PALACE OF THE GEOLOGICAL OFFICE

PALAZZO DELL'UFFICIO GEOLOGICO

Largo S. Susanna 13

1873/80 Raffaele Canevari (1828/1900)

“Girders and beams of iron, cast iron columns, bolts and studs in sight. Raffaele Canevari, engineer, used these new materials for their functionality and transformed them into decorative elements” (Irene de Guttry)

“In this work, totally his own, which is undoubtedly his best architectural job, the technical and structural innovations and the ruthlessness of the formal language make the building comparable to contemporary European examples, freed, as it appears, of academic weight” (Guido Miano - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Institution founded in Florence in 1869 and moved to Rome in 1873 to complete the geological Italian map

In 1960 the Geological Office became the organ of the state mapping for geological and geothematic mapping

In 1976 the official geological coverage of the national territory in scale of 1:100,000 was completed

In 2002 the Geological Survey merged in the Agenzia per la Protezione dell'Ambiente e per i Servizi Tecnici (Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services) (APAT, later ISPRA), representing mainly the Dipartimento per la Difesa del Suolo (Department for the Defense of the Soil)

In 2002 during renovation works in the basement of the building a section of the original Servian Walls in blocks of cappellaccio stone was found, proof that their dating can be fixed without a doubt to the mid-sixth century BC

For the reconstruction of the walls in 378 BC Grotta Oscura tufa was used instead

GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Collection of about 150,000 artifacts accumulated in about 140 years of life of the institution: marbles and paleontological materials with specialized library and laboratory for analysis of minerals and rocks

The museum and the whole building have been lying for years in conditions of extreme neglect for the disgusting inefficiency or willful misconduct of the public administration that has dismantled the museum for a renovation that never happened, despite two governments have allocated public money to complete it. Another disgrace of the caste which sadly administers Italy

In front of the palace

Small section of the Servian Walls dating to 378 BC

Monument “Janus in the heart of Rome” 1997 by Pietro Consagra (1920)

ANTONELLI PALACE

PALAZZO ANTONELLI

Largo Magnanapoli 158

Built in the sixteenth century. The exact date and the name of the architect are unknown

Renovated 1854/69 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, who never actually lived here, preferring his other palace on Via di Monserrato now known as Palazzo Capponi Antonelli

It was used to store the valuable and rare collection of sixteenth century precious stones owned by the family

It was also renovated in 1875 for the opening of Via Nazionale when the garden ended up being wiped out

Now there are offices of the Bank of Italy, which owns the property

At the end of the atrium there is a section of the Servian Wall dating back to 378 BC with an arch of tufa blocks forming part of a room for ballistic catapults

SERVIAN WALLS

MURA SERVIANE

(Piazza dei Cinquecento/Piazza Albania/Piazza Manfredo Fanti)

Attributed by tradition to Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome, who probably built in the first half of the sixth century BC a ring of walls of which traces in cappellaccio stone still remain

Most of the wall still visible today, however, dates back to the first half of the fourth century BC. Livy writes that in 378 BC the censors of that year contracted the construction of a new wall to prevent further looting after the occupation of the Gauls in 390 BC. The wall was built of tufa stone from the quarries of Grotta Oscura accessible after the conquest of Veii of 396 BC

Restorations in the years 353, 212, and 87 BC

About 10 m (33 feet) high and over 4 meters (13 feet) thick in some spots

Total length was 11 km (6.8 miles), encompassing an area of 4.26 km² (1.6 square mile)

Although the area was not completely occupied, it was the largest town on the Italian peninsula

The LONGER SECTIONS STILL EXTANT ARE:

Two in Piazza dei Cinquecento, one 30 m (98 feet) long near the Diocletian Baths and one 94 m (308 feet) long by the front of Termini Station

Piazza Albania, 42 m (138 feet)

Piazza Manfredo Fanti, 23 m (75 feet)

THE SEVENTEEN GATES

Porta Catularia

It was located near the bottom of the steps of Capitoline Hill

Porta Fontinalis

Visible traces surrounded by flower beds in front of the Museum of the Risorgimento. It was the main gate to the north

Porta Sanqualis

Visible traces of the north side of the door in the center of Largo Magnanapoli

Porta Salutaris

Via the Dataria where the Temple of Salus used to be

Porta Quirinalis

Via Quattro Fontane, where the Temple of Quirinus used to be

Porta Collina

It was located at the northeast corner of the former Palace of the Ministry of Finance, at the intersection of Via XX Settembre and Via Goito. The remains found during construction of the Palace of the Ministry of Finance were demolished after being cataloged

From here the AGGER began, a fortified stretch of the wall more than 1,300 m (4,265 feet) long and 36 m (118 feet) wide, with a moat of 17 m (55 feet), which began at the Porta Collina and ended at Porta Esquilina. It was necessary in a vulnerable section of the wall where it was not possible to exploit the hillsides

Porta Viminalis

At the center of the agger, which corresponds to the current Piazza dei Cinquecento

Porta Esquiline

Still existing and known as the ARCH OF GALLIENUS. From here the Labicana and Tiburtina Ways exited as a single road, only to separate immediately after

Porta Querquetulana

Corresponding to the church of Ss. Quattro Coronati, or, according to a recent research, to the church of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter

Porta Celimontana

Still existing and known as the ARCH OF DOLABELLA 

Porta Capena

Close to the short South East side of the Circus Maximus. From here the Appian Way and Latina Way exited as a single road, only to separate immediately after

Porta Naevia

Close to the church of S. Balbina on the small Aventine Hill

Porta Raudusculana

Viale Aventino near Piazza Albania

There is a section of the walls 42 m (138 feet) long with twelve layers of blocks of tufa and the arc of a room for artillery

A little further on another stretch 43 m (141 feet) long from which came the Vicus Piscinae Publicae corresponding to today's Viale Aventino

Porta Lavernalis

To the south of the Aventine Hill, at Via Marmorata

Porta Trigemina

Corresponding to S. Mary Cosmedin

Porta Flumentana

Corresponding to the Temple of Portunus

Porta Carmentalis

Corresponding to the sacred area of S. Omobono

BASILICA OF St. SABINA AT THE AVENTINE HILL

BASILICA S. SABINA

Piazza Pietro d'Illiria

Begun by Peter of Illyria in 425 under Pope Celestine I (422/432) on a Titulus Sabinae maybe built in the house of a matron of the same name of the unlikely Umbrian saint martyr under Hadrian

It is the most perfect type of Christian basilica of the fifth century

Completed by Sixtus III (432/440)

Restored by Leo III (795/816)

Enriched by Eugene II (824/827)

RESTORATIONS: 1441, 1481, 1587 Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) on behalf of Pope Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90), 1643 Francesco Borromini (1599/1667), 1914/19 and 1936/37 Antonio Muñoz (1884/1960) who brought it to its original form by removing Fontana's overlays

In the SQUARE mask of St. Sabina" moved here in 1937 from the Roman Forum where it used to stand over the enormous granite basin now in front of the Palazzo del Quirinale

St. Dominic de Guzmán (1170/1221) lived and worked here

In the cloister there is a tree of sweet oranges, which according to tradition, St. Dominic brought from Spain. It is visible from the church through a hole in the wall, protected by glass, in front of the wooden portal. It is considered a miracolous tree because it has continued to bear fruits through other trees born from the original

Legend has it that the five candied oranges donated by St. Catherine to Pope Urban VI (1378/89) in 1379, had been taken by the saint from this plant

To the left of the front door there is a "Round black stone on a spiral column": this is called Lapis Diaboli, i.e., devil stone, because according to legend it was thrown by the devil against St. Dominic in prayer but it hit and shattered a marble slab covering the bones of several martyrs

In fact, the marble slab was broken by Domenico Fontana during the 1587 restoration to move the burial place of the martyrs. He threw away the pieces, later recovered and put back together, and now visible in the middle of the choir

ATRIUM

Portal frame with classical marble frame and sensational "Cypress wood doors" about 450:

Twenty-eight frames in relief (ten were lost) restored in 1836 with parallelism between Moses (the Law) and Christ (the Gospel). The "Crucifixion" with open eyes and without a halo is one of the first visual representations of the Crucifixion existing in the world

In the panel with the "Passage of the Red Sea" the restorer replaced the face of the pharaoh who drowned with that of Napoleon

COUNTER FAÇADE

Only remnant of the mosaics dating back to about 435 with the "Metric inscription" written using the beautiful monumental Philocalian capital font mentioning the Council of Ephesus in 431 maybe by Paulinus of Nola, flanked by two female figures representing the "Ecclesia ex Gentibus" (church of the Gentiles, not Jewish) and the "Ecclesia ex Circumcisione" (church of the Jewish)

The Philocalian capital font was devised by the calligrapher Furius Dyonisius Philocalus also author of the oldest Roman calendar of the Church, the Roman Chronograph of 354

TWENTY-FOUR MARBLE COLUMNS maybe from the nearby TEMPLE OF JUNO REGINA

On top and to the sides of the arches most precious "Frieze in opus sectile (inlaid marble)" fifth or sixth century

In the FLOOR "Tombstone of Brother Muñoz Zamora" who died in 1300

RIGHT NAVE

"Pillar" of the pre-existing building embedded in the wall 

CHAPEL OF St. HYACINTH

Vault "Triumph of St. Hyacinth" and walls "Stories of St. Hyacinth" Federico Zuccari (about 1542/1609)

On the altar "Virgin and St. Hyacinth" 1600 Lavinia Fontana (1552/1614)

FURTHER ON, IN THE RIGHT NAVE

"Tomb of Cardinal Auxia" 1484 by an artist of the school of Andrea Bregno (1418/1503)

PRESBYTERY

APSE

"Christ on the mountain surrounded by the apostles" 1560 by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66), restored in 1836 by Vincenzo Camuccini (1771/1844). It repeats the theme of the lost ancient mosaic

LEFT NAVE

CHAPEL D'ELCI or CHAPEL OF St. CATHERINE

1671 G.B. Contini (1641/1723)

On the altar copy of "Madonna of the Rosary with St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena" 1643 by G.B. Salvi aka Sassoferrato (1609/85) now in the Dominican Museum

In the pendentives "Stories of St. Catherine" and in the vault "Triumph of St. Catherine" by Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS

In the area north of the church next to the garden remains have been found in cappellaccio stone of the SERVIAN WALLS of the half of the sixth century BC above which tufa stone boulders of Grotta Oscura were stacked when the walls were rebuilt in 378 BC

Both types of material are visible here and are archaeological evidence that can be attached to the written sources describing Rome in the sixth century BC as a huge city with a wall of 11 km (6.8 miles). The walls included an area of 4.26 km ² (1.6 square mile)

AUDITORIUM OF MAECENAS

AUDITORIUM DI MECENATE

Largo Leopardi 2

End of the first century BC. It was discovered in 1874

Vestibule and rectangular hall with an apse, erroneously considered an auditorium

It was perhaps a summer nympheum-triclinium, a sort of fresh room with a fountain to be used in the hot summer months, as part of the complex of the HORTI MAECENATIANI belonging to Maecenas (68/8 BC), adviser of Augustus

Wealthy supporter of intellectuals and poets, including Horace, Virgil and Propertius. Dio Cassius reports that he invented a system of shorthand

The Auditorium was built in opus reticulatum on the inner embankment of the Servian Wall

"Mosaic floor" in white tiles on which a marble floor was superimposed

Remains of painted decoration with "Landscapes and Gardens" of the first century AD in the third style similar to those of the Villa ad Gallinas Albas now in Palazzo Massimo