Tuesday, January 9, 2018

PIUS GATE

PORTA PIA
1561/65 by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564) for Pius IV Medici (1559/65), after the ancient NOMENTANA GATE of the Aurelian Walls at 75 m (246 feet) away, under which passed the ancient VIA NOMENTANA, had been walled up
Completed after Michelangelo's death by his followers Matteo Bartolani da Città di Castello (about 1527/about 1598) and Jacopo Del Duca (about 1520/1604)
“Coat of arms of Pius IV Medici” by Jacopo Del Duca with “Angels” by Nardo De Rossi, restored by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82)
The tools for barbers stylized in the decoration probably recall the profession of the Milanese family of Pius IV, namesake of the Florentine bankers
The marble was taken from the revetment of the Torre dei Conti, which in turn was taken from the Imperial Fora 
“Compared to the shrine of the Medici Chapel dating back some 40 years earlier, Michelangelo's forms have become even more complex, such as, for example, inserting a curved broken pediment in a triangular uninterrupted pediment. At the same time he shows great interest for the contrasts of texture in the composition, expressed in the smooth wall surfaces of the central part and the rough masonry of the side spans. The inventiveness he shows with the blind windows would be taken up and further developed by the seventeenth-century architects, such as Bernini and Borromini, who will owe a lot to the Roman works of Michelangelo” (Peter Murray)
1853/69 Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) who apparently was inspired by an engraving of 1568 that had to be close enough to the original plan by Michelangelo
In the niches “Statues of Sts. Agnes and Alexander” by Francesco Amadori (active in Rome 1836/67), placed by Vespignani at the will of Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) who wanted to remember the danger caused by the collapse of the roof's courtroom in the complex of St. Agnes, when he had visited it in 1855
The statues were damaged by shelling in 1870 and relocated here in 1929
During the skirmish on September 20, 1870 49 Italian Bersaglieri and 19 Papal soldiers were killed
In the rooms formerly used as Customs House there is the small
Historical Museum of the Bersaglieri
The Bersaglieri are a specialty corps of the Italian Army Infantry, famous for the plumed hat and to be the only military force in the world that in parades performs running and playing the trumpet
The corps was established in 1836 by Carlo Alberto of Savoy on the proposal of captain Alessandro La Marmora
The museum is currently closed for restoration
COURTYARD
Busts of the most distinguished representatives of the Bersaglieri Corps including the “Bust of Enrico Toti (1882/1916)”, a young Roman invalid (he had a leg amputated at the pelvis) who, despite his disability, volunteered for the First World War and was killed after he hurled his crutch against the enemy
LA MARMORA ROOM
“Bust of Alessandro La Marmora” founder of the Bersaglieri Corps and two rifles that he himself had invented
HALL OF HONOR
Various relics including the “Original Proposition” written by La Marmora himself to get from King Carlo Alberto the establishment of the corps
MEMORIAL
Dedicated to the more than 100,000 dead of the Bersaglieri
Saber of Alessandro La Marmora and his portrait
FIRST FLOOR
Memorabilia, documents and memories of the campaigns of the Risorgimento from 1848 to 1866
THREE ROOMS IN THE UPPER FLOOR OF THE SOUTH SIDE
Memorabilia relating to the colonial campaigns
FIRST FLOOR OF THE SOUTH SIDE
Memorabilia relating to the First World War, including the gun that killed at 16 hours on November 4, 1918 at Quadrivio di Paradiso (Crossroads of Heaven), the nineteen year old lieutenant Alberto Riva di Villasanta and his riflemen, the last men to die in the war
GROUND FLOOR OF THE SOUTH SIDE
Memorabilia relating to World War II
The museum also houses a HISTORICAL archive and a LIBRARY with material regarding, of course, the Bersaglieri Corps

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