It has been a busy time in Rome of late. We have been to the Rome ICE bar on Via della Madonna dei Monti near the Roman Forum. Then last weekend we walked along the Via Appia Antica a wonderful road, known as the Queen of Roads (Regina Viarum) built by Appius Claudius in 312 BC making the road 2322 yrs old with its original paving stones intact.
Today was the highlight a private visit made possible only because we knew someone who could ask for special access to the Casina of Pope Pius IIII in the Gardens of the Vatican. This Casina built in 1553 as a pleasure retreat for the Pope is never open to the public and no one is allowed to visit period, the only people allowed in are the staff and special guests invited by the Pope. It houses today the Pontifical Scientific Academy, along the lines of the Academy of Athens in antiquity and is headed by an Archbishop. You can imagine our delight at being allowed to enter and visit the building. We could only enter by one door in the new wing and exit via the garden, we could not sit, nor touch anything, any pictures we took cannot be published. I wish I could show you the inside it is marvelous, the colored marbles alone on the floors are unique. Our guide was Nancy de C. who is extremely knowledgeable and makes any visit truly interesting.
We entered the Vatican State by the Porta Santa Anna on Via Di Porta Angelica, this is the official entrance to the Vatican State and is used by people who come on business to the Vatican, meeting an official, etc... but it is not a gate for the public. We walked along the drive between buildings, on our left above us the Palace where the Papal apartments are located, and then through a large courtyard with a fountain with the coat of arms of the Borghese Pope and then under a large archway and up a coffered brick ramp which led us just outside the walls of the Sistine Chapel, the effect of brightness inside the chapel is created by high powered lights aimed at the outside windows, (see picture). Then a sharp turn right and we are behind the basilica of St-Peter and in the Vatican gardens. Even in cold weather and heavy rain the gardeners were busy. There it was the Casina.
Set amid the Vatican Gardens, the Casina was begun in 1553 by Pirro Ligorio and Sallustio Perruzzi, and completed between 1560 and 1562. This villa consists of four separate sections, with two pavilions and two arched gateways or Propylaea, connected by an oval inner court like an ancient nymphaeum, decorated with statues in the round, high reliefs, bas-reliefs, festoons, friezes, escutcheons and frames in stucco, where putti ride on waterspewing dolphins. It was here that Pius IV used to enjoy moments of peace and solitude. Also his nephew, St. Charles Borromeo, then Cardinal Secretary of State, held his famous literary dinners in the evenings. All this came to an abrupt end in 1565 when the new Pope Pius V closed down the Casina and it remained in a decaying state until 1920.
Since 1926, it has been used as the seat of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which encompases both the Academy of the Sciences and Social Sciences. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences consists of eighty scientists (Sciences and Social Sciences) selected from around the world who are appointed for life by a sovereign act of the Pope.
The aim of the Academy is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and to advance the understanding of the history and philosophy of Science.
A very good day despite the cold and rain.
Sounds like a wonderful visit Laurent. Especially to see that building from the inside. The outside is spectacular so the inside must be stunning.
ReplyDeleteCP
very interesting, but where did the pictures come from if you could not take pics??? internet??
ReplyDeleteThat is a rare priviledge indeed.
ReplyDeleteCurious that you can't publish pictures..Some kind of security protocol?
Zocalo, we could take and publish outside pictures no problem, this is what you see here.
ReplyDeleteSling, no it is not a security thing, it is mostly that the art inside the building is for those privilege people and not for everyone. The Vatican is another planet and a lot of the concepts about what can and cannot be done or said is unknown to most common mortals.