GIANICOLENSI WALLS

MURA GIANICOLENSI

Viale delle Mura Portuensi/Viale Aurelio Saffi/Viale delle Mura Gianicolensi

1642/44 Marcantonio de Rossi (about 1607/61) military architect, father of the Bernini's assistant architect Mattia De Rossi, together with Domenico Castelli (1582/1657), Giovanni Bonazzini and Giulio Buratti for Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) who entrusted the supervision of the works to Cardinal Vincenzo Maculano da Fiorenzuola

The walls are 3 km (1.9 miles) long, are fitted with twelve bulwarks and include JANICULUM HILL from Porta Cavalleggeri to Porta Portese, incorporating Villa Sciarra, Porta S. Pancrazio and the Promenade of the Janiculum

The bricks of the ancient Aurelian Walls of the Trastevere section were largely used. The ancient walls were destroyed to build the new

They were completed for Innocent X Pamphili (1644/55) with the construction of the current PORTA PORTESE built more to the north of the site of the original gate of the ancient Aurelian Walls

"In Trastevere the new areas of habitation had thickened and important roads had been laid out such as the wide road of St. Francis and the ascent of the Janiculum Hill (now Via Garibaldi), while the slopes of the Janiculum, occupied by an unbroken expanse of gardens extended from St. Peter's Basilica until the river and mansions along Via della Lungara, had become an area full of palaces and villas belonging to members of the papal court. (...) The Barberini walls therefore defined the new urban measure, with its poles, its emerging centralities and its network of connections no longer coinciding with the ancient one" (Daniela Fonti)

FOUNTAIN OF THE MERMAN

FONTANA DEL TRITONE

Piazza Barberini

1642/43 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) for Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44)

Originally the pressure of the water was stronger and it used to generate a much higher jet than now

Until the end of 1700s, in front of this fountain a macabre spectacle used to take place: the dead bodies of unknown people found in Rome were exposed and a crier would call on the population to recognize them

“He completely abandoned the previous formal treatment. Very far from the elegance of decorative Florentine fountain, this massive structure puts the viewer in front of a full scale sculpture as a natural product. The god of the sea, conch and fish are welded into an organic whole and no one can help but be captivated by the atmosphere of such a fabulous setting” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“The Merman was a symbol of immortality gained through literary studies. This esoteric symbolism is probably connected with the papal coat of arms in the huge tails of the dolphins. Everyone knew that Urban VIII was a good Latin poet, and so the Merman seems to proclaim his poetical immortality. The image is perhaps even more complex because the dolphins were symbols of princely benevolence and the bees of divine providence” (Howard Hibbard)