A Holiday in Rome: A Stay Full of History and Culture.
Rome originated from a settlement of shepherds and farmers who established themselves on a hill known as the Palatine. The etymological meaning of the word ‘Rome’ is perhaps ‘the city on the river’ or, more probably ‘the city of the Ruma’ (an Etruscan family). After a semi-legendary period of monarchy, the first credible historical accounts come from the period when the monarchy changed to a republic (around 509 B.C.), an epoch in which the slow decline of the Etruscan civilisation that had dominated Rome with its last kings began.
In the IV century B.C., Rome already controlled the whole of Lazio and later extended its dominions over many other regions of Italy, forcing many Italic populations and the great Etruscan civilisation to submit to its rule. The Gauls and Greeks of Southern Italy also had to capitulate to Rome, which controlled the whole of the Italian peninsula by 270 B.C. In the III century B.C., the power of the city began to expand outside the boundaries of the peninsula. From 264 to 201 B.C. the Roman Republic dominated the whole of the Mediterranean (with the Punic wars) and Rome expanded its dominions to the East in the kingdoms of Alexander the Great and in the West, conquering the Gauls and the populations of Spain. It was at this point that the republic became an empire which, under Augustus, had great and powerful beginnings.
The empire, according to the aim of those who created it, was to be a balanced mix of various republican magistratures directly controlled by the Senate and by popular will. This was the intention; but in reality, as time went on, the empire assumed an increasingly dictatorial and militaristic aspect. Rome had increased the borders of its dominions enormously and, as it was divided, it began to lose its authority and its slow and inexorable decline started. The city was no longer the home of emperors and the Senate increasingly began to lose its political identity. After the first Barbarian invasions, this decline reached a height, but the city never lost its moral power, that conscience which for centuries had led it to be a caput mundi and, thanks to the advent of Christianity, made it the consecrated seat of Church.
Mid-way through the VI century A.D., Rome became one of the many cities of the new Byzantine Empire, centred around Ravenna; however, two centuries later, thanks to the presence of the Pope, it once more became a reference point for the Byzantines and its history is linked to that of the Franco-Carolingian Empire. It was in Rome that the Emperor Charlemagne was crowned and from that time forward all emperors were crowned in Rome.
The city was proclaimed a free city-state in 1144. In this period it was governed by municipal forces, by the Pope and by the feudal nobility. The city forces often combated those of the Pope and the life of the new city-state went on for a long time amidst feuds and bitter battles. At the beginning of the XIV century, the Pope moved to Avignon and the city was more safely governed by popular forces. At the end of the XIV century and the first decades of the XV, the situation calmed down. The Pope returned to Rome and managed to take control of the city once again, recovering most of the power that the popular government had assumed in the previous century. This was a very fruitful period for the city, which became capital of the Papal State and returned to its ancient splendour as a cultural and artistic crossroads.
In the centuries that followed, Rome became increasingly politically isolated. The Papal State took no part in international conflicts. On one hand this limited its political influence, but on the other it allowed it to concentrate on commerce and, above all, on arts and culture. This situation continued until the end of the XVIII century when, because of the climate of revolution affecting Europe in those years, the power of the Church underwent a sudden crisis and control of the city passed into the hands of the republic (Pius VI was exiled to France). Power was regained for a brief period with Pius VII, but a few years later Napoleon revolutionised the situation once more and proclaimed Rome as the second city of his empire.
After various vicissitudes, which saw the city return into the hands of the Pope, (1814) the period of the Risorgimento began, in which, under Pope Pious IX, Rome seethed with patriotic and anti-clerical ferment.
A true parliament was formed in1848 and the Roman Republic was proclaimed the following year. The government came under the control of a triumvirate headed by Giuseppe Mazzini, but the French army intervened to restore temporary power, In 1860, with the formation of the Kingdom of Italy, the Pope saw his power diminish to the Lazio region alone.
Ten years later, with the famous episode of the breech of Porta Pia, the French protecting the Pope were thrown out of the city, which was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and became its capital. The Papal State therefore split with Italy – a split that led to the conciliation between the Church and the State in the Lateran Treaty (11th February 1929). After the Second World War, when the government changed from a monarchy to a republic, Rome became the headquarters of the Italian parliament.
The Architectural Evolution of the Eternal City.
In its origins, Rome developed around the Palatine and gradually expanded to the surrounding hills. The Servian walls date back to the IV century B.C., while the Aurelian walls are from a later date. During the successful period of the republic the urban structure changed radically and the city grew rapidly (this is the period of the Cloaca Maxima and the Basilica Emilia in the Roman Forum). The city expanded further under the empire (with the great Imperial Forums, the Basilica Giulia, the reliefs of the Arch of Titus, and those of Septimus Severus, the Pantheon, the Coliseum and Nero’s Domus Aurea, Trajan’s Market and the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian. After the great fires of Rome (64 and 80 A.D.), the city was almost entirely rebuilt in a more modern and practical manner. In the II century A.D., it had almost a million inhabitants – an exceptional population for the period.
With the city’s decline in the III century came another set of walls. The suggestive catacombs (brought to light in modern times) date back to the III and IV centuries and later came the magnificent mosaics of Santa Pudenziana and the saints Cosma and Damiano. With the arrival of the Goths and the Longobards, Rome’s population suffered a dramatic fall (fifty thousand inhabitants) and the arts came to an abrupt standstill. Numerous churches were built during the Paleochristian period, including those of Santa Maria Maggiore, Santa Sabina and San Clemente. The city was stormed in the IX century by the Saracens and then, in 1084, by the Normans. The cultural re-awakening of the city began in the X, XI and XII centuries (with the Romanesque churches of San Clemente, Santa Maria in Trastevere and San Crisogono). The Romanesque style was succeeded by the Gothic, which, however, had little influence on the city (apart from the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and the ciboria by Arnolfo di Cambio for the churches of San Paolo and Santa Cecilia). Only with the return of the Pope, after his time in Avignon, did Rome quickly become an extremely important cultural and commercial crossroads once more.
During the fifteenth century the city flourished again under the aegis of the Church. Some of the most illustrious artists worked at the Vatican. This period saw the creation of the Bronze Door of St. Peter’s, by Filarete; the decoration of the Sistine Chapel by Fra Angelico and the bronze sepulchres of Sixtus IV and Innocent IV by Antonio del Pollaiolo; Palazzo Venezia and the Palazzo della Cancelleria were also built. In the sixteenth century Rome completely recovered its ancient identity of a city caput mundi and masterpieces were created by the greatest artists of the age: Raphael, Michelangelo, Bramante, Giulio Romano, Baldassarre Peruzzi, i da San Gallo, il Vignola and many others produced unique works. Churches, squares, fountains, palaces and streets of unequalled beauty were created. This fortunate period continued throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: the Carracci were working in Rome (on the Galleria Farnese), together with Guido Reni, il Guercino and, above all, Gianlorenzo Bernini (with works at the Museo Borghese) who designed St. Peter’s Square and proved himself an incomparable sculptor. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the city increased enormously in size. New areas and new streets were created and new social situations developed in the old urban framework.
[Text taken from: Roma e il Vaticano - Guida completa alla Città Eterna (Bonechi).]
Current exhibitions
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