"The Families who Made Rome" - Anthony Majanlahti

Part history book, part guide book, Majanlahti lays out Rome as it looks today through the families that have made it. He focuses largely on Papal nepotism, by which popes would appoint their families to positions of power and channel church funds to them in order to build family edifices. This was justified by the logic that if people saw the impressive works the church (read: papal families) were constructed they would be awed with the power of the church and therefore more likely to follow it's guidelines (read: give more money) and more people would convert (read: more people giving more money). This process went on up until 1692 when a papal bull was passed by Innocent XII that abolished the practice. The grand buildings of Rome today are essentially part of a massive game of upping the Joneses, each Pope wanted to build bigger and better than the last. Today, because of these papal desires, we are left with city crawling with beautiful buildings.

The book follows the seven most influential families (Colonna, della Rovere, Farnese, Borghese, Barberini, Chigi and Pamphilj) and how they shaped Rome. Rather than discuss all the buildings the book does I thought this would be a good place to write about some of the more entertaining stories or impressive feats that certain Roman families have been involved in.

The Colonna

Rather serendipitously, a member of the Colonna family (Colonna means column) brought the supposed Holy Column from Jerusalem to Rome in 1220. Giovanni the Younger was a papal legate before becoming cardinal and traveled considerably including trips to Jerusalem and Constantinople. The Holy Column is purported to be what Christ was chained to when he was flagellated. This conflicts with another story I have heard, that the column was brought to Rome almost a thousand years before my Constantine's mother, either way it is is still in Rome housed in the Santa Prassede (see my churches section for more details about that).

Aside from fighting with other families more civilly by trying out build one an other, occasionally things were taken a step farther. In 1297 Sciarra Colonna stole some treasure that was bound for the Vatican, to Pope Boniface VIII of the Caetani family. He stole the treasure in an act against the Pope whose election's legitimacy was questioned. He eventually returned the treasure, but would not deem the election legitimate. Boniface declared a crusade against the family. Yes you read that correctly, a crusade against a family. The papal army destroyed the family villas in Tivoli and Palestrina and the family was forced to flee and reconvene in France where they eventually got things together and with the French army marched back into Italy, imprisoning the Pope himself and essentially ending the days of papal control over temporal affairs in Europe. In turn, this lead to the start of the Great Schism and the separate papal court in Avignon, France.

The Della Rovere

Pope Julius II, known as il papa terribile was known for his bull headed nature that led to many great constructions around Rome. He was bold enough to order the destruction of the Old St. Peter's (then 1,200 years old) in order to make room for his new church. In the center of town he designed the Via Giulia, designed as a way to lead pilgrims directly to the Vatican. To build such a straight street required the acquisition of some properties, which obviously made some people unhappy. The Incoronati family owned much of the property along the streets path and they sold (or were possibly strong-armed into selling) some of their buildings to the Vatican. Once the street was finished it became one of the prime addresses to live at in Renaissance Rome (and today), but the Incoronati had different ideas. The buildings they still owned they converted into small stores and apartments, as opposed to the grand plans of Julius II. And to top it off the rented their apartments to prostitutes, so Via Giulia took on two faces, a Combination of Park Avenue and Amsterdam's Red Light district.

The Farnese

Paul III is largely responsible for the current appearance of Castel Sant'Angelo. In 1527 Rome was sacked by an army consisted of primarily Germans and the Pope at the time, Clement VII was forced to flee to the castle to save his life. When Paul became pope a few years later he beefed up the defenses of the castle and it has been used in defense of the city many times. In 1870 when French troops were sweeping through the city the castle was a last line of defense and faced heavy cannon fire from French troops after the came down the Gianicolo on the other side of town. Evidence of this can still be seen today in the base of the 3rd statue on the right hand side as you walk toward the castle from the center of town. There is a large dent from a cannon ball that knocked the statue above into the river below.

The Borghese

The Galleria Borghese is perhaps one of the most exquisite small collections on the world. However some of its pieces were acquired rather sordidly. Cardinal Scipione Borghese was the primary art collector who started the gallery. He saw Domenichino's Diana of the Hunt, which had been commissioned by the previous pope (no longer in power) and decided he wanted it as part of his collection. He asked Domenichino to reconsider the commission, when he refused, Scipione had him thrown in prison, where, after three days, Domenichino was more than happy to change the commission. If this were not bad enough he went as far as to commission the theft of Raphael's Entombment of Christ from a church in Perugia. The painting had been in the same spot for a century and was one of the gems of the city. Naturally, upon its theft and the realization of who stole it, the city went into an uproar. Only with massive tax concessions and a copy of the original work to go in its place did the city calm down.

The Barberini

The Barberini family descended from the Tafani family of Val D'Elsa in Tuscany. Tafani means 'horsefly' and thus the original family symbol was the horsefly. However, wisely, when the Tafani name faded out so did the symbol and it was replaced with the bee. It is said that at the height of the family's power there were over 10,000 sculpted bees in Rome. The bee was chosen as it was meant to tie the family to antiquity through poetry, appearing in both Horace and Virgil, where the bee was traditionally immortal and symbol of the soul and resurrection.
Horace, Odes IV.ii:
...but I, very much in the manner of a Matine bee
laboriously harvesting thyme
from numerous groves and the banks of the many-
streamed Tiber, inconspicuously accrete
my intricate verses
Virgil, Georgics IV.226-7
There is no room for death: alive they fly
To join the stars and mount aloft to heaven.

The Pamphilj

The Pamphilj (not sure why they spell it with a 'j') were often so desperate to connect their family with the past that they searched for similar names that they could associate with. The first records of a Pamphilj anywhere occur in Gubbio in 1150 when a Pamphilio appears in the city records. However, they claim to be descendants of a certain Amanzio Pamphilj who was a follower of Charlemagne in the 9th century. To take it one step farther, Camillo Pamphilj in the 1650's constructed a false ancient tomb in the family properties outside the city (now Villa Doria Pamphilj) which was supposed to contain the remains of the 'gens Pamphylia'. This was all in an attempt to link his name with Numa Pompilius, the first king of Ancient Rome. However, none of it holds water.

The Chigi

Pope Alexander VII, who commissioned Bernini on many occasions, attempted to leave his mark on Rome in as many ways as possible. The Chigi family crest, six mountains with a star above, representing the six hills where they discovered the first alum deposit in Italy, a chemical key to the fulling of wool, which was previously only found in the East and therefore very expense, can be seen all over the city. One of his most ambitious, and shocking, propositions was to build a cupola on top of the Pantheon with a glazed roof that would still have allowed light to enter the church, which was wanted to convert to a sort of family shrine. Even Bernini, who on many occasions torn down parts of Ancient Rome, refused to design the cupola. Only the Pope's death ended this ambition, which he was, thankfully, never able to carry out.