IL PRIMO RINASCIMENTO
In questa pagina:
Papa Callisto III e Papa Pio II (1455-1463)
Papa Paolo II
Papa Sisto IV (1471-1484)
Il ruolo dei Cardinali
Papa Innocenzo VIII (Palazzetto Bonaventura)
Papa Alessandro VI (1492-1503)
Iconografia
Papa Calisto III e Papa Pio
II
Alla morte di Papa Niccolò
V nel 1455, i cardinali italiani si divisero tra sostenitori del Colonna
e sostenitori dell'Orsini e questo favorì l'elezione del vecchio cardinale catalano Alonso de Borja
(in italiano Borgia) che divenne papa Callisto III; his short pontificate, apart from an unsuccessful
attempt to promote a crusade against the Ottomans, was marked by the
arrival in Rome of relatives and friends of the pope. He appointed
cardinals two of his nephews and a third one became commander of the papal
troops. Nepotism, the bestowing of privileges on the nephews of the
popes, was not introduced by Pope Calixtus III, but surely he so favoured
his relatives that one of the statue parlanti
commented as follows:
Ai poveri suoi apostoli la chiesa
avea lasciato Cristo;
preda dei ricchi suoi nipoti è resa
oggi dal buon Calisto. |
At the death of Pope
Calixtus III in 1458, the cardinals chose a man who for his diplomatic
skills seemed able to effectively promote the crusade against the
Ottomans. Cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini became a priest at the age of
42, after having served as a secretary and an ambassador for both the pope
and the German emperor. He had a vast knowledge of the classic world and a
high level of self-esteem, which he showed in choosing the name of Pius
(II), because this adjective was associated with his
own name (Enea) in Virgil's Aeneid:
Tum pius Aeneas stricto sic ense precatur
Virgilio - Eneide - Libro 12 - verso 175 |
Nel 1459 Pio II
convocò a Mantova i governanti delle nazioni cristiane per varare la
crociata ma la reazione fu tiepida; pensò allora di ottenere la
conversione del sultano Mehmet II offrendo in cambio di riconoscerlo come a
nuovo Costantino, ma alla fine non inviò la lettera.
Il papa cercò di fare pressione sui governanti cristiani
eccitando i sentimenti religiosi dei loro sudditi; nel 1462 l'arrivo a Roma
della testa di S.
Andrea fu festeggiato in pompa magna e in una sorta di anno giubilare,
i pellegrini furono invitati a Roma per venerare la reliquia; si impegnò
personalmente per guidare la crociata, ma quando nel 1464 raggiunse Ancona per salpare
verso Costantinopoli, scoprì che le truppe erano in gran parte
insufficienti per il compito proposto. Morì lì come uno degli antichi
eroi che venerava, quando vide che la Repubblica di Venezia lo aveva ingannato
inviando una flotta troppo piccola.
S. Andrea della Valle:
monumento a Papa Pio II: bassorilievo che raffigura il papa mentre riceve
la testa di Sant'Andrea (scuola di Andrea Bregno)
Sia Papa Callisto III che Papa Pio II did not promote the development of Rome with the same
enthusiasm shown by Pope Nicholas V. In particular they did not follow
their predecessor's ambitious plans to renovate the city and build a new
S. Pietro. Their coats of arms can be found at S. Prisca
and Ponte Milvio
(Callisto III), S. Saba, the
walls near Porta Pia
and Porta Latina (Pius
II).
Pope Pius II erected a statue to St Andrew near Ponte Milvio; he devoted
a lot of resources to celebrate himself by renaming Pienza,
the village near Siena where he was born and by building there churches
and palaces. He also built several monuments in Siena and a
fortress
in Tivoli.
Pope
Paul II
Il nuovo papa, il cardinale veneziano Pietro Barbo (Papa Paolo II)
era nipote di Papa Eugenio IV, che a sua volta era nipote di Papa Gregorio XII.
Paolo II abbandonò i tentativi del suo predecessore di organizzare una crociata per riconquistare Costantinopoli:
questo anche perché il sultano Mehmet II cercò di prevenire la guerra contro Venezia
costruendo una grande flotta con la quale nel 1468 si impadronì di Negroponte,
un importante possedimento veneziano nella parte settentrionale del Mar Egeo
e probabile punto di partenza per attaccare Costantinopoli.
Papa Paolo
II cercò di aiutare Venezia nel contenimento dell'espansione ottomana
sostenendo finanziariamente l'ordine dei Cavalieri di Gerusalemme, una
confraternita militare laica che controllava Rodi, la
isole vicine e alcune fortezze sulla terraferma asiatica.
Sottolineò il ruolo del papa qualesovrano assoluto della Chiesa e
stabilì che i Giubilei venissero indetti ogni 25 anni.
(a sinistra) Palazzo Venezia: stemma del Cardinal Barbo (in seguito Papa Paolo II)
e iscrizione che celebre la fondazione del palazzo nel 1455;
(a destra) Palazzo dei Cavalieri di Rodi
Papa Paolo II non visse nei palazzi papali in
Vaticano o in Laterano, ma rimase nel grande palazzo da lui iniziato
nel 1455 accanto alla Basilica di S. Marco,
chiesa della comunità veneta a Roma, da lui interamente ristrutturata.
Nel tentativo riuscito di ottenere il sostegno dei romani,
riorganizzò il carnevale romano e in particolare le sue gare tradizionali
che si svolgevano in Piazza Navona o al Testaccio: nel 1468
furono spostati nel tratto urbano della via Flaminia (che per questo motivo
divenne nota come Via del Corso - corsa); il traguardo era posto sotto il suo balcone.
Le stesse maestranze veneziane che costruirono
il suo palazzo furono impiegate nella costruzione del quartier generale romano dei
Cavalieri di Rodi su ciò che rimaneva delle mura del Foro di Augusto:
entrambi gli edifici erano caratterizzati da grandi finestre guelfe (o a croce latina).
(il balcone sopra rappresentato fu modificato alla fine del XVI secolo).
Papa Sisto IV
The conclave which was held in August 1471
after the death of Pope Paul II elected a cardinal who was known for his
religious zeal and for having supported a reformation of the church in his
capacity as head of the Franciscan order.
Cardinal Francesco Della
Rovere (Pope Sixtus IV) soon forgot his past objectives and became fully
absorbed in the task of favouring his fifteen nephews: three of them were
appointed cardinals, others were given positions at the papal court and
the preferred one, Girolamo Riario, was given the town of Imola,
as a starting point to create a state for him in the papal possessions in
northern Italy. He soon clashed with the Medici, who were the de
facto rulers of Florence; in 1478 another Florentine family, the
Pazzi, who had become the pope's bankers, relying on his support, plotted
against the Medici and tried to kill Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, but
Lorenzo narrowly escaped the daggers of the hired assassins. He took
revenge on the Pazzi and accused the pope of being behind the plot: the
conflict with Florence saw the pope completely isolated and a truce was
signed only in 1480 at the news that the Ottomans had landed in southern
Italy and had seized the fortress of Otranto. For a short period the
Italians stopped quarrelling and united their forces to drive out the
invaders which they managed to do in 1481.
The love for his nephew led
Pope Sixtus IV to make an alliance with Venice to conquer Ferrara:
the Este, the lords of Ferrara were supported by Milan, Florence and
Naples; the pope became suspicious of the Venetian power and switched
alliance by declaring war on the Republic and by excommunicating it; his
moral authority however was at such a low level that the majority of the
Venetian clergy refused to obey the papal orders and continued to
celebrate the usual religious functions. The war eventually ended in 1484
and the pope, without any territorial gain, was forced to lift the
excommunication.
Pope Sixtus IV was also unable to control the rivalry
between the Colonna and the Orsini which led to open warfare which ravaged
Albano e le vicine città.
S. Maria del Popolo:
balustrade decorated by Andrea Bregno with the coat of arms of a Della
Rovere cardinal
Papa Sisto IV preparò attentamente Roma
per il Giubileo del
1475 seguendo il piano della Renovatio Urbis sviluppato da Papa
Niccolò V per il Giubileo del 1450: per facilitare l'accesso a Trastevere costruì Ponte Sisto
(Ponte Sisto,
il primo costruito a Roma dall'antichità) sulle rovine di un ponte romano
e aprì una strada tra il ponte e Campo de' Fiori.
Per facilitare l'accesso al Vaticano, via Ponte S. Angelo, aprì
la Via Recta
(Via dei Coronari); he entirely rebuilt Spedale di S. Spirito in
Sassia; in the Vatican he built the large chapel named after him (where
later on Michelangelo painted the ceiling and the Last
Judgement).
Several churches were entirely rebuilt: S. Maria del
Popolo, which the pope regarded as a family chapel; S. Maria della Pace to
celebrate the end of the war for Ferrara; S. Cosimato; S. Pietro in Vincoli; S. Vitale; SS. Apostoli which was
built by his nephew Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere, who also restored S. Agnese fuori delle
Mura.
Intervenne anche sulla definizione delle aree di centri rappresentativi e commerciali come Piazza Navona
e Campo dei Fiori.
Egli può essere considerato il fondatore dei Musei Capitolini, the
Civic Museum of Rome because he donated five ancient bronze statues to the
City of Rome: one of these statues portrayed a she-wolf and it soon became
the symbol of the city (the symbol of ancient Rome was an eagle and that
of medieval Rome a lion). He also greatly improved the Vatican Library: he
appointed as prefect (head) of this institution Bartolomeo Sacchi, known
as il Platina, the author of Liber de vita Christi ac omnium
Pontificum, the first modern account of the lives of the popes.
Spedale di S. Spirito in
Sassia: facciata e cupola della cappella
Il Ruolo dei Cardinali
The popes of this
period managed to restore their role as heads of the church by refusing to
call ecumenical councils which could undermine their authority and
scrutinize their behaviour. Their power however was to some extent shared
with the cardinals, who in general set their residence in Rome and who
held important positions in the Curia, the papal court. Their number
rarely exceeded twenty so each of them had an important say in the six
conclaves which occurred between 1450 and 1500; while it may be
excessive to regard the popes elected during this period as
simoniac for having bought their election, for sure there were some
agreements between the elected pope and the cardinals which were not
limited to decisions related to spiritual matters, but covered also the
assignment to the cardinals of important charges. Many cardinals could
rely on a substantial income and had their own court.
Cardinal
Bessarione (1403-72), born in Trebizond
advised many popes on matters regarding the initiatives for retaking
Constantinople: he brought to Rome the Greek knowledge of the ancient
world and he had a large library which he eventually bequeathed to the
Republic of Venice.
Cardinal Juan de Torquemada advised the popes on
theological matters. His Meditationes was the first illustrated
book to be printed. His nephew Tomas was the head of the Spanish
Inquisition.
Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville (1400-83) chaired the
commission which proclaimed null and void the trial which sentenced to
death Joan of Arc: in Rome he lived in Palazzo S.
Apollinare (Collegio Germanico) and he built nearby S.
Agostino.
Cardinals Domenico (1400-56) and Angelo Capranica
(1410-78) held important positions and Domenico founded a college for the
education of the clergy.
The cardinals who were nephews of the pope
had obviously a lot of power, but usually they lost it when their uncle
died: there were however some exceptions:
Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia
(1431-1503), nephew of Pope Calixtus III, at each conclave managed to
ensure that the elected pope would assign him an important position: he
usually preferred those from which he could control the Treasury or the
papal troops.
Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439-1503),
nephew of Pope Pius II, protected the community of Siena in Rome and
embellished his home town by dedicating a library to
his uncle.
Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere (1443-1513), nephew of Pope
Sixtus IV, greatly influenced the election and the decisions of Pope
Innocent VIII, the successor of his uncle.
These three cardinals all
managed to become popes.
Palazzo Capranica
Some of the cardinals, following the example
of Cardinal Pietro Barbo, built large Renaissance palaces: Cardinal
Antonio Capranica enlarged the building where the college founded by his
uncle Domenico was located: the students were housed in the new section
while the cardinal set his residence in its older part: this explains why
the windows have a different design.
Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia built what
is now known as Palazzo
Sforza Cesarini, not far from S. Maria in Monserrato,
the church of the Catalan community.
Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere had
his Roman residence in a palace he built next to SS. Apostoli; his cousin
Cardinal Domenico Riario lived in Palazzo Riario (now
Corsini).
Palazzo della
Cancelleria: cortile
Cardinal Raffaele Riario
(1451-1521), un altro nipote di Papa Sisto IV, costruì il Palazzo della Cancelleria,
il più imponente and innovative palace of the Early
Renaissance in Rome: the cost was in part covered by the income deriving
from the cardinal's gambling skills: the courtyard was most likely
designed by Bramante: the upper storey has a stone facing which is typical
of many Renaissance buildings: in Italian it is called a cortina
(curtain) and it is made up of small bricks which are not supporting the
building structure, but are just "glued" to it. The design of the
courtyard is evocative of that of Colosseo.
Pope Innocenzo VIII
Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere was the kingmaker
of the 1484 conclave che seguì alla morte dello zio Papa Sisto IV.
Il nuovo papa, il cardinal Giovanni Battista Cibo (Papa Innocenzo
VIII), had a mediocre ecclesiastical background and a reputation for
having been a libertine in his youth: officially he acknowledged having
only two children, but five of his nephews were known to be his offspring.
Being less ambitious than his predecessor, he contented
himself with providing economic wealth to his children: he married his
elder son to the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, who in return obtained
the cardinal's hat for his thirteen year old son Giovanni.
He carried
on a much criticized policy of appeasement with the Ottoman Sultan Bayazit
II which resulted in receiving in return a single gift - un pezzo della lancia di Longino.
This was most likely the main achievement of his pontificate
(in his monument in
S. Pietro, Antonio del Pollaiolo portrayed him holding that relic).
He
celebrated in 1492 the conquest of Granada, the last Arab stronghold in
Spain, by Ferdinand, King of Aragona, and his wife Isabella, Queen of
Castile.
(a sinistra) S. Maria dell'Anima:
particolare della facciata; (al centro) Via dei Coronari;
(a destra) Palazzetto Bonaventura
Papa Innocenzo VIII built
for his relaxation Palazzo
Belvedere, which later on was linked to the Vatican papal palace by
two long corridors; he enlarged a hunting lodge at Castello della
Magliana; he also largely renovated S. Maria in Via
Lata.
In the second half of the XVth century Rome became a very
cosmopolitan city; the popes of this period came from outside the Papal
State and they favoured the arrival of people from their country of
origin; other foreigners, such as the Florentine bankers, came to Rome
attracted by its business opportunities; the Germans introduced into Rome
the first printing press and also the Stube, something in between a
Roman bath and a beauty parlour. These stufe (stoves), as the
Italians translated the German word, became very popular as they allowed
for intimacy and something more. A large establishment (open to both men
and women) was located in an area known for its many courtesans, between
the two main streets of Early Renaissance Rome: Via Recta (Via dei
Coronari) and Strada Papale (Via del
Governo Vecchio) (see a page on the streets of Rome).
Via dell'Anima which linked the two streets was at the time very
important: the Mellini, relatives of Pope Innocent VIII had their palace/tower there,
almost opposite S.
Agnese in Agone; the Germans built at the end of the street S. Maria
dell'Anima, their national church; the neighbourhood changed in the XVIIth
century when Pope Innocent X turned around the façade of S. Agnese and of
the nearby palaces to embellish Piazza Navona.
A few Renaissance
palaces of this period can still be seen along these streets: Palazzetto Turci and
(see above) Palazzetto Bonaventura, both showing the same stone facing as
S. Maria dell'Anima and Palazzo della Cancelleria.
In 1581 Michel de
Montaigne described with these words his experience at the stufa
near S. Marco:" Le 16 de Mars, il me print envie d’aler essaïer les
eteuves de Rome, & fus à celes de St. Marc, qu’on estime des plus
nobles ; j’y fus tresté d’une moïenne façon, sul pourtant, & aveq tout
le respect qu’ils peuvent. L’usage y est d’y mener des amies, qui veut,
qui y sont frotées aveq vous par les garçons. J’y appris que de chaus
vifve & orpimant, démeslé à-tout de la lessifve, deus part de chaus
& la tierce d’orpimant, se faict cete drogue & ongant de quoi on
faict tumber le poil, l’aïant appliqué un petit demi quart d’heure."
(on March 16 I fancied testing the Roman stufe and I went to that
near S. Marco, which is regarded as one of the best; I was treated in an
average way and very respectfully: usually one goes there with friends to
be massaged together by the attendants; after the massage they applied a
depilatory ointment made up of two parts of quicklime and one of orpiment
- an arsenic sulphide mineral). Probably massages at the end of the XVth
century were quite different from those experienced in 1581 by Montaigne
in a period when, owing to the Counter-Reformation, lifestyles were more
austere.
Papa
Alessandro VI
(clicca QUI per la sua biografia, nella STORIA DEI PAPI)
During the pontificate of Pope Innocent VIII,
Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia resented the influence Cardinal Giuliano Della
Rovere had on the pope, so at the 1492 conclave which followed the
death of Innocent VIII, he used all his influence and his wealth to
convince the cardinals to vote for him: he promised his palace to the
Sforza, Soriano to
the Orsini, Subiaco
to the Colonna and Civita Castellana to
the Savelli. He achieved his objective and he became Pope Alexander VI; he
too had a reputation of being a libertine: his mistress Vannozza Cattanei
bore him four children: Juan, Cesare, Lucrezia and Jofrè. When he was
elected his mistress was Giulia Farnese, wife of an Orsini: one of the
first acts of Pope Alexander VI was to appoint as cardinals Alexander, the
young brother of Giulia, and his own son Cesare. For the other two sons
the pope envisaged carving out from the Papal State two small states, but
this plan was abandoned in 1497 when Juan was found dead in the Tiber.
Cesare abandoned his ecclesiastical career and his father plotted to make
him the lord of Imola in Romagna and other towns which were ruled by
Caterina Sforza, the widow of Girolamo Riario. Cesare was sent to the
French King Louis XII bearing the bull of divorce the king wanted: in
return Cesare was appointed Duke of Valentinois (hence his nickname il
Valentino) and was granted the king's support in conquering Romagna:
in 1501 he was appointed Duke of that region. Lucrezia, the beautiful
daughter of the pope was married in 1502 (it was her third marriage) to
Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara.
The main Roman families became
dissatisfied with Pope Alexander's government, but the pope was always
able to gain the support either of Spain or of France and he eventually
defeated both the Colonna and the Orsini and their allies.
The years of
his pontificate saw dramatic changes in Italy: for a long time the five
major states (Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples) had often been at
war, but avoided calling in non-Italian powers: Lorenzo de' Medici, in
addition to being called the Magnificent for the brilliance of his court,
was also called ago della bilancia (balance index) because his
policy ensured a fragile peace among the various Italian states.
After
his death in 1492 this complex balance of power soon collapsed: in 1494
Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, encouraged Charles VIII, King of France,
to seize the Kingdom of Naples, which had been in the hands of an Angevin (French)
dynasty until 1443. Charles easily marched across Italy and in
February 1495 he was crowned King of Naples; at that point the Italian
rulers (including Ludovico Sforza) became wary of the French power and a
coalition between them and the German Emperor forced Charles to abandon
Naples and hastily return to France: although the French expedition ended
in disaster, it showed that Italy was unable to defend itself.
In 1499
Louis XII, the new French King, supported by the Pope and Venice, took
revenge on Ludovico Sforza who had betrayed his predecessor and occupied
the Duchy of Milan, the first of a long list of foreign occupations which
went on for nearly four centuries.
Castel Sant'Angelo
Papa Alessandro VI
was aware that the
fortifications of Rome needed to be upgraded to respond to the development
of modern artillery. In addition to surrounding Rome with new fortresses, he
largely modified Castel Sant'Angelo turning the old tower built on the
Roman structure into a modern (and elegant) fortress; he strengthened il Passetto, the walls
linking Castel Sant'Angelo with the Papal Palace where he had set his
residence in a tower (now hidden by Palazzo Apostolico): his
apartment was lavishly decorated by Pinturicchio. He also restored Porta Settimiana and Porta del
Pellegrino.
For the 1500 Jubilee Year he enlarged Via del Pellegrino and
he opened a new street (Via Alessandrina, now lost) in Borgo.
With the
first gold from America (a gift of Spain) he decorated the ceiling of S. Maria
Maggiore: he protected the Spanish community and promoted the
construction of S. Pietro
in Montorio and S.
Giacomo degli Spagnoli.
During his pontificate Michelangelo came
for the first time to Rome where in 1497 he was commissioned by the French
ambassador one of his most famous works, the Pietà, which is now in
S. Pietro.
The image used as a background for this page shows a
detail of Ponte Sisto.
Iconografia
Pope
Pius II at Ancona fresco by Pinturicchio (1454-1513) Libreria
Piccolomini - Siena.
Sixtus IV
appoints Platina head of the Vatican Library by Melozzo da Forlì
(1438-94) - Vatican Museums.
Lorenzo il Magnifico
among his artists by Ottavio Vannini (1585-1643).
Caterina
Sforza is taken prisoner by Cesare Borgia by Dario Gobbi 1914.
Portrait
of Pope Alexander VI del Pinturicchio (1454-1513) - Borgia Apartment -
Rome.
Cesare
Borgia, il Valentino di Altobello Melone (XVIth century).
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