Walks in Rome

by Augustus J. C. Hare

A second small garden belonging to this palace is well worth seeing in May from the wealth of camellias, azaleas, and roses, with which it is filled.

Opposite the Rospigliosi Palace, by ringing at a gate in the wall, we gain admission to the Colonna Gardens (connected with the palace in the Piazza SS. Apostoli, by a series of bridges across the intervening street). Here, on a lofty terrace which has a fine view towards the Capitol, and overshadowed by grand cypresses, are the colossal remains of the Temple of the Sun (huge fragments of cornice) built by Aurelian (A.D. 270—75). At the other end of the terrace, looking down through two barns into a kind of pit, we can see some remains of the Baths of Constantine—built A.D. 326—and of the great staircase which led up to them from the valley below. The portico of these baths remained erect till the time of Clement XII. (1730—40), and was adorned with four marble statues, of which two—those of the two Constantines—may now be seen on the terrace of the Capitol.

Beneath the magnificent cypress-trees on the slope of the hill are several fine sarcophagi. Only the stem is preserved of the grand historical pine-tree, which was planted on the day on which Cola di Rienzi died, and which was one of the great ornaments of the city till 1848, when it was broken in a storm.

Just beyond the end of the garden, are the great Convent and Church of S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo—belonging to the Missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul—in which the Cardinals meet before going in procession to the Conclave. It contains a few rather good pictures. The cupola of the second chapel has frescoes by Domenichino, of David dancing before the Ark,—the Queen of Sheba and Solomon,—Judith with the head of Holofernes,—and Esther fainting before Ahasueras. These are considered by Lanzi as some of the finest frescoes of the master. In the left transept is a chapel containing a picture of the Assumption, painted on slate, considered the masterpiece of Scipione Gaetani. The last chapel but one on the left has a ceiling by Cav. d'Arpino, and frescoes on the walls by Polidoro da Caravaggio. The picture over the altar, representing St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena, is by Mariotto Albertinelli. Cardinal Bentivoglio—who wrote the history of the wars in Flanders, and lived in the Rospigliosi Palace—is buried here.

We now reach the height of Maganaopoli, from which the isthmus which joined the Quirinal to the Capitoline was cut away by Trajan. Here is a cross-ways. On the right is a descent to the Forum of Trajan, at the side of which is the villa of Cardinal Antonelli, and beyond it, the handsome modern palace of Count Trapani, cousin to the King of Naples.

Opposite, is the Church of Sta. Caterina di Siena, possessing some frescoes attributed, on doubtful grounds, to the rare master Timoteo della Vite. Adjoining, is a large convent, enclosed within the precincts of which is the tall brick mediæval tower, sometimes called the Tower of Nero, but generally known as the Torre delle Milizie, i.e. the Roman Militia. It was erected by the sons of Peter Alexius, a baron attached to the party of the Senator Pandolfo de Suburra. The lower part is said to have been built in 1210, the upper in 1294 and 1330.

"People pass through two regular courses of study at Rome,—the first in learning, and the second in unlearning.

"'This is the tower of Nero, from which he saw the city in flames,—and this is the temple of Concord,—and this is the temple of Castor and Pollux,—and this is the temple of Vesta,—and these are the baths of Paulus-Æmilius,'—and so on, says your lacquey.

"'This is not the tower of Nero,—nor that the temple of Castor and Pollux,—nor the other the temple of Concord,—nor are any of these things what they are called,' says your antiquary."—Eaton's Rome.

The Convent of Sta. Caterina was built by the celebrated Vittoria Colonna, who requested the advice of Michael Angelo on the subject, and was told that she had better make the ancient "Torre" into a belfry. A very curious account of the interview in which this subject was discussed, and which took place in the Church of S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo, is left us in the memoirs of Francesco d'Olanda, a Portuguese painter, who was himself present at the conversation.