MARCELLUS THEATER

TEATRO MARCELLO
Via del Teatro Marcello

Begun by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus (27 BC/14)

Probably completed in 17 BC when it was used for the so called secular games, but the dedication took place only in 13 or in 11 BC, when it was named after Marcellus (42/23 BC), nephew and son-in-law of Augustus who died at age 19
Marcellus was the son of Augustus' sister, Octavia, and the husband of the daughter of Augustus, Giulia

The theater was built on the site where the provisional theater used to be erected in the Republican period

In order to build the theater two temples were destroyed, maybe the TEMPLE OF PIETAS and the TEMPLE OF DIANA later reconstructed at the center of a large exedra behind the stage

In 23 BC Vespasian (69/79) restored the stage

Capacity of about 15,000/20,000 spectators
Originally the height was about 32.60 m (107 feet), the current height is about 20 m (65 feet)

Palazzo Orsini Savelli

Orsini Savelli Palace

Structure built above the Theater of Marcellus since the Middle Ages for the Pierleoni family, Jews converted to Christianity, one of whom became antipope with the name of Anacleto II (1131/38) in opposition to Innocent II Papareschi (1130/1143)

This happened during the period of the turf war between the Pierleoni and the Frangipane families, the most powerful ones in Rome at the time

The presence here of the Pierleonis was perhaps the reason why many Jews were forced to move from the Trastevere neighborhood to this area, which later became the Jewish Ghetto

Current building 1523/27 by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536) for the Savelli family. The line of the family ended in the eighteenth century
The palace was sold to the Orsini family in 1716 and it was finally divided into luxury apartments

St. PETER IN MONTORIO

S. PIETRO IN MONTORIO
Piazza S. Pietro in Montorio 2

Originally built maybe in the eleventh century
Mentioned by the sources in the twelfth century
It was built on the site where St. Peter was believed to have been killed, halfway between the Meta Romuli (Via della Conciliazione) and the Meta Remi (Pyramid of Cestius)

Rebuilt in the years 1481/1500 maybe by Baccio Pontelli (about 1450/92) for the Spanish King Ferdinand II of Aragon

The two ramps in front of the FAÇADE were added in 1605

Restored after the damage of the French bombardment of 1849 (in 1995 it has been embedded in a wall outside a cannonball fired by the French) and restored again in 1957 and 1963

ON THE LEFT AFTER THE ENTRANCE
“Monument of Giuliano da Volterra” 1510 by artists of the school of Andrea Bregno (1418/1503)

1^st RIGHT - BORGHERINI CHAPEL
Above the altar “Flagellation of Jesus” with on the sides “St. Francis of Assisi” and “St. Peter” 1518 by Sebastiano Luciani aka Sebastiano Del Piombo (1485/1547), maybe from a design by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564)
In the apsidal basin “Ascension” and outside the arc “Prophets” also by Sebastiano Del Piombo

“Several works by Sebastiano Del Piombo were made on the basis of drawings by Michelangelo, or under his influence. Gorgeous single figures, groups often well-drawn (as in the Flagellation in S. Pietro in Montorio, and colors tones a bit dark even if with a sensitivity always typically Venetian, combined with beautiful atmospheric scenery, but never the creations of a free and radiant genius. Occasionally, however, there is a certain tragic force, a lean greatness, reflecting the intimate bond of the Venetian painter with the spirit of Rome” (Hermann Voss)

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Above the altar “Madonna of the Letter” by Niccolò Circignani aka Pomarancio (about 1520/98)
In the apse frescoes “Coronation of the Virgin” maybe by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536)

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
“Presentation in the Temple”, “Immaculate Conception” and “Annunciation” by Michelangelo Cerruti (1663/1748)
On the external arch “Sibyls” maybe by Baldassare Peruzzi

4^th CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Ceiling frescoed by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74). On the left there is a self-portrait of Vasari in a black dress

5^th RIGHT - DEL MONTE CHAPEL
1552 by Giorgio Vasari, by whom is also the altarpiece with “St. Paul and Ananias”

“It's one of the few scenes deeply felt by Vasari. The figure of Paul, struck by blindness and rescued by Ananias, has something touching and extraordinarily great in his complete annihilation. (...) The background consists of a row of columns in a semi-circle that goes in depth, a valid ingenious pattern, cleverly exploited. It is instead comic the bunch of people with no specific function wandering in the background in front of the row of columns, with the sole purpose of enriching the scene” (Hermann Voss)

On the sides “Funerary monuments of Antonio and Fabiano Del Monte”, statues “Justice”, “Religion” and cherubs on the balustrade by the Florentine Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511/92)

MAIN ALTAR
The steps in front of the altar are conventionally regarded as the burial place of Beatrice Cenci
She was actually buried somewhere in this church but without inscription, as was common for anybody who had been executed

In the LEFT NAVE are buried very important Irish men of political and military significance of the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century:
Hugh, Baron of Dungannon (d. 1609), eldest son of Hugh O'Neill, The O'Neill, second earl of Tyrone
A single grave shared by Rory O'Donnell (1575/1608), first Earl of Tyrconnell, and his brother Cathbharr (1583/1609), both younger brothers of Red Hugh O'Donnell
They fled from Ireland in 1607 and died in Rome as well as the more famous Hugh O'Neill (about 1550/1616) leader in the Nine Years War (1594/1603) or Tyrone Rebellion fought between the Gaelic Irish forces against the English government of Elizabeth I in Ireland

APSE
“Crucifixion of St. Peter” copy by Vincenzo Camuccini (1771/1844) from the original by Guido Reni

5^th CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Designed by Daniele da Volterra (1509/66)
Above the altar “Baptism of Jesus” 1568 and frescoes maybe by Giulio Mazzoni (about 1525/after 1589)
“Statues of Sts. Peter and Paul” and balustrade by Leonardo Sormani (before 1530/after 1589)

4^th LEFT - MUTI CHAPEL
“Deposition” 1617 and “Christ Carrying the Cross” by Dirk Van Baburen (about 1595/1624)
Three paintings “Stories of Christ” by David de Haen (1585/1622)
Stuccos by Stefano Maderno (1560/1636)

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “St. Anne sitting in a throne with the Virgin Mary and Child” and other frescoes by an unknown pupil of Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508)

2^nd LEFT - RAYMONDI CHAPEL
1640/47, first example of MARAVIGLIOSO COMPOSTO (marvelous compound) first experiment with hidden light shining on sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) for the Marquis Marcello Raymondi
Above the altar bas-relief “Ecstasy of St. Francis” a masterpiece by Francesco Baratta (about 1590/about 1663)
On the sides “Funerary Monuments of Girolamo Raymondi and Francesco Raymondi“ by Andrea Bolgi (1606/56)

“The tendency to execute works as a group with an artist primus inter pares (first among equal) typical of the period 1585/1621 was reversed under Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44). Chapels as the Raymondi and Cornaro absolutely show the imprint of Bernini; employees were assistants rather than autonomous artists” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“The role of the viewer is mediated by the busts on the side walls of the tombs overlooking the scene from small balconies, speakers' balconies reserved in churches for important personalities, and that, in the case of the chapels by Bernini, are often mistaken by art historians as theater boxes, architectural elements which at the time did not yet exist” (Francesco Galluzzi)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “Stigmata of St. Francis” and other paintings by Giovanni De Vecchi (about 1537/1615)

SPANISH ACADEMY OF HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY AND FINE ARTS
It is housed in a wing of the convent 
Lunettes “Stories of St. Francis” maybe by Niccolò Circignani aka Pomarancio (about 1520/98)

Tempietto di Bramante

Small Temple by Bramante

Masterpiece probably built in the years 1502/07 by Donato Bramante (1444/1514)
In 1605 the roof was modified
In 1628 Gian Lorenzo Bernini changed the crypt

“The architectural elements are systematically drawn from the vocabulary of ancient architecture, according to choices not guided by subjective aesthetic preferences of the artist, but by a strict organizational and symbolic logic: the classical round peripteral temple is quoted in the body of the building, in absolute eurhythmy and syntactic coherence of the various elements of the building that is a symbol of universal harmony. But the metaphysical ideas and the historical dignity of the classical language are loaded here with further religious and political meanings: built to commemorate the Crucifixion of the Apostle founder of the Church of Rome, it celebrates, at the same time, the universal authority of the city of Rome already established by the ancients, and affirms the universality of the architecture of the Renaissance” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
“Bramante is one of the most powerful and original personality of the Renaissance. He was part in Milan of the Lombard tradition imbued of late-Gothic and Tuscan elements, but he overcame it soon for his keen sense of monumentality achieved through the unified rhythm and articulation of architectural masses, modeled with a refined sensibility for coloristic and atmospheric values. This tendency of his for wide and serene breathing space, of which one can find significant advances in the Mantua buildings by Leon Battista Alberti, deepens, in Rome, as the artist is confronted with the classical buildings intensely studied by him and culminates in the Temple of S. Pietro in Montorio, and especially in the new church of St. Peter in the Vatican. Deep has been the influence exercised by Bramante on the architecture of his time; to him is especially connected the art of Sansovino, Sanmicheli and Palladio” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

MASSIMO DECORATED PALACE

PALAZZO MASSIMO ISTORIATO

Piazza dei Massimi 2/Corso Vittorio Emanuele 151

1532/36 Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536) for Angelo Massimo

He built it on a preexisting building at the same time of the adjacent Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne

Also known as PALAZZO MASSIMO DI PIRRO for a statue of Mars found here and incorrectly believed to be an image of Pyrrhus

1877 restored by Luigi Fontana (1827/1908)

On the FAÇADE ON PIAZZA DEI MASSIMI paintings in monochrome “Stories from the Old and New Testament” 1523 maybe of the school of Daniele da Volterra (1509/66) for the marriage of Angelo Massimo

In the palace there was since 1467 the printing of Arnold Pannartz and Conrad Schweynheim, the first ever in Rome

“Some considerations lead rather to recognize it in a house that the Massimo brothers had in the immediate vicinity of Campo de' Fiori, along the Via Mercatoria, obligatory point of passage for Romans and foreigners, and therefore very suitable place for the sale of books produced in series. This same house - a sign of continuity in the use of places for both production and for sale - housed in all likelihood, after Sweynheym and Pannartz two other typographical workshops: the one of Eucario Silber and that of Antonio Blado, located «in field Florae in aedibus Iohannis Baptistae de Maximis»“ (Anna Modigliani - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

In front of the building in Piazza dei Massimi COLUMN OF THE ODEON OF DOMITIAN found in 1937 and moved here in 1950

MASSIMO AT THE COLUMNS PALACE

PALAZZO MASSIMO ALLE COLONNE

Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 145

1159, formerly known as Palazzo del Portico (Palace of the Portico) and part of the houses of the Massimo family

It was built over the ruins of the auditorium of the ODEON OF DOMITIAN (81/96), theater with 10,000 seats south of the Stadium of Domitian (Piazza Navona) used for music competitions that were part of the Certamen Capitolinum

1532/36 rebuilt by Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536) of whom is the architectural masterpiece

The building is still owned by the Massimo family one of the oldest in Rome, legendarily connected to Quintus Fabius Maximus the delayer, but historically documented “only” from the year 999

PORTICO

Beautiful ceiling with wonderful portal that leads into the VESTIBULE with stuccos

Two narrow courtyards that allow light to reach even the lower floors, with sculptures and archaeological finds, including a “Venus Anadyomene”

LOGGIA

Wooden ceiling with stuccos maybe by Baldassarre Peruzzi or Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

ENTRANCE HALL

Frieze “Stories of Fabius Maximus” by Daniele da Volterra (1509/66)

TAPESTRY ROOM

Flemish tapestries and frieze of Baldassarre Peruzzi

RED SALON

Frieze painted with scenes of the “Foundation of Rome” by Giulio Pippi aka Giulio Romano (1499/1546)

In addition heavenly hall and reception room

CHAPEL OF St. PHILIP NERI

On the second floor

Here St. Philip Neri (1515/95) on the 16^th of March 1583 resurrected for a short time the fourteen year old Paolo son of Fabrizio Massimo. After he confessed, he asked to die to join her sister who had died a few days before, so St. Philip Neri blessed him and Paul died again

Every March 16^th a religious ceremony takes place here and the building is open to all

“Miracle of St. Philip” by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)

FARNESINA PALACE ON VIA DEI BAULLARI (first part)

PALAZZO DELLA FARNESINA AI BAULLARI

Via dei Baullari/Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 168

1522/23. The correct name would be Palazzetto Le Roy (Small Palace Le Roy) but it is also known as Piccola Farnesina

We do not know who built it, maybe Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536), for the Breton prelate Thomas Le Roy (De Regis in Latin) who died before the completion of the work

The lilies of France in the first floor markers were mistaken for the lilies of the Farnese family and this was the cause of the incorrect name of the building that has absolutely nothing to do with the Farnese. Le Roy was allowed to use them because of his mediation between Pope Leo X Medici (1513/21) and King Francis I of France

From 1671 to early 1800 it belonged to the Silvestri family

In 1885 it was purchased by the City of Rome

1898/1904 Enrico Guj (1841/1905) changed it with the new FAÇADE ON CORSO VITTORIO EMANUELE II, which caused the demolition of one quarter of the building

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

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (tenth part)

Room XI - Raphael's Influence

Vault: “Scene of Genesis with God calling upon Adam and Eve to grow and multiply” about 1612 by Antonio Viviani aka il Sordo

“Lamentation over the Dead Christ with St. Paul and a Donor” and “Lamentation” by Giacomo Raibolini aka Giacomo Francia (1486/1557) son of the more famous Francesco Francia

“Marriage of the Virgin Mary” 1526 by Vincenzo Tamagni (about 1492/1530)

“The Holy Family with St. John” by Innocenzo da Imola (about 1484/1550)

Sculpture “Eros and Anteros” by Pierino da Vinci (about 1530/53) with the two sons of Venus, representing the carnal and the spiritual love

Room XII - Raphael

Vault: “Three angels appear to Abraham announcing the pregnancy of Sarah” about 1612 Antonio Viviani aka il Sordo

“Fornarina” 1520 by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483/1520) perhaps Margherita Luti, a baker's daughter of Trastevere

“No portrait is superior to the portraits of Raphael, faithful rendering of bodily and spiritual qualities. And they are faithful to the literal truth, remarked in a most ruthless light, but rebuilt with intellectual and artistic energy, to be placed, in such genre, between the constellations” (Bernard Berenson)

“Madonna and Child,” by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

Panels with allegories “Pandora opens the jar of defects and Minerva reproaching Cupid” and “Madonna with Child” about 1523 by Giulio Pippi aka Giulio Romano (1499/1546)

It is also known as Madonna Hertz because it was donated to the Gallery by Henrietta Hertz in 1915

“Because of some similarity with the Fornarina, it is assumed that the young girl loved by Raphael has been portrayed here in the likeness of the Virgin Mary. Unlike the master from Urbino, however, Giulio Romano shows a female figure drawn with less pronounced and gentler features, by introducing stylistic elements that are typical of the early Mannerism. As evidence of a new and subjective interpretation of the artist, the background of the sacred scene is a domestic, simple and intimate ambience, where one can see many fine details and, in the gloom beyond the door, the candor of a little dove” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Ceres” about 1512 maybe by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536)

“Triptych with the Entombment of Christ” by the Dutchman Maarten van Heemskerck (1498/1574)

He lived in Rome during the years 1532/36 documenting with accurate drawings the Roman monuments and ruins

SPADA SMALL PALACE

PALAZZETTO SPADA

Via Capo di Ferro 7

About 1540 maybe by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536) for Tiberio and Domenico Capodiferro

It was renovated in about 1567

In 1632 it was bought by the Spada family

PORTAL maybe by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606)

OSSOLI SMALL PALACE

PALAZZETTO OSSOLI

Piazza della Quercia 1

About 1525 maybe by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536) for Giordano Missini from Orvieto

It was bought in 1674 by the Ossoli family and, in the second half of 1700s, by the Soderini family

The fourth floor above the cornice was added in modern times

The façade with fountain in front of Palazzo Spada was painted after a design by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) in the years 1648/52

The design by Borromini, over which layers of paint overlapped in three centuries, was restored in 1993

ORATORY OF St. JOHN IN OIL

ORATORIO DI S. GIOVANNI IN OLEO

Via di Porta Latina 17

Maybe a martyrium (building associated with the martyrdom of a saint) of the fifth century where St. John the Evangelist would have been plunged into boiling oil in the year 95 AD

According to tradition, he resisted for so long that was believed to be a powerful wizard. He was then released and exiled to Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelation of the Bible

Renewed 1509 by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536) or Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483/1546) for Julius II Della Rovere (1503/13)

Restored 1658 by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) for Cardinal Francesco Paolucci

The beautiful gable end with palm leaves, lilies and roses globe (the coat of arms of the patron) and cross is a copy in cement of the original in stucco now preserved in the nearby church of S. Giovanni a Porta Latina

INTERIOR

Restored in 1716

Stucco and paintings “Stories of St. John the Evangelist” about 1658/60 by Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703)

“Here Lazzaro Baldi wanted to recover the, by then ancient, classicism of Domenichino as he was depicting an easy, basic story. Nevertheless in the Vision of St. John in Patmos he already implemented the immersion of the figure in an atmospheric space, with a use of the light similar to Pietro da Cortona, something in which he would have succeeded much better between 1660 and 1665 in his masterpiece, the painting of the same subject in St. John Lateran, where he obtained one of the highest results of Pietro da Cortona's school and at the same time he anticipated the plein-air painting typical of much of the eighteenth-century” (Evelina Borea – Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

VAGNUZZI'S HOUSE

CASINA VAGNUZZI

Via Flaminia 118

In the sixteenth century it was called Casino Del Monte as part of the complex of Villa Giulia for Pope Julius III Ciocchi Del Monte (1550/55)

Restored in 1810 by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) for Stanislaus Poniatowski, nephew of the King of Poland, who had bought it in 1807 and sold it in 1822 to his friend Luigi Vagnuzzi

Renovated again in the years 1825/44 by Luigi Canina (1795/1856) for Luigi Vagnuzzi

In 1870 he became an industrial tannery

Since 1939 the mansion and the adjoining park are owned by the Municipality of Rome and it is the seat of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana (Roman Philharmonic Academy) which organizes shows and concerts in the garden

In the porch on the left there are frescoes attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536)

"The residence of Pope Julius III on the slopes of the Parioli Hills was justly celebrated for the variety of buildings, for the breadth and richness of the park, for the collection of ancient sculptures. Dismembered immediately upon the death of his patron and divided among several owners, soon lost its identity. (...) Villa Giulia stretched all the way to the Tiber River, as documented by some maps of the sixteenth century (...), and the current Casina Vagnuzzi was the first building that the pontiff would have faced when, from the Vatican, 'used to go back to his winery'" (Alberta Campitelli – Verdi Delizie; le ville, i giardini, i parchi storici del Comune di Roma)

INTERIOR

On the ground floor ceiling with grotesque and in the center "Meeting of King Solomon with the Queen of Sheba" maybe 1550/55 by an anonymous sixteenth century artist in Raphael style

On the first floor frescoes of the first half of the nineteenth century by Angelo Zecchini