DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71133#0419
S. ONO FRIO
333
chapel on the right ; (4) the tomb of Torquato Tasso (d. 1595),
erected by Pius IX, in the first chapel on the left. His death
occurred on the eve of the day when he was to have been
solemnly crowned on the Capitol as Prince of Poets. The
work which has immortalized his name is the epic poem of
Jerusalem Delivered. The room in which he died may be
visited in the adjoining monastery ; (5) the tomb of the great
linguist, Cardinal Mezzofanti (d. 1849), in the same chapel.
The church is served by Hieronymites or Hermits of
St. Jerome, but their monastery has been converted by the
Government into a children’s hospital.
We descend the slope in front of the church and enter the
Leonine City by the Porta S. Spirito. This portion of Rome,
including St. Peter’s, the Vatican, and the Borgo, was promised,
at the Italian invasion of 1870, as a tiny sovereignty which
should belong to the Pope, and where his temporal sway should
remain undisturbed. With the exception of the Vatican, it,
too, was soon appropriated. It is called Leonine, because
Leo IV surrounded it with walls of its own as a defence against-
the Saracens in 846.
Turning to the right at the Church of S. Spirito in Sassia^
we pass the hospital of S'. Spirito and presently reach Ponte
S. Angelo.
1 See No. 30.
333
chapel on the right ; (4) the tomb of Torquato Tasso (d. 1595),
erected by Pius IX, in the first chapel on the left. His death
occurred on the eve of the day when he was to have been
solemnly crowned on the Capitol as Prince of Poets. The
work which has immortalized his name is the epic poem of
Jerusalem Delivered. The room in which he died may be
visited in the adjoining monastery ; (5) the tomb of the great
linguist, Cardinal Mezzofanti (d. 1849), in the same chapel.
The church is served by Hieronymites or Hermits of
St. Jerome, but their monastery has been converted by the
Government into a children’s hospital.
We descend the slope in front of the church and enter the
Leonine City by the Porta S. Spirito. This portion of Rome,
including St. Peter’s, the Vatican, and the Borgo, was promised,
at the Italian invasion of 1870, as a tiny sovereignty which
should belong to the Pope, and where his temporal sway should
remain undisturbed. With the exception of the Vatican, it,
too, was soon appropriated. It is called Leonine, because
Leo IV surrounded it with walls of its own as a defence against-
the Saracens in 846.
Turning to the right at the Church of S. Spirito in Sassia^
we pass the hospital of S'. Spirito and presently reach Ponte
S. Angelo.
1 See No. 30.