CAMPIDOGLIO
SQUARE and PALAZZO SENATORIO |
"THE
HISTORY"
MARCO
AURELIO'S ESTATUE |
Campidoglio
hill is probably the older sacre place of Rome as here there was
the Jove's templum, center of antique Rome, linked to the Roman
Forum through a small path as nowadays is. Some parts of this
templum are still visible and archeologists assumed that it should
have been at least as big as the Pantheon. For centuries Capitolium
has been the center of the Roman power becoming the word par excellence
to define the most important city of a state that is capital.
Here the fathers of the Roman monarchy and of the following Republic
used to come for discussing of projects of wars and new laws.
The Palazzo Senatorio that arises in front of the Cordonata stair
was once the Senatus seat as well as today is the town council
seat. Here Francesco Petrarca received the laurel in 1250 for
his poetry and here Michelangelo shown his architectural genius
when Pope Paolo III Farnese asked to him a new project in occasion
of the visit of emperor Carlo V in 1536. The sacre place, once
center of the ancient Rome, was in that time in ashamed conditions.
|
CAMPIDOGLIO
SQUARE |
"THE
PROJECT"
CAMPIDOGLIO
SQUARE |
Michelangelo
suggested to build the beautiful Cordonata Stair leading to the
square and a third Palace, Palazzo Nuovo, to enclose the space
of the square between three magnificent buildings. The floor of
the square was also drawn by Michelangelo and has a prevailing
role in its prospectical element. In the center it was placed
the Emperor Marco Aurelio's equestrian estatue now kept inside
the Palazzo Nuovo and substituted with a copy visible today. The
entire square is oriented toward San Pietro's Square to testify
a link between religious and legislative powers. Many estatues
embellish the area such as the ones of Castore and Polluce or
the Cola di Rienzo's estatue placed at the bottom of the Cordonata.
The project was finished only after Michelangelo's death but following
his original drawnings. Nowadays, Palazzo Nuovo and Palazzo dei
Conservatori host the Musei Capitolini, the first public museum
of the history opened in 1734, a real must of every visit to Rome.
Close to Campidoglio is possible to visit several places of interest
such as the adjoining Santa Maria in Aracoeli Church and its stair
built in 1348, Palazzo Venezia Museum that keeps an important
paintings collection, Vittorio Emanuele's Monument, and the Rupe
Tarpea where all traitors were put to death by throwing them into
the precipice. |