Madam Lucretia and the Talking Statues

In the heart of the city lives one of the most ironic Roman women. We are writing about "Madama Lucrezia" (in English Madam Lucretia), a member of the urban Talking Statues, known as the Congragation of the Wits, which is a group of classical monuments where the Romans posted satirical verses against the politicians.
Lucrezia is a colossal Roman marble torso from the 2nd century A.D, about 3 meters high and settled near the Basilica of Saint Mark.
The work is disfigured but its clothes allow to identify it as Isis (in Italian: Iside), the Egyptian goodness of the fecundity, venerated also in Rome
Indeed the torso may be a part of a colossal statue dedicated to Isis settled in Campo Marzio and moved to the current location in 1500, thanks to cardinal Lorenzo Cybo.
According to the legend, the name Madama Lucrezia comes from "Lucrezia D'Alagno", the lover of Naples king Alfonso V d'Aragona; when the king died, she was forced to run away to Rome, due to Palace hostility.
Throughout the centuries the statue was the protagonist of a carnival ceremony, called "cerimonia dei guitti" (in English: mummer's ceremony). During the rite, every man (usually artists and odd men) chose a woman and showed her to the statue, which was decorated with a necklace made up of garlic and ribbons. The couples started to move around Madama Lucrezia, dancing the "saltarello", a medieval leaping dance coming its name from the Italian verb "saltare" (in English: to jump).
In the centuries the people attached only few satirical verses to the statue, one of them in 1799, when the torso was dropped and someone attached this sheet to her back: "I just can not stand it any longer, about the failed try to establish a Roman Republic.
A last curiosity about Lucrezia! According to a popular tradition, the enormous marble foot, which is located near Palazzo Grazioli, could be a part of the original Madama Lucrezia (goddness Isis) colossal statue. Cinderella lost her shoe?

 

Madama Lucrezia

The marble foot

Il saltarello (medieval dance)

 

The Gothic Hall of Santi Quattro Coronati

The Caelian Hill, one of the most famous archeological site in Rome, houses a place known as the Sistine Chapel of the Middle Ages.
It is a Gothic Hall set in the main Tower of a complex called "Santi Quattro Coronati"(in English: Four Crowned Martyrs), a church of  IV century which takes its name from four Christian martyrs killed by Emperor Diocleziano.
This hall is considered an amazing example of Gothic style architecture in Rome and was built by cardinal Stefano dei Conti di Segni, nephew of Pope Innocenzo III and canon of Notre Dame in Paris.
The place is decorated by a cycle of frescoes discovered only in 1996, after being hidden for centuries under successive layers of painting, which were realized in XVI century, when the room was transformed into a monastery's laundry.
According to the critics, the decorations were realized by Terzo Maestro Di Anagni (an anonymous artist) or by Jacopo Torritti (a painter of the “Roman School”) in XIII century.
The frescoes' theme is the relationship between Church and Empire and they represent different biblical characters, such as king Solomon, and members of mendicant orders; but also personifications, such as the Twelve Months, the Arts, the Seasons and the Winds. The Gothic Hall may be visited only by advance booking.
Reservation requests for November 18th and 19th will be accepted from 15th September.
For further information visit the website http://www.aulagoticasantiquattrocoronati.it/

Frescoes of Gothic Hall

Details: Emperor Constantine dreams about S. Peter and S. Paul

Basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati

Summer Snowfall in Rome!

On every 5 August night the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (in Italian: Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore), celebrates the fest of Our Lady of Snow, housing a special event called "the miracle of the snow".
Indeed, during this night, the square outside the Basilica is covered by an artificial snowfall (created by the machines) with lights and music.
According to the tradition, on August 5 352 A.D., a roman patrician called John and the Pope Liberius dreamt about the Virgin Mary asking them to build a church in honor of Her.
The next day the Esquilino hill was covered by an incredible snowfall : a miracle which indicated the spot where the Virgin wanted the church.
The Pope and the patrician ordered to build there the Basilica, which was realized by Pope Sixtus III in  432 A.D, maybe over the ancient building created during the Liberius pontificate.
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major is today the largest Catholic Marian church in Rome and includes different art styles.
One of the most interesting place is the Pauline Chapel (in Italian: Cappella Paolina), where the tradition of Our Lady of Snow is still commemorating by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the afternoon of the feast.
The chapel is an important location because of it houses a miraculous Byzantine icon called in Latin “Salus Populi Romani" (in English: deliverance of the Roman people) representing Mary with her son Jesus.
The event starts tonight at 8.30!

The artificial snowfall

Basilica of Saint Mary Major

 

 

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

 
Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

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