sir 



ROME. 



ROME. 



318 



Doric marble gate. 7. Palazzo Doria, a vast building, designed by 

 Borromino, also contains a gallery of choice paintings. 8. Palazzo Tor- 

 Ionia, formerly Odescalchi, or Bracciano, on the Piazza Santi Apostoli, 

 has a splendid marble gallery and some good modern paintings. 9. On 

 the opposite side, next to the church of Santi Apostoli, is the Palazzo 

 Colonna, with a handsome court and gardens behind, which extend 

 up the slope of the Quirioal, and a gallery of paintings with some 

 splendid portraits by Titian, Veronese, and Giorgione. 10. The huge 

 Palazzo di Venezia, so called because it once belonged to that proud 

 republic, is now occupied by the Austrian ambassador : it looks like 

 an old castle, with its massive walla and battlements. 11. Opposite 

 the church Del Oesu is the Palazzo Altieri. All these palaces are in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the Corso. The principal churches 

 in the same district are 1. Santa Maria del Popolo, which, like most 

 churches at Rome, contains some good paintings, several remarkable 

 sepulchral monuments, and also a handsome chapel belonging to the 

 Ohigi family. 2. San Carlo al Corso. 3. San Lorenzo in Lucina, 

 on the ruins of an ancient temple. 4. San Ignazio, which is 

 rich in ornaments, adjoins the Roman College. 5. The handsome 

 church Del Gesu contains some good paintings ; the splendid chapel of 

 St. Ignatius, enriched with lapis lazuli, silver, and gold; and the 

 mausoleum of Bellarmino, by Bernini 6. Santi Apostoli, with the 

 fine mausoleum of Pope Oanganelli, the work of Canov.i, and a ceno- 

 taph by the same illustrious artist to the memory of his friend the 

 engraver Volpato. In the adjoining cloisters is the tomb of Cardinal 

 Beasarion. 7. San Marcello contains the sepulchral monument of 

 Cardinal Consalvi. 8. Santa Maria in Vialata, Ac. 



Went of the Cono, and between it and the Tiber, is a dense mass of 

 irregular streets, a busy part of the town, containing market-places, 

 shope, and inferior dwellings, with here and there a fine building. 

 Towards the centre of this district is the fine oval spice called Piazza 

 ITavona. (the ancient Circus Agonali*), one of the largest iu Rome, 

 with it* fountains, by Bernini, its three churches, and the modern 

 palace Branch! at one extremity of it The university called La 

 Sapiens* is in the neighbourhood. Between it and the Corso is the 

 church of Santa Maria Rotonda, the ancient Pantheon, which is above 

 13 centuries old, and one of the best preserved monuments of antiquity. 

 It connists of a rotunda with a noble Corinthian octaityle portico 

 erected by Agrippa, the son-in-law of Augustus. It is by far the 

 largest circular structure of ancient times, the external diameter being 

 188 feet, and the height to the summit of the upper cornice 102 feet, 

 exclusive of the flat dome, which makes the entire height about 14S 

 feet. The portico (103 feet wide) is octastyle, yet there are in all 

 sixteen columns, namely, two at the returns, exclusive of thon at the 

 angles, and two others behind the third column from each end, 

 divMin? the portico internally into throe avenue*, the centre one of 

 which is considerably the widest, and contain* the great doorway 

 within a very deep recera, while each of the other* ha* a large semi- 

 circular tribune or nee**. But although, independently of the recessed 

 part*, the portico is only three intercolumn* in depth, it* flanks present 

 the order continued in pilasters, making two additional closed inter- 

 column*, and the projection there from the main structure about 70 

 feet; which circumstance produce* an extraordinary air of majesty. 

 The column* are 47 feet high, with base* and capital* of white marble, 

 and granite shaft*, each formed out of a single piece. The interior 

 diameter of the rotunda is 142 feet, the thicknes* of the wall being 23 

 feet through the piers, between the exhtdrse, or recesses, which, 

 including that containing; the entrance, arc eight in number. The 

 dome ha* five row* of coffers (now stripped of their decorations) and a 

 circular opening in the centre, 28 feet in diameter, which not only 

 light* the interior perfectly, but in the most charming and almost 

 magical manner. A* an interior, Grecian architecture ha* nothing 

 whatever that even approaches it. 



On one side of the church of SanU Maria Rotonda is the Palazzo Giui- 

 tiniani, and on the other side of it is the large church and Dominican 

 convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Nearer to the river are : 1, 

 the Palazzo della Cancelleria, by Bramante. 2, the Palazzo Farnene, the 

 best-built in Rome, with a square before it, ornamented by two hand- 

 some fountain* ; tome of the apartment* are painted by Caracci, 

 Zuccari, Vaaari, and others. Next to the Piazza Faroese is another 

 square, called Campo di Fiore. 8, the Palazzo Spada, with a collection 

 of ancient sculpture*, among othtrs the supposed statue of Pompey, 

 and some very fine basso- rilievos, fonnd at Santa Agnece without the 

 walla. 4, the handsome church of Santa Maria in V allied!*, belonging 

 to the brothers of San Filippo Ncri, or Congregation of the Oratory, 

 a most gentlemanly, unasunoiing, and useful body of clergymen. The 

 library contains many valuable manuscripts, historical and ecclesias- 

 tical. 5, the church Santa Maria dell'Anima ha* tome good paintings, 

 and the monuments of Pope Adrian VI. and of Lucas Holstenius, a 

 Protentant converted to Catholicism, who died librarian of the 

 Vatican. Near the left bank of the Tiber, and parallel to it, runs a 

 handnome regular street, called Strada Uiulia, about three-quarter* of 

 a mile long, from Ponte Sisto to Ponte San Angela This district, 

 though well built, is dull, when compared with the Corso and the 

 adjoin!^ street*. 



South of Ponte Sisto, along the left bank of the Tiber, and extending 

 round the western base of the Capitol to the foot of the Palatine, is 

 the lowMt, meanest, and dirtiest part of modern Rome. It is partly 



occupied by the Jews, who are cooped up to the number of 4000 in 

 several narrow filthy alleys, in rows of tall old houses, near the river- 

 side, between Ponte Sisto and Ponte San Bartolomeo. Their district, 

 called Ghetto, is separated by a wall from the rest of the town. They 

 have their rabbis and a synagogue, a sort of municipal council, their 

 schools, support their own poor, and follow their customary occupation 

 of buying and selling. Facing the Ghetto ia the island of San Barto- 

 lomeo, with the church of that name, and an hospital, kept by the 

 congregation of the Ben Fratelli, whose motto is, ' Fate bene, Fratelli ' 

 (' Brethren, do good ' to your fellow-men), and who devote themselves 

 to tend the sick poor gratuitously. Proceeding farther south, along 

 the left bank of the river, is a succession of narrow streets extending 

 to the foot of the Palatine, with some of the most ancient churches 

 in Rome, especially Santa Maria in Cosmedin, built in the 3rd cen- 

 tury of our era, on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Pudicitia Plebeia. 

 (Livy, x. 23.) The church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin is adorned 

 with two rows of fine ancient columns. It is also called Bocca della 

 Veritn, from a large stone mask with a large mouth which is seen in 

 the portico of the church, and the use of which is unknown. In the 

 same neighbourhood are the churches of San Giorgio in Velabro, 

 Santa Anastasia, Santa Maria Egiziaca, and of San Teodoro, said to be 

 on the site of the temple of Romulus, on the Palatine, at the southern 

 extremity of the inhabited part of modern Rome, on the left bank of 

 the Tiber. Beyond it, the Aventine, Palatine, and Cxlian hills stretch 

 to the south and south-east. They are occupied with fields and 

 garden*, and contain several churches, convents, and scattered ruins. 

 The most remarkable churches are Santa Sabina and San Alessio, on 

 the Aventine ; and Santa Bouaventura and its adjoining convent and 

 garden, on the Palatine. The Ciclian, an extensive hill, has some 

 interesting churches : 1. San Gregorio, a fine- building on the west 

 slope of the hill, which has splendid frescoes by Domenichino and 

 Guido, representing the Martyrdom of St. Andrew ; a painting of St. 

 Gregory by Annibale Caracci ; and a statue of the same pope. 2. San 

 Stefano Rotondo is an ancient circular building, transformed iuto a 

 church in the 5th century. 3. San Giovanni e Paolo, belonging to the 

 Order of Baruabites, in a fine situation, commanding a view of the 

 Palatine and Aventine, is much resorted to by persons religiously 

 inclined, who retire thither for a time, and board in the convent, 

 where they employ themselves in pious exercises and in quiet medi- 

 tation, which the solitude of the spot and the view of the majestic 

 ruins before them are well calculated to assist. A solitary palm-tree 

 rises in the garden of the convent ; there is another in the garden of 

 Santa Bonaventura on the Palatine. The Villa Matte! occupies a con- 

 siderable space on the Cgelian Hill. A large group of buildings connected 

 with the Basilica of San Giovanni occupies the eastern end of the 

 Ciclian. The Colosseum, triumphal arches, and other ancient remains, 

 are noticed hereafter. Between the Lateran and the Colosseum is the 

 remarkable ancient church of San Clemente. 



South of the Aventine, and between it, the Tiber, and the walls, ia 

 a large space of low ground laid out in fields, part of which are 

 common, and go by the name of ' Prati del Popolo Romano.' An 

 artificial hill, called Mount Testaccio, rise* on' one side of them ; it is 

 formed of a quantity of broken earthenware (testa; ) and other rubbish 

 which ha* been thrown and has accumulated here from ancient times, 

 and over which a green turf has formed. The modern Romans have 

 excavated cellars in the side of the hill, where they keep their wine 

 cool, and the place is resorted to on holidays by the populace of Rome. 

 On the other side, by the gate of San Paolo, is the Protestant burying- 

 ground, and near it is the pyramid of Caius Cestlus. 



II. The upper town, or eastern part of modern Rome, stretches up 

 the slope of the Pincian and Quirinal hills, and occupies also part of 

 the plateau which unites all the eastern hills of Rome. This part is 

 not so densely built a* the lower town : it consists in great measure 

 of palace* and villas, of churches, convents, and other large buildings, 

 with spacious court* and garden*, and is intersected by two fine long 

 streets, which cross each othenat right angles on the sunmiit of tbo 

 Quirinal, forming there a sniall circus, with a fountain at each bifur- 

 cation, from which the place is called Le Quattro Foutane. 



On the terrace or plateau of the Pincian Mount, in this part of 

 Rome, there is a fine promenade or public walk. Next to it is the 

 villa Medici, now the academy of French pensionary artUts; the 

 church of La TrinitA de 1 Monti ; and the esplanade with the obelisk 

 in front of it, from which there is a splendid view of modern Rome. 

 From this esplanade a good street, called Via Sietlna, leads in a south- 

 east direction to the Piazza Barberini, which lies in the depression 

 between the Pincian and the Quirinal. The Palazzo Barberini, one of 

 the largest in Rome, is at the east end of the Piazza. It contains a good 

 collection of paintings, among others the celebrated portrait of La 

 Cenci, by Guido, who had seen her on the scaffold at her execution. 

 The library of the Barberini palace ha* about 50,000 printed volumes, 

 and many valuable manuscript*. At the north end of the Piazza 

 Barberini is the church and convent of the Capuchins, with its garden, 

 which is kept in excellent condition, like all the gardens of the con- 

 vent* of that order. Adjoining is the vast and splendid patrician villa 

 Piombino, which ha* beautiful walks; in the apartments of the prin- 

 cipal casino ia a valuable collection of ancient sculptures, and also the 

 fresco of Aurora by Guercino. 



South of the Piazza Barberini rises the Quirinal Mount, which bears 



