Thursday, November 12, 2020

MARINO

Altitude 360 m (1,181 feet). 37,000 inhabitants

In the area around the city the famous dry white wine Marino is produced

The first settlement here as Castrimoenium dates at least since the end of Sulla’s period (78 BC). It was a wealthy town for most of the imperial period and the center of town was north of Marino, maybe in the area of Villa Galassini

The town was ruled by the Orsini family in the thirteenth century and by the Colonna family since 1419

In 1656 the population was reduced because of a plague and it was repopulated by vassals of Colonna from the Abruzzo region

Mitreo dipinto

Painted Mithraeum

Second half of the second century AD

It was discovered accidentally in 1962 at the foot of the village, near the train station, in a private cellar

Maybe it was a rock-cut cellar reused, 20 x 3 m (66 x 10 feet)

It is a rare example of a painted mithraeum, a temple for the worshippers of Mithras

The only other two known painted mithraea are the Barberini Mithraeum and the one in Capua, but this is the best one for painting quality

On the back wall "Mithras killing the bull"

Two squares on the sides with "The dadofori (torchbearers) Cautes and Cautopates"

Two series of square paintings with mythological stories:

On the left "Giants thunderstruck by Jupiter", "Ocean", "The birth of Mithras from stone", "Mithras dominating the bull"

On the right "Mithras hitting the sun", "Alliance between Mithras and the sun", "Mithras makes water gush from a rock with an arrow"

Fontana dei Mori

Fountain of the Moors

1600 Sergio Venturi in Piazza Matteotti

The four Turkish slaves tied to the column symbolize the victory of Marcantonio Colonna in the waters of Lepanto against the Muslims

It is the symbol of the city of Marino

During the yearly Sagra dell’Uva (Festival of the Grapes) wine comes out of this fountain

Former church of St. Lucia

1180, restored in 1225

One of the first Cistercian buildings of the Lazio region

Now it is the MUSEO CIVICO (Civic Museum) opened in 2000 with exhibits of the prehistorical, Roman and medieval periods as well as many notary deeds from the sixteenth century onwards

Chiesa della Trinità

Trinity Church

"Holy Trinity" maybe by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

Basilica di S. Barnaba

Basilica of St. Barnabas

1640/43 Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79) at the behest of Cardinal Girolamo Colonna

"The work of Antonio Del Grande took off at the service of the Colonna family. He was engaged in all the constructions of buildings commissioned by Cardinal Girolamo, Prince of Paliano and Duke of Marino, heir, from 1639, of the Colonna feuds in the State of the Church. With the works entrusted to his architect in Genazzano, Marino, Paliano, Rocca di Papa, the cardinal consolidated and gave eloquent form to the reunification and the administrative reorganization carried out in the lands of Colonna by his father, Filippo" (Manfredo Tafuri - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

3rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

"Madonna of the People" of the fifteenth century. Image of the Virgin Mary which, according to tradition, would have come from Constantinople

"Baroque monument of Cardinal Girolamo Colonna"

PRESBYTERY

"Martyrdom of St. Barnabas" and "Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew" of the school of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

NICHE ON THE RIGHT

"Monument to Cardinal Girolamo Colonna" by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

Palazzo Colonna

Colonna Palace

About 1530/1620 for the Colonna family from the original design by Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483/1546) executed by other architects including Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655), on the site of the ancient castle of the tenth century

It remained the property of the Colonna family until 1916

Destroyed by the bombing of the Allied Forces during World War Two and rebuilt in 1958

Now it is the town hall

Convent of the Dominican Sisters

It was built in the seventeenth century

It incorporates the CHIESA DELLA MADONNA DEL ROSARIO (Church of Our Lady of the Rosary) built in 1712 by Giuseppe Sardi (1680/1753)

Circular layout with interesting rococo decor

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