DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19775#0055
THE VATICAN GARDENS,
ROME.
ALTHOUGH the Vatican hill was not sur-
/ \ rounded with walls until the ninth century,
/ \ the ground now occupied by the gardens
has been a sacred spot from prehistoric
times. The earliest legends speak of it as the abode
of a god. It was the fourteenth of the fourteen
regions into which Augustus divided the city.
Gardens such as those of Agrippina, and the still
more famous ones of Domitian, were situated here.
Here was the circus of Caligula, which was rendered
conspicuous by the lofty obelisk which now adorns
the Piazza of St. Peter, the one obelisk which enjoys
the distinction of never having been levelled to the
ground, and which towered over the spina of the
circus. Here was the sepulchre of Scipio, the
young destroyer of Carthage, and that of Honorius
and his wife Maria, daughter of Stilicho, the last
great Roman general. Here stood a temple dedicated
by Nero to the memory of Romulus, one to Mars,
and one to Apollo. Pliny speaks of them, and all
ancient writers concur that they were the most
sublime of edifices.
As time wore on, this part of outlying Rome
was deserted, and shared the general decay. Writers
in the eighth century characterise the Vaticanum
as " the detestable fields," from the superstitious
and licentious rites carried on there, and from its
generally evil reputation. In 848, when Leo IV.
was Pope, the dreaded Saracens appeared for the
second time at Ostia, when a battle and a great
storm led to their confusion and defeat, and numbers
of slaves were brought to Rome and set to labour
at restoring the walls. Leo's most celebrated under-
taking was the fortification of the Vatican district,
an event in the history of the city, for out of
this fortification the Civitas Leonina, or Leonine
City, arose, a new quarter of Rome, and a new
fortress destined to be of great importance in later
centuries.
At the time that Aurelian had enclosed the
city with walls, the necessity for including the
Vatican had not arisen, and it remained open and
outside the city. Even after the building of
St. Peter's, and after convents, hospitals, and dwell-
ings had grown up round it, the necessity for
building walls for its protection had not occurred
to any Pope till the time of Leo III. He began
to build, and had he carried out his idea, the sack
of the basilica by the Saracens could never have
taken place. The work had been suspended, and
the materials of the partially constructed walls had
been carried off again for other purposes. Leo IV.
revived the project, and, with the help of the
Emperor Lothar, worked hard to carry it out. He
distributed the expense so that every town in the
ecclesiastical state, the convents, and all the domains
of the Church bore a part.
The walls were begun in 848 and finished in
852. They stretched from Hadrian's Mausoleum,
up the Vatican hill, then making a bend, crossed
the hill and came straight down the other side.
They were nearly 40ft. in height, and were
defended by forty-four strong towers. One of these
strong round corner towers still stands on the top
of the Vatican hill, and is called the Saracens'
Tower. The line of Leo's walls may still be traced
along almost their entire route. For centuries Rome
had witnessed no such festival as that which on
June 27th, 852, celebrated the dedication of the
Leonine City. The entire clergy, barefoot, their
heads strewn with ashes, walked in procession
singing round the walls. Before them went the
seven Cardinal-Bishops, who sprinkled the walls
with holy water. At each gate the procession
halted, and each time the Pope invoked blessings
on the new quarter. The circuit ended, he dis-
tributed gifts of gold and silver and silken palliums
among the nobles, the populace, and the colony of
foreigners. The walls were afterwards rebuilt by
Pius IV., in the sixteenth century, and the earlier
fortifications were almost entirely obliterated.
It was Sixtus IV., the Pope to whom we owe
the Sistine Chapel, who first laid out the grounds
extending up the hill as the gardens of the Vatican.
The taste for gardens was just reviving, and the
building of medieval castles was giving way to that
of fascinating and luxurious villas ; and as Pope
Sixtus created the garden, it remains in great
measure to-day. It has been enlarged from time
to time, and in 1845 tne grountls °f the Hospital
di San Spirito, a religious institution dating from
the eighth century, were absorbed. A piece of the
facade of the Hospital, with its double cross, still
stands against the walls. Pius IX. laid out the
( 44 )
ROME.
ALTHOUGH the Vatican hill was not sur-
/ \ rounded with walls until the ninth century,
/ \ the ground now occupied by the gardens
has been a sacred spot from prehistoric
times. The earliest legends speak of it as the abode
of a god. It was the fourteenth of the fourteen
regions into which Augustus divided the city.
Gardens such as those of Agrippina, and the still
more famous ones of Domitian, were situated here.
Here was the circus of Caligula, which was rendered
conspicuous by the lofty obelisk which now adorns
the Piazza of St. Peter, the one obelisk which enjoys
the distinction of never having been levelled to the
ground, and which towered over the spina of the
circus. Here was the sepulchre of Scipio, the
young destroyer of Carthage, and that of Honorius
and his wife Maria, daughter of Stilicho, the last
great Roman general. Here stood a temple dedicated
by Nero to the memory of Romulus, one to Mars,
and one to Apollo. Pliny speaks of them, and all
ancient writers concur that they were the most
sublime of edifices.
As time wore on, this part of outlying Rome
was deserted, and shared the general decay. Writers
in the eighth century characterise the Vaticanum
as " the detestable fields," from the superstitious
and licentious rites carried on there, and from its
generally evil reputation. In 848, when Leo IV.
was Pope, the dreaded Saracens appeared for the
second time at Ostia, when a battle and a great
storm led to their confusion and defeat, and numbers
of slaves were brought to Rome and set to labour
at restoring the walls. Leo's most celebrated under-
taking was the fortification of the Vatican district,
an event in the history of the city, for out of
this fortification the Civitas Leonina, or Leonine
City, arose, a new quarter of Rome, and a new
fortress destined to be of great importance in later
centuries.
At the time that Aurelian had enclosed the
city with walls, the necessity for including the
Vatican had not arisen, and it remained open and
outside the city. Even after the building of
St. Peter's, and after convents, hospitals, and dwell-
ings had grown up round it, the necessity for
building walls for its protection had not occurred
to any Pope till the time of Leo III. He began
to build, and had he carried out his idea, the sack
of the basilica by the Saracens could never have
taken place. The work had been suspended, and
the materials of the partially constructed walls had
been carried off again for other purposes. Leo IV.
revived the project, and, with the help of the
Emperor Lothar, worked hard to carry it out. He
distributed the expense so that every town in the
ecclesiastical state, the convents, and all the domains
of the Church bore a part.
The walls were begun in 848 and finished in
852. They stretched from Hadrian's Mausoleum,
up the Vatican hill, then making a bend, crossed
the hill and came straight down the other side.
They were nearly 40ft. in height, and were
defended by forty-four strong towers. One of these
strong round corner towers still stands on the top
of the Vatican hill, and is called the Saracens'
Tower. The line of Leo's walls may still be traced
along almost their entire route. For centuries Rome
had witnessed no such festival as that which on
June 27th, 852, celebrated the dedication of the
Leonine City. The entire clergy, barefoot, their
heads strewn with ashes, walked in procession
singing round the walls. Before them went the
seven Cardinal-Bishops, who sprinkled the walls
with holy water. At each gate the procession
halted, and each time the Pope invoked blessings
on the new quarter. The circuit ended, he dis-
tributed gifts of gold and silver and silken palliums
among the nobles, the populace, and the colony of
foreigners. The walls were afterwards rebuilt by
Pius IV., in the sixteenth century, and the earlier
fortifications were almost entirely obliterated.
It was Sixtus IV., the Pope to whom we owe
the Sistine Chapel, who first laid out the grounds
extending up the hill as the gardens of the Vatican.
The taste for gardens was just reviving, and the
building of medieval castles was giving way to that
of fascinating and luxurious villas ; and as Pope
Sixtus created the garden, it remains in great
measure to-day. It has been enlarged from time
to time, and in 1845 tne grountls °f the Hospital
di San Spirito, a religious institution dating from
the eighth century, were absorbed. A piece of the
facade of the Hospital, with its double cross, still
stands against the walls. Pius IX. laid out the
( 44 )