I took the number 44 bus from the Teatro di Marcello on Via dei Cerchi and crossed the river at the Ponte Palatino and up the Janiculum hill. I do not know the area that well, so at one point not being sure were I was I decided to get off near the top at the Basilica of St-Pancras on Via di San Pancrazio. This is a very old basilica and well worth a visit. Little did I know that I while standing in front of this column in the middle of the street, that it is the site of terrible battles in 1848-49 between the French army supporting the Pope against the Italian people and their leader Garibaldi, who were fighting for their independence from Papal Theocratic iron fisted rule. A little door in the wall next to St Pancras led me into the Doria Pamphilij Garden, the former summer estate of the Princely Doria Pamphilij family. In 1960 they gave this huge estate to the Italian State, it is now a public garden.
The garden is so large that a warning sign at the entrance reminds visitors not to get to far into the forested garden because when closing time comes the gates are locked and impossible to scale, meaning that you will be locked in for the night. This garden is not like the Villa Borghese, though both families are ancient and just as wealthy with their load of Popes and Cardinals among them. Innocent X was a Doria Pamphilij Pope and Paul V a Borghese Pope.
The Doria Pamphilij garden is known for its wonderful views of Rome and the surrounding countryside. There are no ruins, no statues, the original Palace was totally destroyed by the French cannon fire in 1849, it was replaced today by a Gate of the Four Winds. The estate witnessed a terrible massacre of Italian fighters at the hands of the Papal and French Army. Garibaldi lost the battle and managed to escape and the Pope ruled Rome for another 21 years through fierce exactions against the population and with the help of the Vatican Secret Police. As I left the garden I walked down past the ruins of the Vascello on Via Garibaldi and came to the Arch celebrating the Papal victory. The Inscription on top says in part that the impious enemies of Christ (aka the Romans and Italians) were defeated. On a side street is the entrance to the Villa Aurelia also badly damaged by French cannon fire and today the seat of the American Academy in Rome.
Continuing down the road already a spectacular view of Rome is visible and there on the right hand side of the road is the Fontanone or big fountain it is the terminal point of the Aqueduct of Emperor Trajan and was restored by Pope Paul V to give water to the people of Trastevere.
The four granite columns of the fountain are from the original front entrance pillars to the original basilica of St-Peter built in the fourth century and demolished in 1450 to make way for the new basilica of St-Peter we know today. The water is spring water and very good to drink. Across the road from it is the Royal Spanish Academy and the Church of St-Peter in Montorio first built by the Benedictines and paid for in part by Saint-Louis King of France and then later on re-built and paid for in whole by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. The Church thus became the National Church of Spain in Rome.
I took quite a few pictures of Rome from this panoramic point, the sun was coming out and despite the clouds I could see clearly some 80 km from the city all the way to mount Terminillo.
I then went to visit the Church and discovered a very strange story and how it became an important point of pilgrimage. It appears that around the 10th century the story started to circulate that St-Peter had been tortured and crucified on the spot where the church stands today. It is believed that this story first started with the poor translation and obvious mistakes of some monks who were barely able to read and write, let alone translate Latin into the local dialect spoken then in Rome.
The mistake in translation was discovered but at this point the spot was a favorite of pilgrims. Franciscans took over the site and continued with the same old canard and prospered from it. The Spanish Crown needing for political reasons a special Church in Rome with a strong association with one of the Catholic Church first star were all too please to put more financial support behind the enterprise and even commissioned in 1502 Bramante to built the Tempietto (little temple) on the spot believed erroneously to be where St-Peter was crucified.
At this point I was feeling a bit tired and the sun was setting, so I came home by walking down the hill to Via Trastevere and took the no. 8 tram to Piazza Argentina. A good visit in an unknown, for me, spot of Rome.
seeing the tree is a bit startling; I never stopped to think christmas trees existed other than Canada, US, England and parts of Germany.
ReplyDeleteYou should be startled, Xmas trees are a new thing in Rome maybe at the most, according to Romans a 15 yr old new tradition. In central and southern Italy Xmas trees are not at all a tradition. Simply because as a tree they do not exist and have to be imported from Northern climes. Call it Xmas globalization. Italians have other traditions very different from Central of Northern Europeans.
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