Santa Costanza: the perfect space.





Santa Costanza is a haven of peace in the midst of a bustling city. A magical space, no wonder it is one of the most popular sites for weddings. A new metro stop on line B (Sant'Agnese/Annibaliano), only 4 stops from Termini station, renders its access much easier. 2 miles away from the ancient city walls, it is one of the very first examples of central plan Christian buildings. Identified as the mausoleum of Costanza, the daughter of the emperor Constantine and built in one of the properties of the family, its function has recently been questioned. Probably meant to be initially the tomb of her younger sister Helen, the body of Costanza might have been placed here later. The mid IV century building housed her porphyry sarcophagus moved to the Vatican Museums in the XVIII century.

If the exterior is rather austere with a simple brick pattern, the interior is surprising. (make sure you take some coins to get the lights turned on). The IV century mosaics of Santa Costanza deal with pagan themes common in Roman funerary art largely adopted by Christianity with new meanings. So the putti harvesting grapes to make wine are no longer acting only in honor of Bacchus and the wine takes on a new meaning for Christians. It's a moment of transition but the 'revolution' is smooth and harmonious.
 

Harvesting putti.

Mirrors, cornucopias, peacocks.

The building is still so pagan that it was mistaken for a Temple of Bacchus and in the XVII century a group of Flemish artists known as the Bentvogels  (the gang of the birds) celebrated their ‘ initiation ritual’, toasting in front of the sarcophagus of Costanza, after partying all night (many of their names are still carved on the walls of the niches). 

XVII centuries graffiti.

The mausoleum was first converted into the baptistery of the Church of Santa Agnese (VII century) and then into a church dedicated to Santa Costanza (1254) who became a martyr in the Middle Ages without any historical evidence.

The mausoleum was located by one of the very first Christian basilicas built in Rome in the IV century sponsored by Constantine (the emperor that legalized Christianity) and dedicated to the martyr St. Agnes whose remains are supposedly in the nearby catacombs.  Despite the lack of reliable information about her, she is one of the most popular saints, supposedly martyred around the age of 13 under the reign of Diocletian. This basilica was not technically a church but a funerary hall,  its floor was covered with burials, partly discovered during recent excavations.  Used for funerary banquets, mass was held only once a year for the feast of the martyr.  Shaped as typical Roman racetracks , also called circiform from circus, these basilicas are a typical Roman solution even if they were found also elsewhere (in Bir Ftouha, north of Carthage or Aquileia). In Rome such peculiar type of building was first identified in 1915 (San Sebastiano on the Via Appia). Their shape is symbolic if we consider how initially the life of a Christian is compared to a challenging competition to get, in conclusion, the palm of victory (the heavenly bliss).

The round mausoleum and the U-shaped basilica.

Perimeter wall of the circus shaped basilica.

It was was externally surrounded by more tombs and mausoleums (such as the one of Costanza).  The remains of the Constantinian  basilica are still visible:  the great perimeter wall with buttresses and windows  is best viewed from piazza Annibaliano, the inner area is occupied by a meadow now.  Its marble columns were probably recycled for the construction of the new church that the pope Honorius in the VII century wanted to locate directly on the tomb of the martyr Agnes.

Opening hours – from 9 to 12 and from 3 to 6 pm. Free entrance.

Visits are not allowed on Sunday morning and during functions or weddings.

To visit the catacombs and the church of St. Agnes:  www.santagnese.org

 

 

San Marcello al Corso: a less known church.





According to tradition it was founded by the pope Marcellus, martyr under the emperor Maxentius and exiled from Rome after the riots caused by his severity against lapsed Christians who had renounced to their faith under the recent persecutions. Another version claims he was condemned to work as a slave attending the horses (he is the patron saint of horse breeders) at the catabulum:  the headquarters of the Imperial Post stables.
His remains are supposedly under the main altar of the church.
The present church, rebuilt several times, was designed by Jacopo Sansovino and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger after a fire in 1519.
The façade was added by Carlo Fontana at the end of XVII century while the interior was partly redecorated also in the XVIII century and restored by Vespignani in 1867. 
 

The church hosts a bizarre funerary monument:  the double tomb of Cardinal Giovanni Michiel known as Cardinal S. Angelo for his first title as cardinal of the church of S. Angelo in Pescheria (up above) and his nephew bishop Antonio Orso (down below). Designed by Jacopo Sansovino in 1520 (according to Giorgio Vasari). They seem to rest on a on a bunk bed. The bishop lies on a pile of books: an allusion to his donation of 730 codes to the library of the monastery.

The Cardinal was the nephew of the pope Paul II and belonged to a prestigious Venetian family. A candidate for the papacy during the conclave of 1492 which ended with the election of Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI), he died in 1503, poisoned by Cesare Borgia, the pope's son,  after 2 days of agony. The truth of those rumors was never proved. Cantarella, a variation of arsenic, was the poison of choice of the Borgias. If dosed right it wasn't immediate and obvious. The cook, accused, was executed and the enormous wealth of the cardinal was confiscated by the Borgias.



Crucifixion (detail). 1613

A huge Crucifixion by Giovan Battista Ricci is frescoed on the counterfacade. The Lombard artist was also an excellent draughtsman. Mainly active as a fresco painter during the pontificates of Sixtus V, Clement VIII and Paul V, Ricci was one of the busiest painters in Rome during this period, and was elected to the Virtuosi al Pantheon in 1583 and, five years later, to the Accademia di San Luca.  





 

A well preserved medieval fresco (XIV century) survives in the Grifoni Chapel. The Madonna is crowned by a couple of later cherubs painted by Perin del Vaga, a pupil of Raphael. They were particularly praised by Giorgio Vasari: '...i più belli che in fresco facesse mai artefice nessuno... '.

 

The baptistery of the ancient church was found in 1912: one of the few for the immersion rite surviving in Rome.  The bricks are still coated with marble (VIII century, although V century remains were also discovered).  

 

Archaeological remains under the church.

Opening hours - 7,30 am - 11 pm (weekdays) - Saturday and Sunday 9,30 am - 11 pm.

If you wish to visit the archaeological remains under the church ask at the Sacristy (a little donation is highly appreciated).

5 Must-see Fine Art Nudes in Rome.

1. Esquiline Venus (Capitoline Museums).
 

Nudes in art date from the Paleolithic age when curvy and bumper statuettes carved in stone, female bodies with abundant breasts, were regarded as symbols of fertility (Venus of Willendorf, c. 28,000 B.C.E–25,000 B.C.E.)                        

Aesthetically the representation of the naked body over the centuries is the result of different cultural systems.

In Greece, in the V century B.C. the anatomy of the human body becomes the object of scientific studies and Polykleitos provides a 'code': his aesthetic theories for artistic perfection being based on mathematics. Ancient Greeks competed naked or covered only by a thong.  Athletes became models: nudity immortalized by artists, such as Myron, a promise of perfection and beauty. 

In the Middle Ages, this conception faces a metamorphosis due to Christianity and if the body becomes the sacred urn of the spirit, it could nevertheless lead to sin and damnation.
 

For Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo the nude is a symbol of purity,  based on classic models, refined by the study of human anatomy and alluding to strength and spiritual courage (Michelangelo's David). 



2. Hermaphroditus
(Palazzo Massimo).
 

In 1545, the Council of Trent marks the end of freedom to represent the nude in art and artists are encouraged to be inspired by biblical stories. In 1559, Pope Paul IV ordered to cover Michelangelo's nudes in the Last Judgement. Through art the clergy tries to control 'heretical' ideas.
 



3. One of Michelangelo's
Ignudi
Sistine Chapel
Ceiling.

In the 17th century, the attitude is controversial: 'sacred' and 'profane' coexist in artists like Caravaggio or Bernini. 
 

One century later naked human figures must be based, according to Winckelmann, on the ideals of Greek art with its fixed proportions for beauty. Repressive social conventions are rejected. Canova's conception of nudity in one of his major works, Paolina Borghese, reflects the tradition of ancient Rome, portraying a mortal as a goddess. It's still debated whether Napoleon's sister really posed nude as a model.
 

4. Bernini's Rape of Proserpina
Borghese Gallery.
 



5. Canova's Paolina Bonaparte
Borghese Gallery.

The Lanternarius at the Baths of Diocletian.

Lanternarius with cucullus - I-II century A.D.
Rome Tiber, Palatine bridge.
National Roman Museum (Baths of Diocletian)
Michelangelo's Cloister.

A little mysterious statue rests in the shade of the cloister in the National Roman Museum (Baths of Diocletian).  Among hundreds of statues of the Imperial age, it would easily risk to go unnoticed if it were not for the seductive charm it emanates, a sense of peace, an aura of mystery.  
Rather than statues of emperors or victorious generals,  those 'extras', background actors in history, have much more to say about daily life back then:  a little boy, a slave, holding a lantern, fallen asleep while waiting for his master.  It's chilly outside and the lanternarius is wrapped in his cucullus, a rough hooded jacket. 

Streets had no public lighting, except when shows were held at night at the circus or amphitheater. 
Therefore to venture out it was necessary to have a torch or a lantern, perhaps carried by a slave (lanternarius).  Especially in the heavy and noisy night traffic.
Caesar in fact in 45 b.C. prohibited the circulation of carts and chariots during the day (Municipal Julian Law), except to transport building materials for great public works.

The cucullus, later adopted also by medieval monks (and by the likes of Yoda in Star Wars) was the work coat used by Roman slaves:  just as the toga was worn by  Roman citizens so the cucullus was indicative of a slave, who needed to be outside in bad weather. 

The cucullus is the ‘cloak of invisibility’ associated also with the underworld and the most renowned cucullatus divinity of Hellenistic antiquity is Telesphorus (god of sleep):  a hooded, cloaked, barefoot child-god, venerated also in association with Asklepios, the healer god who visits patients at night.  Thus often on tombs similar funerary statuettes illuminated the path of the dominus through the darkness of death. 

 

  

 

The unusual columns in Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

Madonna del Rifugio.

Santa Maria in Aracoeli is one of the oldest churches in Rome:  located on the highest summit of the Capitol hill where, according to Medieval legends, the Tiburtine Sybil would have announced Augustus the coming of Christ. Built on the ruins of the Temple of Juno Moneta, its first construction should date back to 6th century.  Rebuilt by the Franciscans in the XIII century, its grand stairway was offered as an ex-voto for the end of the plague in 1348. 

Edward Gibbon writes in his Memoirs:  'It was in Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amid the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter [the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli] that the idea of writing the decline and the fall of the city first started to my mind'. 

A fascinating contrast between Classical art and Christianity pervades the interior of the church.  It could be epitomized by the curios ancient columns of the nave: colossal columns recycled from ancient monuments and painted between XIV and XV century!




St. Luke.

Madonna of the Column.

A mysterious column (the third on the left) bears the inscription A CUBICULO AUGUSTORUM.  Probably originally in the imperial palace, it is surprisingly perforated. 

That strange hole might have been used for astronomical observations.

 











The topless bronze gladiatrix in Hamburg.

photo Alfonso Manas

Female gladiators existed!
A rarity, nevertheless, documented by Roman historians such as Dio Cassius (150-235 CE) who describes a festival organized by Nero for his mother (in which women fought). 
The same writer reports an event sponsored by the same emperor in the year 66 CE with Ethiopian women-gladiators in Pozzuoli in honor of the king of Armenia Tiridates.
Suetonius, another famous Roman historian and biographer (69-122 CE), describes games held under Domitian (88 CE) in which women fought against dwarfs!
Tacitus (Annales 15.32-33) reports that during a show in AD 63 some senators and noblewomen entered the arena to fight.
The satirical poet Juvenal describes Mevia hunting boars in the arena. 
Petronius (Satyricon) and Martial (Liber De Spectaculis) also refer to games involving women.
In the British Museum a marble relief found in Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey) portrays 2 women gladiators nicknamed Achillia and Amazon. 

A bronze statuette, almost 2000 years old, in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbein, in Hamburg,  has recently been interpreted as woman-gladiator, according to researcher Alfonso Manas, of Spain's University of Granada.  It could be a bare-chested woman brandishing a short, curved sword (sica).  The mysterious object she holds was previously identified as a strigil (used by Romans, who did not use soap, for scraping the body clean).
Manas is persuaded she is a gladiator for the pose:  typical of victorious gladiators.
Not surprising that she is topless:  women and men fought with bare chest.
Considering the audience was largely formed by men that caused a certain impact of course.

The scarcity of archaeological evidence depicting women gladiators however proves that women were rarely fighting. Such custom was banned by the emperor Septimus Severus (200 AD).

Tripadvisor awards Park of the Aqueducts: 6th most popular park in Italy for travellers from around the world!



www.parcoacquedotti.it
(from the photo-gallery)

TripAdvisor, the largest travel site in the world, just in time for Summer, announced its first ever Travelers’ Choice Attractions awards, honoring over 1,200 of the world’s top landmarks, parks, museums.   This first edition has recognized 1,263 attractions divided into historic sites, museums, parks and amusement parks.
Winners of the 2013 Travelers Choice Attractions are distributed in 39 countries around the world.

If in the top ten of the Italian sights St.Peter’s Basilica, Colosseum and Pantheon are not really a surprise (http://www.tripadvisor.it/TravelersChoice-Attractions-cLandmarks) what it’s very interesting is that Rome also won two positions in the top 10 of the most popular Italian parks for travelers from around the world. Villa Doria Pamphili, the largest park in the capital, is ranked 5th in the top ten, closely followed by the Park of the Aqueducts, which gained a sixth position!

Like no other place, it has preserved the charm and the atmosphere envisioned by travelers of the Grand Tour.  Crossed by six of the eleven major aqueducts built by the Romans plus a Renaissance one (the Aqua Felix, built in 1585 under Felice Peretti: pope Sixtus V, using the arches of the Aqua Marcia).

The most ancient acqueduct in the Park is the Anio Vetus (3rd century B.C.), almost entirely underground, the most conspicuous is the Aqua Claudia whose imposing arches still survive above ground in the peaceful contryside where you can still see sheep grazing.  The aqueducts are supplied from natural springs in the upper valley of the Aniene beyond Tivoli, in the Alban Hills.

11 acqueducts in the Ancient Rome brought more than 200 million gallons of water into the city every day!

This wonderful park is also easy to reach: best approach from Via Lemonia.
Buy a metro ticket (€1,50), get on the metro line A, direction Anagnina and get off the at Subaugusta station. Exit toward via Tito Labieno and walk down via Tito Labieno a few blocks (about 600 m) to the park. 
When you cross via Quintilo Varo, you will know you are headed in the right direction.
Cross via Lemonia and you are there!

A Day at Ostia: 5 good reasons not to miss it!

Ostia Antica is an underestimated attraction:  it should be a must, especially if you can't make it to Pompei.

1) After Pompei and Herculaneum it's Italy's best preserved Roman town.  Ostia was the port of Rome and a prosperous city with a theater, temples, baths, condominiums and patrician villas. It provides a vivid picture of Rome's everyday life!

2) It's located at about 25 km from the city and can be easily reached by train (metro B from Stazione Termini to Piramide stop and from there take a Lido train to Ostia Antica).

 
3) In summer classics are staged inside the ancient  Roman theater (http://www.ostianticateatro.it/).

4) If you are travelling with kids it's a perfect destination:  they will just love the combination nature & ruins.  Don't forget swim-suits and sunblock:  you can easily reach the beaches by train (just a few minutes). The water is not exactly crystal clear but the coast is lively, there are nice beach clubs (stabilimenti)  and the dark sand accelerates tanning!

5) No matter where you go you'll find bars serving delicious caprese salad, panini or pasta and also good fish restaurants.

The Sleeping Hermaphrodite at Palazzo Massimo

Sleeping Hermaphrodite  (1st century BC) -  Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (Museo Nazionale Romano) Rome.

Hermaphrodite is the androgynous child Venus (anything but monogamous) conceived with Hermes.
From behind we perceive the curve of a female back and the suggestion of a woman’s breast.
Turning around and facing the statue we discover the figure is endowed with male genitals.
According to Ovid he was incredibly handsome and he was transformed into an androgynous being by union with the water nymph Salmacis.
Salmacis tried to seduce him but the naive youth rejected the nymph's advances.  
So when he was bathing undressed she jumped into the pool, wrapping herself around him.
He struggled of course, recalcitrant, but by invoking the gods she obtained they would be together forever. So with the aid of divine intervention their bodies blended and formed a creature of both sexes.

THE SENSUAL APHRODITE BY DOIDALSAS AT PALAZZO MASSIMO.

The original bronze statue of a Crouching Venus by the famous Greek sculptor Doidalsas (3rd century b.C.) no longer survives but it served as a model for many Roman copies.
One of the best versions is considered to be the one at Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Roman Museum).  The Crouching Venus is undoubtedly one of the most sensual statues from Antiquity.
The attention to detail is great: the mouth is half-open and we can admire her beautiful teeth.
In some versions she is accompanied by Eros who probably was not foreseen by Doidalsas.  The original Aphrodite had to be plumper and show more curves while in the marble translations she has apparently lost weight.
Twisted, she is trying to cover her nudity, almost hiding.  Pure charm and grace.


Doidalsas of Bythinia (200 B.C. - 100 B.C.) is a
Greek sculptor, mentioned also by Pliny, who describes a statue of Aphrodite bathing herself in the Portico of Octavia in Rome. 
The pose is convincing even if, standing up, the figure would be too elongated.  The effect is intentional:  her fleshiness is unparalleled in other Aphrodite types. 

LYSIPPUS' BOXER IS RESTING AT PALAZZO MASSIMO.

One of the highlights at Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (main seat of the National Roman Museum) is undoubtedly the Boxer at rest:  a magnificent bronze statue long attributed to Apollonius (1st century b.C).  Recent studies prove that it is certainly by Lysippus (340 b.C.) the greatest Greek sculptor known for his meticulous attention to detail. The mistake was due to the alleged existence of an inscription on his left glove strings showing Apollonius' signature. Lysippus was a restless artist:  (more than 1500 works are attributed to him and his workshop).  Unfortunately most of his works are lost and we have mostly Roman replicas of his statues.  His masterpieces were moved to Rome as spoils (as the Apoxiomenos on display at the Vatican Museums) and then sent to Constantinople (when the capital was moved). Just a few survived.
The Greek bronze statue was discovered in 1885 on the Quirinal hill while building the Teatro Drammatico Nazionale (closed in 1929).  The area was originally the site of Constantine Baths.
It has been suggested that it could represent the Olympic athlete Theogenes.  Probably it's not a true portrait  but a generic character of boxer.  It is surprisingly well preserved (except for the eye balls).  His hands are protected by boxing gloves.  
Formed by eight separately cast segments. The lip, wounds and scars on his face were originally inlaid with copper and further copper inlays are used for drops of blood on his bruised body. The fingers were worn from being rubbed by passers-by in ancient times.  It's the muscular and noble body of a middle aged man revealing scars, marks and deformities caused by such a violent profession.  His expression suggests also weariness and a sort of resignation.  Even if the Boxer is 'at rest' the pose does not diminish his strenght.  His head is turned as if someone had caught his attention in that precise moment.

Villa Giulia: the eternal banquet of an Etruscan couple.

 

Ancient Etruscan Sarcophagus of the Spouses, 520 BC, made of terracotta which was once brightly painted, currently located at the Villa Giulia National Etruscan Museum, Rome.

 

From the Banditaccia necropolis in Caere (modern Cerveteri), previously owned by the Ruspoli family, from which Felice Barnabei, founder of the museum, bought broken into more than 400 fragments! 

However, its function remains uncertain because burial and cremation were both practiced by the Etruscans. It may actually have been a large urn designed to contain the ashes of the deceased. Another example similar to this work is known (Louvre, Paris).
The urn is shaped as a bed upon which the deceased are resting and banqueting. The Etruscans, like the Greeks had adopted the Eastern custom of feasting in a reclining position. Etruscan women, who held an important place in society, could take part in a banquet (in Greece only men were admitted).

Centrale Montemartini. Not the average museum in Rome.

Agrippina the Younger.

What if the location for a collection of classical statues is a disused power station?
It happens in Rome where as many as 400 statues from the Capitoline Museums are housed since 1997 in the first public power station in Rome, built in 1912, named after its designer and fallen into disuse in 1963.
The result is certainly original:  the unusual contrast of Ancient Roman art and industrial archaeology is fascinating. 
When in 1995 humidity menaced the Roman sculptures on display in the Galleria Lapidaria wing of the Capitoline Museums the problem was solved by moving them to the Centrale Montemartini.
The first exhibition in 1997 The Machines and the Gods was to be only temporary but thanks to its success the 400 Roman sculptures remained.

A blasphemous Crucifixion (Palatine Museum).

Graffito caricature of the Crucifixion. Graffito from the early Christian period mocking the new religion. A man named Alexamenos is shown worshipping a donkey-headed figure on the Cross. Crucifixion was a humiliating punishment for the Romans. What is ridiculed here is that a sect could have grown up around the worship of a crucified man. The blasphemous inscription in Greek reads: ‘ Alexamenos worships his god’.

A blasphemous Crucifixion (Modern Art Gallery – Rome).

Crucifixion (1941). Renato Guttuso. 

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna

One of the most famous paintings by Renato Guttuso.
Revolutionary, even heretical, especially for the presence of the naked figure of Mary Magdalene (which earned the artist the title of pictor diabolicus). The face of Christ is hidden and we can only guess his grimace of pain. It recalls the pathos of Rosso Fiorentino in the Deposition from the Cross. Influenced by Picasso’s Guernica Guttuso pays homage to the figure of the horse very similar to that depicted in Guernica. The agony of Christ as a symbol for those who suffer outrage, imprisonment and torture for their ideas.
Sciascia claimed that whatever Guttuso wanted to paint he always painted Sicily.

Beauty cases for the underworld.

Cista Ficoroni (IV century b.C.) - Etruscan Museum Villa Giulia.

Cistae are metal boxes mostly cylindrical, covered with incised decorations.They were found in the fourth-century necropolis at Praeneste (a town, located 37 kilometers southeast of Rome, an Etruscan outpost in the seventh century B.C.). The most famous cista and the first to be discovered is the Ficoroni presently in the Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome, named after the collector Francesco Ficoroni who first owned it. The cista was found at Praeneste but its dedicatory inscription indicates Rome as the place of production: NOVIOS PLVTIUS MED ROMAI FECID/ DINDIA MACOLNIA FILEAI DEDIT (Novios Plutios made me in Rome/ Dindia Macolnia gave me to her daughter).
The engraving represents the myth of the Argonauts: the boxing match between Pollux and Amicus, in which Pollux is victorious. The engravings might be the reproduction of a lost fifth-century painting by Mikon.
The function and use of Praenestine cistae are still unresolved questions. We can safely say that they were used as funerary objects to accompany the deceased into the next world. It has also been suggested that they were used as containers for toiletries, like a beauty case. Some contained tweezers, make-up boxes, mirrors, strigils and sponges. The large size of the Ficoroni cista, however, excludes such a function and points toward a more ritualistic use.

San Nicola in Carcere: one church and three pagan temples.

San Nicola in Carcere (St. Nicholas in Prison) is a medieval church dating back to 1128. Probably an ancient prison was supposedly there.
The dedication to St. Nicholas of Myra comes from the fact that the Greek community that venerated the saint occupied the area.
It was remodelled in 1599 by Giacomo della Porta who designed the façade. The bell tower is the fortified tower of the Pierleoni family who occupied this area in the eleventh century. One of the bells is still the one commissioned by Pandolfo Savelli in 1289.
The church occupies the site of three Republican temples in the Forum Holitorium (the ancient Roman fruit and vegetable market) supposedly dedicated to Janus, Juno Sospita and Spes. Remains are incorporated in the walls of church.
In the interior we can admire fine ancient columns from the temples. The Roman remains beneath the church can sometimes be visited: in a medieval burial ground the podiums of the three temples can still be seen and two narrow lanes that separated them.
The church is home to the cult of Mary: Our Lady of Pompeii and that Mexican Our Lady of Guadalupe are venerated here.