The area around The Pantheon

 

Bernini’s elephant with obelisk and Basilica Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Standing at the fountain and looking at The Pantheon, take the street straight ahead to the building’s left, Via della Minerva. You shortly come to the Piazza della Minerva with its fabulous Bernini "Elephant with an obelisk on its back" statue. The monument stands in front of the medieval Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (St. Mary over Minerva), run by the Dominican order, whose name comes from having been built over the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to Minerva, the Greco-Roman goddess of knowledge.

 

Opposite is the Hotel Minerva, where one day I hope to be rich and famous enough to spend a night or two. There is a rooftop bar/restaurant that I understand to be something very special. One day …..

 

Bernini’s elephant with obelisk (with an interesting story attached): In 1665, a small obelisk about 5.50 metres tall, inscribed with hieroglyphs on each side, was discovered in a garden belonging to the Dominican monastery next to Santa Maria. It was one of the many Egyptian spires that once decorated the Iseum, a very large place of worship nearby the Pantheon, dedicated to goddesses Isis and Serapis, whose cult had been imported from Egypt and had many followers among the Romans. Pope Alexander VII decided to have the obelisk raised in front of the church. In order to choose a suitable base for the monument, a number of distinguished architects submitted their projects to a papal commission. Bernini’s design was favoured, but the Pope insisted that there be a ‘cube’ under the elephant’s belly to support the obelisk’s weight.  Bernini strongly opposed this alteration, since he had already carried out other works in which heavy elements rested over an empty space (an example is his well-known 'Fountain of the Four Rivers' in Piazza Navona), but the pope was adamant. Bernini disguised the rough cube by adding an elaborate saddle-cloth to the elephant's back but the change still gave the elephant a rather stout look. For this reason, after dedication in the square on July 11, 1667 (meanwhile, the pope had died about 40 days before), the people of Rome nicknamed it Porcino della Minerva ("Minerva's Piggy"). Bernini took subtle revenge upon the Pope by positioning the elephant pointing his rear end towards the nearby monastery, the tail slightly shifted to the left in a somewhat obscene salute.

 

In 1628 the monastery to the left had become the site of the tribunal of the Roman Inquisition, set up by Paul III, where the Secret Congregation held meetings during which the sentences were read out.  In a room here on 22 June 1633, the father of modern astronomy Galileo Galilei, after being tried for heresy, was forced to give up his scientific theses in favour of the Copernican theory.

 

Looking across at the rather plain church façade, to the right of the main door are small marble plaques that show the height of River Tiber floods before the embankments were built. (See my page on flood plaques in the Rome section.) In 1870 the elephant would have been swimming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A church with a ‘must-see’ interior:

Basilica Santa Maria sopra Minerva

 

The first Christian church structure on the site was built in the 8th.C. directly over (sopra) the ruins of a temple dedicated to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva. The present church dates from 1280. While many other medieval churches in Rome have been given Baroque makeovers that cover Gothic structures, the Minerva is the only remaining example of original Gothic church building in Rome.

 

Behind a plain Gothic style façade,  the interior features an arched vaulted ceiling, painted blue with gilded stars and trimmed with brilliant red ribbing in a 19th-century Neo-Gothic restoration. The design is that of the empyrean, or symbolic heaven. To me it is the most beautiful church ceiling to be seen, among numerous church ceilings around Rome that are all stunning in their own way.   Also worth a look is the rosette window above the entrance, best seen in the mornings with the sun streaming through. The rose windows are the only example of this kind in Rome.

 

This church is full of wonders, however a couple stand out. Each side chapel has its own treasures, but find the Carafa Chapel, furthest chapel on the right.  Here is the great cycle of frescos by the early Renaissance master Filippino Lippi, painted between 1488 and 1493. (Lippi and the Renaissance are worthy of a complete chapter … another project on my list.)

 

Also note the 'Annunciation' by Romano in a chapel on the right side.  Interestingly Cardinal Torquemada (of Inquisition fame and who paid for the painting) amazingly finds himself part of the holy scene.

 

 

 

Located to the left of the main altar is the statue 'Cristo della Minerva', also known as 'Christ the Redeemer' or 'Christ Carrying the Cross', a marble sculpture by Michelangelo finished in 1521. Not perhaps his best work, this is actually Michelangelo’s second version, the first having been rejected when a black streak was found in the marble and then lost until rediscovered in a church in Viterbo. The hurriedly completed second version was damaged in transit from Florence, but repaired. Originally fully nude, the girdle was added for modesty during the Baroque church restorations and now cannot be taken away, as the vital part has been unfortunately removed.

 

The central High Altar houses the Sarcophagus of Saint Catherine of Siena, containing only her body (her head is still in Siena Cathedral). She died here in 1380 ... well, sort of. She died in a small house opposite and the whole room was transplanted later.

 

The Cafe Tasso D’Oro

If you stand in the piazza Rotondo at the fountain with the Pantheon at your back, immediately to your right is a small street, the Via dei Pastini. Only a few metres into this street you will see the “Cassa del Café”, also known as “Café Tasso D’Oro” which roasts its own coffee (have a look at the big roaster in the back) and has the best ‘stand-up’ coffee (i.e. no tables) in the world.  A big claim I realise, but let’s just say I never leave Rome without a couple of kilos of their coffee beans. They even have two vending machines outside ... one dispenses hot coffee and the other dispenses packets of ground or whole coffee beans ... so you can get your fix 24/7.

 

The Piazza Capranica

If you continue along the Vei dei Orfani, you will first come to the Piazza Capranica, dominated by the Teatro Capranica, constructed in 1679 and now one of the few remaining examples of early renaissance architecture in Rome, though from the outside it is rather plain and somewhat shabby. In its heyday (early 1700’s) it was Rome’s primary public opera house, much favoured by Scarlatti as the venue for the premier of many of his operas.

 

At the far end of the piazza there is a very good pizzaria/restaurant called, surprisingly, Capranica, that serves a great Four Seasons pizza and has an interesting mural on the back wall.

 

Parlamento

Continue along past the end of the Piazza Capranica and turn left. You now face the grand Palazzo Montecitorio, better known as the Italian Parliament House. In fact, this is the back entrance, the main being on its other side at Piazza Parlamento.  The back entrance seems to be the busier and it is always guarded either by Carabinieri, or when parliament is sitting, by guards in full uniform with plumed helmets and swords.

 

Giolitti Gelato

Walk towards Parliament, then turn hard left along Via degli Uffici del Vicario (the office of the Vicar, though I don’t know where the vicar is). On the left is the Giolitti Gelato shop, the oldest gelato in Rome, made famous by Fromer in his $5-a-day guidebooks and today still super busy serving locals and tourists.

 

Campo Marzio

Now turn right just past Giolitti and you are heading into the Campo Marzio district. (Or you can turn left and it will take you back to the Piazza Rotunda and the Pantheon.)  Here is good shopping in smaller stores rather than chains. If you make it through to the Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina you will find three of Rome's most famous outdoor cafes... Villi, Ciampini and Teichner, though you must accept that a coffee here will rival the price of a sumptuous meal elsewhere. You are then well placed to cross the Via del Corso into the Via dei Condotti and enter the shopping heartland.

 

A notable exception to the small stores is the Louis Vuitton store on the left hand side of the Piazza.  I am not endorsing the expensive goods inside, just this has to be one of the most elegant stores in all of Rome. It even has a small cinema on the top level, complete with comfy seats.  When I was there last it was showing a short film on Andy Warhol.

 

Campo Marzio is named after the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars") in ancient Rome. It was dedicated to the god of war because during the Republican Age, only military activities and sports were practised there. Over the Middle Ages, Campo Marzio fell into a long decline which lasted almost one thousand years. The villas of the wealthy ancient Romans were abandoned, while many buildings fell to ruin. By the 1400’s a small community of immigrants from Illyria and Slavonia (today's Croatia and Slovenia) settled on the grounds by the river. In those days it was a slum district, with many charity establishments such as St. Rocco's Hospital for those who suffered from infectious diseases, and St. James of the Incurable for the poor. Then, when in 1570 running water became once again available in this part of Rome, the local population began to grow and Campo Marzio turned upmarket, as testified by the many historical mansions of wealthy and aristocratic families.

 

I will attempt a whole section on the Campo Marzio in detail in the future, as it offers much of interest but is quite spread out.