PORT OF RIPETTA

PORTO DI RIPETTA

Lungotevere in Augusta - Demolished

1703/05 lost masterpiece by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) built for Clement XI Albani (1700/21)

It was obviously inspirational for Francesco De Sanctis when he conceived the Spanish Steps built in the years 1723/26

During the construction there was an earthquake in Rome which brought down two arches of the second tier of the Colosseum and the fallen blocks were used by Alessandro Specchi as building material for the port

It was unfortunately destroyed at the end of the nineteenth century to build the embankments of the River Tiber

The only remnants are the Fontana dei Navigatori (Fountain of the Navigators) and the two columns that used to adorn the staircase

“In the relatively stagnant climate at the opening of the century Specchi offers a proposal polemic, on one hand, against the official classicism - to which he opposes a revival of Borromini modules - and emblematic, on the other, of the new age for its character of friendly insert in the urban landscape. He solves brilliantly the problem of the connection between the beach and an architectural background not at all uniform: he identifies the major axis in line with the modest façade of the church of St. Jerome, and he engages on it a cylindrical wall which join two flights of descending stairs. Along these there are two extensive sets of stairs, two concave ramps to accommodate those coming from the river. The waving movement of Borromini façades is here transposed on an urban scale to get a perfect interpenetration between architecture and nature, between city and river” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Specchi has crucial importance as the first symptom of the revival of dramatic creative ambitions that characterizes the second and third decades of the century. In his dynamic and open composition there is a bold critique of the eclectic caution of his master Carlo Fontana and a protest against the waste of potential for development implicit in Borromini's inheritance, which in other parts of Europe had otherwise found fertile ground. The composition is related to the one, perhaps suggested by Bernini himself, for the Spanish Steps (...), but in its rigorous research for a plastic or linear continuity reveals a penetrating reading of the last experiences of Borromini, especially the façade of San Carlino. (...) The density of rhythm of Alessandro Specchi was unknown to the more relaxed phrasing of the previous century” (Paolo Portoghesi)

VEROSPI PALACE

PALAZZO VEROSPI

Via del Corso 374

In 1565 the Verospi family bought a house and later the building was expanded and renovated by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655)

Completed in about 1610 by Onorio Longhi (1568/1619) who made courtyard, loggia and gallery

Restored at the beginning of the eighteenth century by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729)

At the end of 1800s it was raised of one floor

On the front there is a plaque commemorating the stay of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792/1822)

The palace belonged in the nineteenth century to the Torlonia family and since 1902 it belongs to the Italian bank CREDITO ITALIANO (now Unicredit)

LOGGIA

Frescos “Apollo and the Gods of Mount Olympus” 1607/08 spectacular masterpiece by Francesco Albani (1578/1660) for Cardinal Fabrizio Verospi

“The feverish knowledge of the almost mythical, to him, Raphael is transformed, because of the obvious imitation of compositional scheme, in the decoration of the gallery of Palazzo Verospi. Francesco Albani there follows the partition wall and the same scenes from the Loggia of Raphael in the Farnesina Villa. But the center rectangle of the vault (between Hesperus and Lucifer, Apollo goes from Spring and Summer to Autumn and Winter to signify the Allegory of Time) is a newer and yet nostalgic temptation to be returned to the ancient flavor of a Hellenistic cameo. Precious memories of culture and classical ardor, steeped in the absolute modernity of a new landscape” (Antonio Boschetto - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

QUIRINAL PALACE (ninth part)

COFFEE HOUSE

1741 Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782)

Two paintings in the room on the mezzanine:

“S. Maria Maggiore” and “Piazza del Quirinale with Palazzo della Consulta” 1742 by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691/1765), a brilliant landscape artist

“It differs from the objective views of Van Wittel for a taste for the theatrical and decorative and for his seemingly casual handling of figurative materials, often arbitrarily combined; but his views nevertheless are widely lucky with foreign travelers: in fact, although they are often invented, they can anyway manage to make alive again the memory of the impact with the grandeur of that historic fabric, the tingle of life, the space and the light of the city” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

Five paintings by Pompeo Batoni (1708/87) in the vault of the green room

Five works by Agostino Masucci (1691/1758) in the turquoise room

SCUDERIE DEL QUIRINALE

Quirinal Stables

Begun 1722 by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) for Innocent XIII Conti (1721/24) and finished in 1730 by Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782) for Clement XII Corsini (1730/40)

Mutilation with removal of the semi-elliptical staircases by Fuga in 1866 by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) to open Via della Dataria

The building was built on the spot where was the glorious Temple of Serapis used to stand. Some of the ancient structures are still visible

In 2000 it was redesigned by Gae Aulenti (1927/2012) as a museum for prestigious temporary exhibitions

GALLO DI ROCCAGIOVINE PALACE

PALAZZO DEL GALLO DI ROCCAGIOVINE

Piazza Farnese 44

1520/27 Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536) for Ugo Spina

Renovated about 1720 by the brilliant Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) for Alessandro Pighini and formerly known as Palazzo Pighini

Since the nineteenth century it is owned by the Gallo di Roccagiovine family still living in the building

A recent restoration has brought back the original sky color typical of many eighteenth-century buildings, unfortunately, often darkened by layers of paint applied in the nineteenth century

In the courtyard there is a spectacular staircase over three floors that the genius of Alessandro Specchi wanted visible and external, breaking with the tradition of noble staircases not visible and internal

DE CAROLIS PALACE

PALAZZO DE CAROLIS

Via del Corso 307

1714/24 Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) for Livio De Carolis bourgeois scion of a wealthy family of merchants of grain who wanted to build his palace next to those of the patrician families

The exorbitant cost of the construction contributed to the ruin of the family who was forced to put the building up for auction

It passed in 1750 to the Jesuits who gave it to rent to famous people

It was from 1769 the French Embassy and with Cardinal François-Joachim de Bernis it was the site of parties and beautiful banquets that gave to the French cardinal the popular nickname of King of Rome

Later it belonged to the Simonetti and Boncompagni Ludovisi families

In 1833 the attic was added and the cornice was modified

The building belongs since 1908 to the BANCA DI ROMA and it was enlarged and adapted by Pio Piacentini (1846/1928). He covered the courtyard that became the hall of the bank and changed some of the rooms in Art Nouveau style

Wonderful SPIRAL STAIRCASE by Alessandro Specchi considered one of the wonders of Rome

On the external left end side “Speaking Statue of a Porter” one of the six of Rome, to which anonymous messages were posted

It dates back to the time of Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) although it is erroneously attributed by popular tradition to Michelangelo Buonarroti

In the courtyard there is a cannonball fired by the French in 1849 embedded in the second floor

The lower stretch of Via del Collegio Romano was named after Alessandro Specchi only in 1980, an incredible delay in making a toponymic tribute to the gigantic but unfortunately underestimated Roman architect

“Citing the close-by Palazzo d'Aste of which it repeats the decorative windows and the corner solution, perhaps at the suggestion of the client who wanted a house clearly inspired by the traditional type of mansion” (Paolo Portoghesi)

Rooms of the first floor with ceilings painted by some of the best painters working in Rome in the early eighteenth century:

GALLERY

Now used as a library

“Triptych Bacchus, Venus and Ceres” by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727)

“Diana and her Companions” by Benedetto Luti (1666/1724)

“Chariot of Apollo with Aurora and Muses” by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721)

HALL OF MINERVA

“Allegory of caste Love with passionate Love represented by Minerva who takes away Youth from Venus and give it to Hercules symbol of strength and virtue” and “Venus and Vulcan” by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746) from Istria

“At age 21 he moved to Rome. Here he studied the works of Carraci, was inspired by Correggio and attended the circle of Carlo Maratta. He had a good success as the representative of Venetian Rococo style. He produced altarpieces with very pathetic tones, but he was also appreciated as a very precise portrait painter and for his vast landscape scenes, which are the background of historical or mythological events” (Consorzio La Venaria Reale - www.lavenaria.it)

“Allegory of the arts and wisdom” by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

“Aurora” by Andrea Procaccini (1671/1734)

More paintings by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742), Ludovico Mazzanti (1686/1775) and Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731)

ALBANI DEL DRAGO PALACE

PALAZZO ALBANI DEL DRAGO

Via Quattro Fontane angolo Via XX Settembre

1587/90 Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) for Muzio Mattei

Completed and extended along Via XX Settembre (known then as Strada Pia) from 1707 onwards by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) for Cardinal Alessandro Albani, with the addition of the lookout tower

In mid-1800 it was acquired by Queen Maria Cristina widow of Ferdinand VII of Spain, and, at her death, by the Prince Del Drago

Now it is the property of the company Servizi Interbancari, provider of Italian credit card services

In the corner of the crossroad of the Four Fountains there is the fountain with a lion representing the Arno River

Frescoes by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691/1765) and Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731)

In a room on the second floor there are frescoes copies of those found in ancient tomb of the Nasonii on Via Flaminia

SAILORS' FOUNTAIN

FONTANA DEI NAVIGATORI

Piazza del Porto di Ripetta

1704 Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729)

Reassembled partially here in 1930 after the construction of the banks of the Tiber at the end of 1800

It was originally part of the structure of the Porto of Ripetta (Little shore port) and the lantern was used as a beacon for sailors

CHURCH OF THE INFANT JESUS

CHIESA DEL BAMBINO GESÙ

Via Urbana 160

1731/36 begun by Carlo Buratti (active from 1694/died after 1734) and completed after his death (1732) by Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782) for Clement XII Corsini (1730/40) and for the Congregation of the Oblates Nurses of the Holy Child Jesus founded in 1671

Magnificent example of eighteenth-century artistic taste

"Fuga's intervention is recognizable in the attic, crowned with a broken pediment and the cross between two torches. (...) the dome divided into eight segments is by Fuga (...). To Fuga are also attributed the presbytery and perhaps even the design of the elegant balustrade. These addictions introduce a refined contrast between the rational rigor of the architectural form and the looseness decorative of details" (Sandra Suatoni)

Restoration and interior decorations 1882 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

There had been a previous project in the years 1708/10 by the great Alessandro Specchi who had begun working on the convent in 1913 designing the church central in the façade and not to the right as it is now

In the vestibule to the right

CHAPEL OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST

1856 juvenile work by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) who later would contribute to decorations and refurbishing of many and important Roman churches

"Wooden statue of Jesus of Nazareth" early 1700s

In the niches "Statues of the four Evangelists" Stefano Galletti (1832/1905) pupil of Pietro Tenerani

In the spandrels "Prophets"

In the dome and vaults "Little angels bearing instruments of the Passion"

On the right "The Kiss of Judas" in 1855 and on the left "Flagellation" 1856 all painted by Francesco Grandi (1831/91) a pupil of Tommaso Minardi

"Grandi uses in the Kiss of Judas strong contrasts of light and shadow denoting a breach of the purists modules of his first training towards neo-Baroque" (Sandra Suatoni)

ON THE RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. AUGUSTINE

"St. Augustine triumphs over heresy" 1736 by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742)

"The Emilian Muratori, along with other fellow painters from the same area (Giacomo Zoboli, Aureliano Milani), represented in the eighteenth century Rome a tradition of Bolognese culture, less successful than the prevailing style of the Maratta followers or 'barocchetto' (late baroque) style. This work belongs to the last period of his activity in large part guided by the recovery of the seventeenth-century representative models of Reni and especially Domenichino" (Sandra Suatoni)

MAIN ALTAR

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by an anonymous nineteenth-century artist (maybe G.B. Gagliardi nephew of Pietro Gagliardi) replacing the canvas of the same subject by Marco Benefial, considered one of his masterpieces, removed in 1883 and now kept in a room of the annexed kindergarten

In the vault "Baby Jesus" and in the spandrels of the dome "Four angels with scrolls" G.B. Gagliardi

ON THE LEFT - ALTAR OF S. ANDREA CORSINI

"Apparition of the Virgin to S. Andrea Corsini" 1783 by Giacomo Zoboli (1681/1767) from Modena for Cardinal Neri Corsini

CONVENT

Begun 1713 by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729), In 1717 Carlo Buratti took over

Completed 1856/58 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911). The Via Cavour wing was completed in the years 1885/93

The priest PIETRO PAPPAGALLO was the spiritual father of the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus here during the Second World War. He gave help and protection to soldiers, partisans and Jews sought by the Nazis and was killed at the Fosse Ardeatine March 24, 1944

His story was revived in the 1945 movie "Roma città aperta" (Rome, open city) by Roberto Rossellini who gave Don Pietro Pappagallo's role to Aldo Fabrizi. Only the scene of his death differs from his history having been inspired by that of Don Giuseppe Morosini shot at Fort Boccea

In 1998 the President of the Republic Ciampi awarded him the gold medal for civil valor. In 2000 John Paul II included him among the martyrs of the church of the twentieth century

A plaque commemorates him to the right of the façade of the church