Santa Maria in Aracoeli and an insula
Santa Maria in Aracoeli and lateral entrance Interior
C.W. Eckersberg ‘Marble Steps leading up to the Santa Maria in Aracoeli’ 1814-1816
Present entrance at Piazza del Campidoglio
Johann Wilhelm Brücke ‘Santa Maria d’Aracoeli’ 1831
Museum Folkwang, Essen
Main altar with the Madonna Madonna ceiling
You’re bound to notice the difference with the stairs we just descended when you’ve reached the top and see the wall of the Santa Maria Aracoeli. The Santa Maria Aracoeli was, of course, built on the foundations of an old temple devoted to a heathen mother goddess (comparable to the Magna Mater Cybele; see Palatine). As the name indicates, the church is also devoted to a mother, namely the Madonna (Aracoeli Madonna). You will see a typical Roman church when we enter.
Santa Maria in Aracoeli nave Aisle
Santa Maria in Aracoeli aisle Cosmaten floor
“In 1571, Santa Maria in Aracoeli hosted the celebrations honoring Marcantonio Colonna after the victorious Battle of Lepanto over the Turkish fleet. Marking this occasion, the compartmented ceiling was gilded and painted (finished 1575), to thank the Blessed Virgin for the victory.” […]
Source: Wikipedia
“Among its numerous treasures are Pinturicchio’s 15th-century frescoes depicting the life of Saint Bernardino of Siena in the Bufalini Chapel, the first chapel on the right. Other features are the wooden ceiling, the inlaid cosmatesque floor, a Transfiguration painted on wood by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, and works by other artists like Pietro Cavallini (of his frescoes only one survives), Benozzo Gozzoli [Donatelo Giovanni Crivelli ], and Giulio Romano.” Source Wikipedia
Pinturicchio ‘Bernardinus of Siena’ Bufalini chapel Bernardinus
Zoom in
At the Bufalini’s family chapel, to the right of the main entrance, you can see frescos by Pinturicchio. We will encounter more work by this artist in the Vatican museum. He painted a fresco cycle about the life of the holy Bernardinus of Siena (Bellini) that mainly depicted the servants of this holy man
Gozzoli ‘Anthony of Padua’ In situ
The third chapel to the left also has a panel by Gozzoli about the St. Antonius of Padua. There is also seen a fragment of a fresco by Pietro Cavallini.
Pietro Cavallini ‘Mary and Child’ In situ
All twenty-two columns that separate the nave from the aisles are different. The third to the left still has the inscription: a cubiculo Augustorum. This indicates that this column likely comes from the emperor’s sleeping quarters.
FELICI DE FREDIS QVI OB PROPRIAS VIRTVTES ET REPERTVM LACOOHONTIS DIVINVM QVOD IN VATICANO CERNIS FERE RESPIRAN(s) SIMVLACR(um) IM(mo)RTALITATEM MERVIT
To Felice Fredi, who earned immortality both for his own merits and for the discovery of the divine, well-nigh breathing effigy of Laocoön that you behold in the Vatican.
One of the tombstones in the Santa Maria in Aracoeli is the one of Felice de Fredis. He was a gardener who, on January 14 1506, encountered a stone vault in his vineyard that was above the famous sculpture the Laocoon (read more about the discovery of the Laocoon and Felice de Fredi? See Rita Volpe and Antonella Parisi).
“The first time I was in Rome when I was very young, the pope was told about the discovery of some very beautiful statues in a vineyard near Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope ordered one of his officers to run and tell Giuliano da Sangallo to go and see them. So he set off immediately. Since Michelangelo Buonarroti was always to be found at our house, my father having summoned him and having assigned him the commission of the pope’s tomb, my father wanted him to come along, too. I joined up with my father and off we went. I climbed down to where the statues were when immediately my father said, “That is the Laocoön, which Pliny mentions.” Then they dug the hole wider so that they could pull the statue out. As soon as it was visible everyone started to draw (or “started to have lunch”), all the while discoursing on ancient things, chatting as well about the ones in Florence. As soon as it was visible everyone started to draw (or “started to have lunch”), all the while discoursing on ancient things, chatting as well about the ones in Florence.” Francesco da Sangallo sixty years after the discovery. Quoted from Wikipedia
“[…] in the case of several works of very great excellence, the number of artists that have been engaged upon them has proved a considerable obstacle to the fame of each, no individual being able to engross the whole of the credit, and it being impossible to award it in due proportion to the names of the several artists combined. Such is the case with the Laocoön, for example, in the palace of the Emperor Titus, a work that may be looked upon as preferable to any other production of the art of painting or of statuary. It is sculptured from a single block, both the main figure as well as the children, and the serpents with their marvellous folds. This group was made in concert by three most eminent artists, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, natives of Rhodes.” Pliny ‘Encyclopedic Natural History’ (XXXVI, 37; 320 – 321)
The discovery sparked immense interest and curiosity in Rome. The discoverer, Felice, even received visitors in his bedroom, where he had temporarily placed the statue for safekeeping. Scholars and prominent figures lined up to view the Laocoön. When the statue was finally transported in a solemn procession to the courtyard of the Belvedere in the Vatican, it attracted a huge crowd. Along the route, curious spectators gathered to catch a glimpse of this extraordinary artwork. Source: Rita Volpe and Antonella Parisi
Santo Bambino Aracoeli Inzoomen Wikipedia
At the back and to the right at the sacristy, there is a separate chapel. This holds the famed and beloved Il Santo Bambino.
This wooden sculpture was carved from a tree from the garden of Gethsemane. The depiction of the child is lined with gold and jewels and stands atop the altar in a glass box. Many letters from around the world adorn the sculpture, which mostly request divine help. On January 6, the night of the Epiphany, the Santo Bambino is placed on the plateau of the Santa Maria Aracoeli for the city’s holy ceremonial blessings. Every year during the Christmas holidays, the sculpture visits children wards in hospitals to provide comfort and possibly even a cure.
“It is custom to gift the Bambino jewellery after miracles or fulfilled prayers. If the patient would heal, the lips of the sculpture would turn a deep-red, otherwise they simply remained pale. Surrounding the Bambino are letters sent to him by people all over the world. The current sculpture is a replica; the original was stolen in 1994. A princess of the Borghese-family tried to steal it in the 18th century. She replaced the doll with a copy, but the following thunderous night, with self-sounding church bells and loud knocks on the door, the sculpture was allegedly found crying on the church steps.” Source: Wikipedia and English
We walk around the back towards the monument that was built for Victor Emanuel II in 1885.
Victor Emanuel II monument Side
We have a look behind the colonnade of this ‘wedding cake’ or ‘typewriter’ as this huge white marble construction from Brescia is often called in jest. If we descend down the steps of the cordonato and take a right turn towards the Via dei Foro Imperiale, we see the remnants of a Roman apartment building, a so called insulae (click here for Wikipedia).
The Via dei Fori Imperial Zoom in
We walk back and cross the Via dei Fori Imperiali, a road constructed by Mussolini (situation prior to Mussolini’s interventions). On our right hand side we can see the remnants of the imperial forums. Finally, we head into the Via Cavour. We’ll take a break at some of the affordable terraces on the right.
After the break we walk to the arch of Constantine
