On either side of the pigna are two bronze peacocks, which are said to have stood on either side the entrance of Hadrian's Mausoleum.
"Je pense qu'ils y avaient été placés en l'honneur des impératrices dont les cendres devaient s'y trouver. La paon consacré à Junon était le symbole de l'apothéose des impératrices, comme l'oiseau dédié à Jupiter celui de l'apothéose des empereurs, car le mausolée d'Adrien n'était pas pour lui seul, mais, comme avaient été le mausolée d'Auguste et le temple des Flaviens, pour toute la famille impériale."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 212.
A flight of steps leads from this court to the narrow Terrace of the Navicella, in front of the palace, so called from a bronze ship with which its fountain is decorated. The visitor should beware of the tricksome water-works upon this terrace.
Beyond the courtyard is the entrance to the larger garden, which may be reached in a carriage by those who do not wish to visit the palace on the way, by driving round through the courts at the back of St. Peter's. Formerly it was always open till 2 P.M., after which hour the pope went there to walk, or to ride upon his white mule. It is a most delightful retreat for the hot days of May and June, and before that time its woods are carpeted with wild violets and anemones. No one who has not visited them can form any idea of the beauty of these ancient groves, interspersed with fountains and statues, but otherwise left to nature, and forming a fragment of sylvan scenery quite unassociated with the English idea of a garden. They are backed by the walls of the Borgo, and a fine old tower of the time of Leo IV. The Casino del Papa, or Villa Pia,[351] built by Pius IV. in the lower and more cultivated portion of the ground, is the chef-d'œuvre of the architect, Pirro Ligorio, and is decorated with paintings by Baroccio, Zucchero, and Santi di Tito, and a set of terra-cotta reliefs collected by Agincourt and Canova. The shell decorations are pretty and curious.
During the hours which he spent daily in this villa, its founder Pius IV. enjoyed that easy and simple life for which he was far better fitted by nature than for the affairs of government; but here also he received the counsels of his nephew S. Carlo Borromeo, who, summoned to Rome in 1560, became for several succeeding years the real ruler of the state. Here he assembled around him all those who were distinguished by their virtue or talents, and held many of the meetings which received the name of Notte Vaticane—at first employed in the pursuit of philosophy and poetry, but—after the necessity of Church reform became apparent both to the pope and to S. Carlo—entirely devoted to the discussion of sacred subjects. In this villa the late popes, Pius VIII. and Gregory XVI., used frequently to give their audiences.
The sixteenth century was the golden age for the Vatican. Then the splendid court of Leo X. was the centre of artistic and literary life, and the witty and pleasure-loving pope made these gardens the scene of his banquets and concerts; and, in a circle to which ladies were admitted, as in a secular court, listened to the recitations of the poets who sprang up under his protection, beneath the shadow of its woods.
"Le Vatican était encombré, sous Leon X., d'historiens, de savants, de poëtes surtout. 'La tourbe importune des poëtes,' s'écrie Valérianus, 'le poursuit de porte en porte, tantôt sous les portiques, tantôt à la promenade, tantôt au palais, tantôt à la chambre, penetralibus in imis; elle ne respecte ni son repos, ni les graves affaires qui l'occupent aujourd'hui que l'incendie ravage le monde.' On remarquait dans cette foule: Berni, le poëte burlesque; Flaminio, le poëte élégiaque; Molza, l'enfant de Pétrarque, et Postumo, Maroni, Carteromachus, Fedra Inghirami, le savant bibliothécaire, et la grande lumière d'Arezzo, comme dit l'Arioste, l'unique Accolti. Accolti jouit pendant toute la durée du seizième siècle d'une réputation que la postérité n'a pas confirmée. On l'appelait le céleste. Lorsqu'il devait réciter ses vers, les magasins étaient fermés comme en un jour de fête, et chacun accourait pour l'entendre. Il était entouré de prélats de la première distinction; un corps de troupes suisses l'accompagnait, et l'auditoire était éclairé par des flambeaux. Un jour qu'Accolti entrait chez le pape:—Ouvrez toutes les portes, s'écria Léon, et laissez entrer la foule. Accolti récita un ternale à la Vierge, et, quand il eut fini, mille acclamations retentirent: Vive le poëte divin, vive l'incomparable Accolti! Léon était le premier à applaudir, et le duché de Nessi devenait la récompense du poëte.
"Une autre fois, c'était Paul Jove, l'homme aux ouï-dires, comme l'appelle Rabelais, qui venait lire des fragments de son histoire, et que Léon X. saluait du titre de Tite-Live italien. Il y avait dans ces éloges, dans ces encouragements donnés avec entraînement, mais avec tact, je ne sais quel souffle de vie pour l'intelligence, qui l'activait et qui lui faisait rendre au centuple les dons qu'elle avait reçus du ciel. Rome entière était devenue un musée, une académie; partout des chants, partout la science, la poésie, les beaux-arts, une sorte de volupté dans l'étude. Ici, c'est Calcagnini, qui a déjà déviné la rotation de la terre; là, Ambrogio de Pise, qui parle chaldéen et arabe; plus loin, Valérianus, que la philologie, l'archéologie, la jurisprudence revendiquent à la fois, et qui se distrait de ses doctes travaux par des poésies dignes d'Horace."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 114.
The Loggie of Raphael are reached, except on Mondays, by the staircase on the left of the fountain in the Cortile S. Damaso. Two sides of the corridors on the second floor (formerly open) are decorated in stucco by Marco da Faenza and Paul Schnorr and painted by Sicciolante da Sermoneta, Tempesta, Sabbatini, and others. The third corridor, entered on the right (opened by a custode), contains the celebrated frescoes, executed by Raphael, or from the designs of Raphael, by Giulio Romano, Pierino del Vaga, Pellegrino da Modena, Francesco Penni, and Rafaello da Colle. Of the fifty-two subjects represented, forty-eight are from the Old Testament, only the four last being from the Gospel History, as an appropriate introduction to the pictures which celebrate the foundation and triumphs of the Church, in the adjoining stanze. The stucco decorations of the gallery are of exquisite beauty; especially remarkable, perhaps, are those of the windows in the first arcade, where Raphael is represented drawing,—his pupils working from his designs,—and Fame celebrating his work. The frescoes are arranged in the following order: