VALLE THEATER

TEATRO VALLE
Via del Teatro Valle 21

1726/27 Tommaso Morelli (active first half of the eighteenth century) for the Marquis Camillo Capranica and for Domenico Valle who, although he was called Valle, did not give the name to the theater, which was named for the place called “alla valle” (on the valley), the ancient STAGNUM AGRIPPAE on which it was built

The original building was made of wood

Restored 1820/22 by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) with the neoclassical FAÇADE and Giuseppe Camporese (1763/1822) who was the project manager
A collapse in the stage, however, made Valadier drop out of favor and he was replaced by Gaspare Salvi (1786/1849)

Here were held premieres of operas by Gioachino Rossini Demetrio e Polibio and Cenerentola (Cinderella), as well as the premieres of four operas by Gaetano Donizetti and various drama works by Gabriele D'Annunzio as well as Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
It is the oldest of the Roman theaters still active

VATICAN MUSEUMS - GALLERY OF THE CANDELABRA (first part)

GALLERIA DEI CANDELABRI
 

Built in 1761 as an open loggia on both sides and closed in the years 1785/88 by Michelangelo Simonetti (1724/87) and Giuseppe Camporese (1763/1822) for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99)

80 m (262 feet) long

It was decorated in the years 1883/87 for Leo XIII Pecci (1878/1903) in the first three bays by the Roman Domenico Torti (XIX century) and Annibale Angelini (1812/84) from Perugia:

In the middle of the vault of the second bay:

“Arts pays homage to Religion” with curious inclusion of the allegory of Photography represented holding an old-fashioned camera

In the side areas:

“Canonization ceremony officiated by Pope Leo XIII”

“Jan Mateiko gives Leo the large painting with Vienna freed by Sobieski”

In the middle of the vault of the third bay:

“Triumph of History”

The remaining bays were painted by the Roman Ludovico Seitz (1844/1908), son of the German Nazarene painter Alexander Maximilian Seitz, who continued the work after the death of Torti and Angelini

In the middle of the vault of the fourth bay:

“St. Thomas Aquinas teaches Philosophy”

“Four ideas from the encyclicals of Leo XIII: Christian Marriage, praise of the Third Franciscan Order, condemnation of Freemasonry and agreement between religious and secular authorities”

In the side areas:

“Agreement between Religion and Science”

“The Rosary and the Battle of Lepanto”

“Union of Pagan and Christian art”

 

“Grace of God expressed in the Sts. Clare of Montefalco, Benedict Labre, Lawrence of Brindisi and G.B. De Rossi”

The spectacular inlaid marble floor has been put together by Luigi Medici, his son Paolo Medici and Giuseppe Rinaldi under the direction of the architect Cav. Mannucci for Leo XIII using marbles found during excavations at the ancient trading port of the Tiber River in Testaccio

The “Coat of arms of Pope Leo XIII” in the middle of the gallery was made using precious lapis lazuli the cost of which in ancient times was comparable to that of gold as the only known mines were those of Sar-e-Sang in Badakhshan, a region of Afghanistan, also mentioned by Marco Polo

The gallery takes its name from the pairs of ancient marble candlesticks placed in the arches

“In the history of collecting and evolution of places for collections, the gallery reflects the shift from humanistic introspection, well represented by the 'private space' of the studiolo (little studio), to the late-Renaissance taste for exposure that results in the creation of a 'public' and representative environment intended to mark a path of self-celebration of the patron. In Italy the galleries were born in the mid-sixteenth century and the first in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to be built was that the one of the maps” (Andrea Pomella)

VATICAN MUSEUMS - ROOM OF THE CHARIOT

SALA DELLA BIGA
 

1786/94 Giuseppe Camporese (1763/1822) with walls covered in Carrara marble

Camporese was a pupil of Pasquale Belli and member of an important family of architects working in Rome and Lazio

At the age of 23 he was appointed papal architect and when a year later, in 1787, Michelangelo Simonetti died, he replaced him as the Chamber Architect of Pius VI

He also designed in the 1786 the ATRIO DEI QUATTRO CANCELLI (Atrium of the four gates) downstairs, which used to be the place of access to the Vatican Museums

In the center “Marble chariot” 1788 by Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734/1818) who adapted and completed the horse on the right and the chariot of the first century AD

The chariot was maybe originally part of a votive offering and it was used as the Episcopal throne in the Basilica of St. Mark

“Five sarcophagi for children” II/III century with cupids racing chariots in the circus

From the right:

“Bearded Dionysus aka Sardanapallos” first century AD from original of the end of the fourth century BC by an artist of Praxiteles' circle

The Greek inscription dates to a later period

“Young Bacchus”

“Statue of naked warrior, maybe Alcibiades”

“Statue of an old Roman man toga-draped and sacrificing” by a Greek artist of the Hadrian's period (117/138 AD) with Roman head first century BC not relevant

“Apollo with the lyre”

“Discus thrower preparing to launch” early imperial period from a bronze original by Nausides, son of Polykleitos of Argos

“Hermes” from an original of the fifth century BC with head not relevant, copy of a portrait of late fifth or early fourth century BC of the Greek strategist Phocion

“Discus thrower throwing the disc” of Hadrian's period from the original by Myron of Eleutherae (about 500/440 BC), from Hadrian's Villa

“Based on a reproduction of the statue with an inscription 'Hyakinthos' in a gem, now preserved in the British Museum, Lippold wanted to acknowledge in the discus thrower the Spartan hero loved by Apollo, whom he accidentally killed while training in the discus throw. The hypothesis, however, more credited nowadays, is Fuchs' according to which the discus thrower would not be a mythical figure, but only a victorious athlete in this event, to whom his polis (city) would have dedicated a statue, according to a widespread custom in Greece” (Brunella Germini)

“Sextus of Chaeronea” stoic and teacher of Marcus Aurelius with head not relevant

Below “Sarcophagus with the contest between Pelops and Oenomaus” about 160

“Charioteer of the Circus”

“Diana huntress”

VATICAN MUSEUMS - PIUS CLEMENTINUS MUSEUM - Introduction

MUSEO PIO-CLEMENTINO

Founded in 1771 by Pope Clement XIV Ganganelli (1769/74) who, like Pius VI Braschi (1775/99) after him, enriched the collection of sculptures begun at the time of Julius II Della Rovere (1503/13) in the Octagonal Courtyard

Clement XIV asked Alessandro Dori (active in Roma since 1744/d. 1772) and, after Dori's death, Michelangelo Simonetti (1724/87) to adapt the premises of the Palace of Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92) which had been built in about 1487 by Giacomo da Pietrasanta

Clement XIV succumbed to Enlightenment and Absolutism in Europe and in 1773 he was virtually forced to suppress the Jesuit Order under the pressure of the European monarchies: maybe it's a coincidence, but no pope chose the name Clement ever again

He was buried first at St. Peter's Basilica and in 1802 his body was moved to the Basilica of the Holy Apostles in a monument by Antonio Canova

Pius VI ordered the construction of new rooms and unfortunately during these works frescoes by Pinturicchio, and Andrea Mantegna were lost

The architects wanted to quote and imitate Roman buildings such as the Pantheon in the Sala Rotonda (Round Room) or thermal rooms in the Sala a Croce Greca (Greek Cross Room)

When Michelangelo Simonetti died in 1787, Pius VI gave the job of finishing the project to Giuseppe Camporese (1763/1822), who reversed the museum route with a new access from the Greek Cross Room. That's why over the portal to the Round Room there is the sign Museum Pium and on the portal to the Square Vestibule there is the sign Museum Clementinum