lemon water.
When the artichokes are ready to cook, remove them from the lemon water.
Place the artichokes into the heated oil and let them fry for about 15 minutes, turning them once halfway through cooking, till artichokes are golden brown and the leaves are crisp.
Remove from the oil and let them drain on paper towels. Serve fried artichokes warm with salt.
 

The Turtle Fountain

Fountain features © Domenico Casamassima 



Ephebes and turtles

   

Jewish style artichokes

 

 

A piece of Egypt in Rome: the Lateran Obelisk

The historic center of Rome is a world to discover, indeed walking through the San Giovanni neighborhood, near the Colosseum, you can admire a piece of Egyptian art: the Lateran Obelisk, located in Saint John Lateran square (Italian: piazza San Giovanni in Laterano).
The obelisk is made up of red marble and is about 32,18 meters (105,6 feet), which makes it the tallest surviving ancient Egypt obelisk in the world.
In 15th century BC Pharaoh Tutmosis III commissioned it for the courtyard of Amun Temple in Karnak, a little village near Luxor. It remained unfinished for many years, until Tutmosis IV, the successive Pharaoh, completed the obelisk, decorating it with hieroglyphics which allow to relate it to Amon Ra, the Egyptian sun god.
In 4th century AD Emperor Constantinus tried to remove the obelisk and bring it to Constantinople, the new capital of Roman Empire, but he died suddenly, and his son Constantius II decided to transport the monument to Rome, erecting it in Circus Maximus.
During the Middle Ages the obelisk was forgotten, collapsing and it was found, broken in 3 pieces, only in 1587, when Pope Sixtus V ordered an excavation of the Circus Maximus area.
After being restored by architect Domenico Fontana, who created the marble pedestal decorating it with inscriptions about its history, in 1588 the obelisk was moved to its present site in Saint John Lateran square, which also houses the Cathedral church with the same name, the Lateran Palace (the old Papal residence) and the Baptistery.

Lateran obelisk

Lateran obelisk and its hieroglyphics



Saint John Lateran square view

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The Crescenzi House

In the centre of Rome, you can admire an ancient Patrician house, settled in the South of the Tiber Island. It is regarded as a rare example of a Medieval aristocratic building, which housed the Roman noble family of Crescenzi. The house, built between 1040-1065 thanks to Niccolò Crescenzi, had a tower in order to protect the residents; its location, in front of a bridge called "Pons Aemilius", allowed them to control the access, charging a fee for passing the bridge.
The house had originally two levels, but today we can only see the ground floor and a part of the first floor; the walls are made up of several architectural elements (such as capitals, columns, ledges) which come from different historical periods.
The tower collapsed due to a popular revolt in 1312.
In the Middle Ages, during the Good Friday Way of the Cross, the building was used as Pontius Pilate's house (Italian: casa di Pilato) and the people started to call it so.
Before being restored in 20th century, the house was forgotten for many centuries, becoming a stable.
In 1939 and still today, the house became a History of Architecture Centre, which holds an interesting collection ranging from monuments renovation to urban studies.

The Crescenzi House



Architectural elements

Architectural elements


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Santa Maria della Scala and the ancient Apothecary

The church of Santa Maria della Scala (English: Holy Mary of the Staircase), built between 1593 and 1610, is set in the historical district of Trastevere.
According to the tradition, the church takes its name from a picture of the Virgin Mary, which in 1592 was located in the stairs of a nearby house. This relic was regarded as miraculous since it saved a child.
In the 16th century the Carmelities built one of the most ancient urban Apotechary in the monastery near the church. At the beginning only the friars could use it but in the 17th century it was opened to all the citizens.
The Carmelites were excellent chemists and they became famous for preparing a lot of remedies for every diseases using the herbs of their garden, such as the water of the stair for neuralgia, the melissa one as sedative and the samaritana one as disinfectant.
Even Pope Pius VIII (1761-1830) used their preparations, so the workshop became known as the Popes' apothecary.
The friars cessed their activity in 1954, but the Chemistry is still open and you can visit its laboratories, located in the first floor of the monastery.
These rooms conserve apothecary vases, mortars, balances, herbals and recipe books.
King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele I and other historical personalities visited the chemestry and these events are testified by paintings on the closets.

Santa Maria della Scala

Paintings on the closets

Apothecary

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