MEMOIRS OF THE Baron de Pollnitz.
In SEVERAL LETTERS to Mr. L. C. D. S.
LETTER XXVIII.
SIR,Rome, July 30, 1730.
Thus am I at length arrived at the famous City of Rome, that City which has been so long the Mistress of the World, and is still the Metropolis of Europe: But don’t expect I should give you a perfect Description of it, because that would require a Man better skilled in Architecture than I am. I shall only mention such things as to me appeared to be the most beautiful, or those which I thought the Reverse, and which yet the Ostentation of the Italians cries up for the Wonders of the World. I shall make it my Business, to give you an Account of Things animate, much rather than those which are inanimate; the latter having been so well
described, that all I could say to you upon that Head would be but a Repetition of what you have read a thousand times over.
Rome is certainly one of the finest Cities in the World; but it is not now That Rome of which we read such pompous Accounts, it having scarce any Remains left of what it was in ancient Days. Notwithstanding this, it must be owned, that it has matchless and stately Structures. Nothing is equal to its Churches, its Fountains, and some of its Palaces. At one’s first Entrance thro’ the Gate del Popoli, a Foreigner cannot but be struck with Admiration, when he looks right before him, which methought resembled the grand Decoration of a Theatre; but when I cast my Eyes to the Right and Left, the Scene was quite different: I believed I was entring into a Village. This is a Riddle, which I will now endeavour to explain to you. When I looked strait before me, I immediately perceiv’d a Square of a triangular Form, at one Point whereof stands the Gate del Popoli, through which I entered, facing three very long Streets drawn to a Point, in the Shape of a Goose-foot. These Streets are separated by two Churches, the Fronts whereof are magnificent, and of regular Architecture. In the middle of the Square there’s a stately Obelisk, or Spire, of oriental Granate, which, according to the Inscription on the Pedestal, was raised by Pope Sixtus V. At the foot of this Pyramid, on the Town-side, there’s a Fountain. All this together makes the Square a Beauty, and seemed to be worthy of Rome: What follows appear’d to me to have the Air of a Village. The first Thing one perceives at the Left-hand of the Square, is a Church consecrated to Our Lady, the Architecture of which is very plain; and on the same Side are several very sorry Houses, or rather Huts. The Right-hand of the
Square consists of Hay-Barns, and two or three wretched Hovels.
From the Square del Popoli, I shall run through the three Streets which lead from thence to the chief Quarters of Rome. I shall begin with that in the Middle, which fronts the Gate. ’Tis called the Street del Corso, because there it is that in the Carnival Time, the Barbary Horses run Races, and where there is the Pasciggio, or Ring, frequented every Day by the Coaches. This Street runs thro’ almost all Rome, and has some fine Houses in it, particularly the Palaces Ruspoli, Gicci, Carolis, Mancini, Pamphili, and Bolognetti. It crosses the Squares of St. Mark and Colonna. The first is a Quadrangle, encompassed with good substantial Buildings, and adorned with the famous Antonine Pillar, which the Senate caused to be erected to the Honour of Antoninus the Pious, whose Statue was formerly on the Top of it, but has since given place to the Effigies of St. Paul. St. Mark’s Square is so called, because it lies before the Church dedicated to the Saint of that Name. In it stands the Palace of Venice, a vast Pile of Building, now occupied by the Ambassador of the Republic, but was the Residence of Pope Sixtus V.