DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68272#0057
THE VATICAN GARDENS, ROME.
39
once adorned the Borgia apartments, were also placed here by Canova. Among the antiques
are a Hermes, a little statue of flEsop, a helmeted Minerva, busts of emperors, and a sleeping
Genius. Charming putti ride sea-horses on the balustrade, and a fountain in the middle is
flanked by two more boys playing with dolphins. Over all looms the great dome, filling the eye and
the mind with its overwhelming size and significance. It is in such a summer garden that the
old painters loved to place their monks and Fathers, holding a santa conversazione in the evening
of a southern summer. Here Pius IV, who loved an easy, simple, outdoor life, used to converse
with his nephew and chief adviser, St. Carlo Borromeo. Here he assembled round him all the
men of his time who were distinguished for their virtue and talents, and held those “ Notte
Vaticane ” meetings at which at first poetry and philosophy were discussed. After the
necessity for Church reform became apparent both to the Pope and St. Carlo, these meetings
were entirely devoted to the discussion of sacred subjects. When the luxurious court of Leo X
was the centre of artistic and literary life, the witty and pleasure-loving Pope held banquets and
gave concerts in these gardens, and a circle, to which ladies were admitted, listened to music
and recitations of poets on these benches and beneath the shade of those pines and ilexes.
Leaving the palazzetto by a broad flight of steps, more box-clipped hedges and long walks
lead to a huge formal garden, to which Falda assigns the somewhat inappropriate name of the
“ secret garden.” It is laid out with box-edged flower-beds, lemon and orange trees set in
terra-cotta vases, and adorned with statues and four large fountains.
A yet more interesting spot was the inner garden, or Giardino della Pigna, which is entered
by a door at the end of the long gallery of the Museo Chiaramonti, but its shrubs and flowers
were destroyed to make room for a column to the Council of 1870.*
In front of the semicircular niche of Bramante is set up the famous pigna, or giant fir cone,
eleven feet high, which was believed to have formed the apex of the mausoleum of Hadrian, or,
as some antiquarians hold, was the central ornament of a fountain, perhaps of the Lake of
Agrippa in the Campus Martius. Pope Symmachus early in the sixth century placed it over the
fountain which he had made in front of the ancient basilica. It was still there in the time of Dante,
who, describing a giant’s head which he saw through the mist in the last circle of hell, says :
“ La faccia mi parea longa e grossa,
Come la pina di S. Pietro in Roma.”
—Inf. xxxi, 58.
It bears the name of the bronze founder who cast it, “ P. Cincius, P. L. Salvius, fecit.” The
marble pedestal on which it stands is a much later work, though also Roman, and very probably
was brought from the Antonine baths of Caracalla.
The two graceful bronze peacocks which stand on either side may have belonged to the
tomb of a Roman empress. The peacock, the bird of Juno, was the symbol of the apotheosis
of an empress, and one was loosed when her pyre was lighted, as was an eagle, the bird of
Jove, for an emperor’s funeral.
Behind the pigna is placed the splendid base of the column of Antoninus Pius, found in
1709 at Monte Citorio, with a bas-relief of a winged Genius guiding the emperor and Faustina
to Olympus. This column was a memorial erected by the emperor’s two adopted sons, Marcus
Aurelius and -Lucius Verus.
Returning to the great garden and traversing the broad terrace, we come to still other long
walks tunnelled in close-growing ilex, dark and shady even on the hottest day. Below the belvedere
is the entrance to the gently sloping passage, up which Pope Giulio II used to ride his mule to the
upper storey of the palace. Here, in a wide fountain basin, is set Bernini’s beautiful bronze
ship, executed for Paul V. It is still in good preservation ; its hull is decorated with mermaids,
while cupids play in and out of the rigging. Its flag flies gaily, and an admiral gives orders
through a speaking trumpet on its deck. The little cannon grin through the portholes, but its
sails are ever furled. E. M. P.
* This is really part of the great cortile formed by Bramante under Giulio II (1503-13), who connected the old summer palace
of Innocent VIII of i486 with the Vatican. This grand scheme was designed to overcome great difficulties in the levels and directions
of the older buildings, but it was unhappily destroyed when the Vatican library was built in 15'88 across the centre. The Giardino
della Pigna is one section only of the great cortile, which had magnificent apses at either end. The octagonal belvedere
Court of the present Papal museums is formed out of the court of Innocent’s buildings.—A. T. B.
39
once adorned the Borgia apartments, were also placed here by Canova. Among the antiques
are a Hermes, a little statue of flEsop, a helmeted Minerva, busts of emperors, and a sleeping
Genius. Charming putti ride sea-horses on the balustrade, and a fountain in the middle is
flanked by two more boys playing with dolphins. Over all looms the great dome, filling the eye and
the mind with its overwhelming size and significance. It is in such a summer garden that the
old painters loved to place their monks and Fathers, holding a santa conversazione in the evening
of a southern summer. Here Pius IV, who loved an easy, simple, outdoor life, used to converse
with his nephew and chief adviser, St. Carlo Borromeo. Here he assembled round him all the
men of his time who were distinguished for their virtue and talents, and held those “ Notte
Vaticane ” meetings at which at first poetry and philosophy were discussed. After the
necessity for Church reform became apparent both to the Pope and St. Carlo, these meetings
were entirely devoted to the discussion of sacred subjects. When the luxurious court of Leo X
was the centre of artistic and literary life, the witty and pleasure-loving Pope held banquets and
gave concerts in these gardens, and a circle, to which ladies were admitted, listened to music
and recitations of poets on these benches and beneath the shade of those pines and ilexes.
Leaving the palazzetto by a broad flight of steps, more box-clipped hedges and long walks
lead to a huge formal garden, to which Falda assigns the somewhat inappropriate name of the
“ secret garden.” It is laid out with box-edged flower-beds, lemon and orange trees set in
terra-cotta vases, and adorned with statues and four large fountains.
A yet more interesting spot was the inner garden, or Giardino della Pigna, which is entered
by a door at the end of the long gallery of the Museo Chiaramonti, but its shrubs and flowers
were destroyed to make room for a column to the Council of 1870.*
In front of the semicircular niche of Bramante is set up the famous pigna, or giant fir cone,
eleven feet high, which was believed to have formed the apex of the mausoleum of Hadrian, or,
as some antiquarians hold, was the central ornament of a fountain, perhaps of the Lake of
Agrippa in the Campus Martius. Pope Symmachus early in the sixth century placed it over the
fountain which he had made in front of the ancient basilica. It was still there in the time of Dante,
who, describing a giant’s head which he saw through the mist in the last circle of hell, says :
“ La faccia mi parea longa e grossa,
Come la pina di S. Pietro in Roma.”
—Inf. xxxi, 58.
It bears the name of the bronze founder who cast it, “ P. Cincius, P. L. Salvius, fecit.” The
marble pedestal on which it stands is a much later work, though also Roman, and very probably
was brought from the Antonine baths of Caracalla.
The two graceful bronze peacocks which stand on either side may have belonged to the
tomb of a Roman empress. The peacock, the bird of Juno, was the symbol of the apotheosis
of an empress, and one was loosed when her pyre was lighted, as was an eagle, the bird of
Jove, for an emperor’s funeral.
Behind the pigna is placed the splendid base of the column of Antoninus Pius, found in
1709 at Monte Citorio, with a bas-relief of a winged Genius guiding the emperor and Faustina
to Olympus. This column was a memorial erected by the emperor’s two adopted sons, Marcus
Aurelius and -Lucius Verus.
Returning to the great garden and traversing the broad terrace, we come to still other long
walks tunnelled in close-growing ilex, dark and shady even on the hottest day. Below the belvedere
is the entrance to the gently sloping passage, up which Pope Giulio II used to ride his mule to the
upper storey of the palace. Here, in a wide fountain basin, is set Bernini’s beautiful bronze
ship, executed for Paul V. It is still in good preservation ; its hull is decorated with mermaids,
while cupids play in and out of the rigging. Its flag flies gaily, and an admiral gives orders
through a speaking trumpet on its deck. The little cannon grin through the portholes, but its
sails are ever furled. E. M. P.
* This is really part of the great cortile formed by Bramante under Giulio II (1503-13), who connected the old summer palace
of Innocent VIII of i486 with the Vatican. This grand scheme was designed to overcome great difficulties in the levels and directions
of the older buildings, but it was unhappily destroyed when the Vatican library was built in 15'88 across the centre. The Giardino
della Pigna is one section only of the great cortile, which had magnificent apses at either end. The octagonal belvedere
Court of the present Papal museums is formed out of the court of Innocent’s buildings.—A. T. B.