S. Pietro in Vinculis

  S. Pietro in Vinculis
  (Vasi at work in the Grand View of Rome)

Links to this page can be found in Book 3, Map B3, Day 2, View B8 and Rione Monti.

The page covers:
The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
Today's view
S. Pietro in Vinculis
The Cloister
S. Francesco di Paola
Torri degli Annibaldi e dei Cesarini (Case dei Borgia)

The Plate (No. 45)

The Esquiline Hill of ancient Rome had three peaks: Cispius, the highest one, upon which S. Maria Maggiore was eventually built, Opius to the north of Colosseo and Fagutal at the top of which stands the church shown by Vasi in this plate. Latin fagus means beech tree and Fagutal indicated a wood of beech trees around a temple to Jupiter. Similar to the other peaks of the Esquiline Fagutal was the location of luxury domus (ancient Roman houses). In 1753, when Vasi made this etching, a series of monasteries and nunneries occupied the area which was in part abandoned and used by shepherds.
The view is taken from the green dot in the map below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) Part of the monastery of S. Francesco di Paola; 2) Street leading to S. Martino ai Monti (aka Via delle Sette Sale); 3) S. Pietro in Vinculis (today Italian Vincoli is more commonly used); 4) Palazzo del Cardinal Titolare. The small 1748 map shows also 5) Monastery of S. Antonio Abate; 6) Torre dei Cesarini; 7) Torre degli Annibaldi; 8) "Case dei Borgia".

Today

The view in June 2009

The bell tower and the adjoining monastery, exception made for its cloister, were pulled down at the beginning of the XXth century to leave room for a huge building which houses the Engineering Faculty of the main University of Rome. The church is a "must see" site because it houses the statue of Moses by Michelangelo in the unfinished Monument to Pope Julius II.

(left) Palazzo del Cardinal Titolare; (centre-above) coat of arms of Cardinal Antoine de Granvelle: his motto was "durate" (stand fast); (centre-below) coat of arms and name of Cardinal Antoine de Granvelle (ANT.CAR.GRANVELANUS); (right) portal of former Monastero di S. Antonio Abate

A minor change occurred in Palazzo del Cardinal Titolare (the residence of the titular cardinal of the church, i.e. its honorary priest) where the elaborate portal was replaced by a much simpler entrance.
Coats of arms on the palace and on the upper section of the fa�ade make reference to Cardinal Antoine de Granvelle: he was more of a statesman than of a priest and he is mainly remembered for having conducted the negotiations for the marriage of Queen Mary I of England and King Philip II of Spain and for having been the de facto governor of the Low Countries (today's Belgium and Netherlands) in 1559-1564 and the Viceroy of Naples in 1571-1575.
At the far right of the plate Vasi shows a portal which led to the monastery of S. Antonio Abate; the portal is still there, but the monastery has been replaced by a complex of late XIXth century buildings housing the Roman congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

S. Pietro in Vinculis

Apse of the church: 1577 frescoes by Jacopo Coppi depicting events associated with St. Peter's chains; (left) St. Peter is freed by an angel (loosely based on a fresco by Raphael - it opens in another window); (right) Empress Licinia Eudocia presents the chains to Pope Leo I

Vinculis (Latin for bonds/chains) is a reference to a miracle concerning the chains of St. Peter. In 439 Elia Eudocia, wife of Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where she found several relics, including chains which had been used to bind St. Peter in that city; she sent them to her daughter Licinia Eudocia, who was the wife of Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III; eventually the chains were given to Pope Leo I who decided to keep them together with the chains used to bind St. Peter in Rome; at this point the two sections spontaneously joined together.
S. Pietro in Vinculis was built as early as 442 by Licinia Eudocia in order to celebrate the miracle and to house the chains; for this reason it is also known as Basilica Eudossiana.

Portico: (above-left) XVIIIth century railing; (above-right) XVIIIth century stucco; (below) decoration of the lintel showing the coats of arms of Pope Sixtus IV and of his nephew Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere (Pope Julius II in 1503-1513)

The miracle of the chains had also a political meaning: in 423, when Emperor Honorius died, his nephew and heir Valentinian III was a boy of four. The Western Roman Empire was ruled first by Joannes, an usurper, and then by Galla Placidia, the mother of Valentinian III. The marriage of Valentinian and Licinia Eudocia in 437 was seen as the reunion in the same family of the two parts of the Roman Empire.

Fa�ade

The portico of S. Pietro in Vincoli was designed by Meo del Caprina in 1475 for Pope Sixtus IV. The fa�ade was completed in 1570-1578 by the addition of a storey above the portico. Notwithstanding major repairs made in the XVIIIth century to the portico of the church, the fa�ade is still as it appeared in a 1588 Guide to Rome.

(left) Interior; (right) ancient marble columns

The interior of the church overall retains its original design, i.e. a basilica divided into three naves by rows of columns with a large apse at its end. The ancient columns separating the naves are all of the same size and material and they might have been taken from nearby Portico di Livia. Minute fragments of mosaic have been found in the lower part of the apse. They are dated XIIIth century and they most likely belonged to a mosaic which replaced an older one. The fragments do not allow making any hypotheses about its subject.
The canopy is an 1866 addition designed by Virginio Vespignani, the favourite architect of Pope Pius IX (see how he redesigned Porta Pia).

1477 silver panels of the reliquary containing the chains of St. Peter with the coats of arms of Pope Sixtus IV and of Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere. The left panel depicts the trial of St. Peter and the right one his liberation (by an unknown sculptor)

In the sacristy of this Church I saw the chains in which St Peter was fettered in prison and which make this Church be called S. Peter ad vincula.
Richard Lassels - The Voyage of Italy, or a Compleat Journey through Italy in ca 1668
The chains were placed in a glass urn in 1856 and eventually the urn was moved to a small crypt under the canopy. The silver panels are not usually visible, but by inserting a coin in a mechanism you can make them appear for a short time.

(left) Image of Jesus Christ on the wall of the ancient church; (right-above) IVth century funerary inscription of a young girl from the catacomb of St. Ciriaca (or St. Lawrence); (right-below) inscription celebrating the 533 papal election of Mercurius who was the first to change his name (Pope John II)

The interior of the church was renovated several times, but it retains some memories of its early medieval period, in particular a finely written inscription making reference to Mercurius, who, when he was a presbyter, built the ciborium of the Lower Church of S. Clemente.

1) VIIth century mosaic portraying St. Sebastian; 2) log of the previous roof paid for by Cardinal Nicola Cusano in 1465; 3) tombstone of Eustachio Orsini (d. 1483); 4) monument to Antonio (d. 1498) and Piero del Pollaiolo, two Florentine sculptors, attributed to Luigi Capponi

Heres near unto the door of the Church, an altar to S. Sebastian at the erecting of which, the plague ceased in Rome, saith Baronius. Lassels
The only remaining mosaic of the medieval church decorated an altar to St. Sebastian who was portrayed as a courtier of Emperor Justinian, rather than according to the iconography we are accustomed to (you may wish to see a statue of the saint at S. Sebastiano fuori le mura). According to tradition the erection of the altar to St. Sebastian ended a particularly virulent plague in 680. Since then St. Sebastian was invoked to end pestilences, similar to St. Roch.

Fresco near the entrance (attributed to Antoniazzo Romano): (left) Procession led by Pope Sixtus IV to end the 1476 plague; (right) detail showing a devil hitting the door of a house

Pope Sixtus IV led a major procession to pray for the end of a pestilence in 1476, a practice which had a major historical precedent in 590 when Pope Gregory the Great had a miraculous vision at Castel Sant'Angelo. The fresco depicts the procession, but its upper and central parts refer to the 680 plague. The Pope sits with his cardinals in a hall and is told by a pilgrim that the erection of an altar to St. Sebastian would end the plague; below this scene an angel and a devil knock at the door of a house and the number of times they knock indicates the number of people who would die, a circumstance which was reported in a chronicle of the 680 plague.

Monument to German Cardinal Nicholas of Kues (Nicola Cusano) attributed to Andrea Bregno

S. Pietro in Vincoli, after its renovation by Pope Sixtus IV, became a preferred location for funerary monuments. Andrea Bregno was the leading sculptor of Rome before Michelangelo; he excelled in reliefs, in particular in very low reliefs. His monument to Cardinal Cusano in S. Pietro in Vincoli is very interesting for its polychromy. Cardinal Cusano's fields of interest were typical of a man of the Renaissance; in addition to religious treaties, he wrote about astronomy, mathematics, law and philosophy. He also played a significant political role as adviser to Popes Eugenius IV and Nicholas V.

Michelangelo's monument to Pope Julius II and the statue portraying Moses (the head is shown in the image used as background for this page)

I went up the hill to S. Peter ad vincula where I saw the famous statue of Moses sitting. Its of white marble and adorning the tomb of Julius Secundus. Its enough to tell you, that it was made by Michael Angelo, and admired by all Sculptors. Lassels
The Statue of Moses Sitting: as it is very Famous, 'tis doubtless very Excellent. (..) But I cannot forbear fancying it has a Fault which has not been taken notice of by any body that I know of and yet it struck me immediately; and upon my mentioning it to some very Ingenious Gentlemen that were viewing it with me, they all agreed my Observation was just. Everyone knows the old Conceit that all Human Faces have a Resemblance to those of some sort of Animal, some more, some less; and when this Resemblance is very remarkable, it must needs be proportionably a Deformity. Now this Moses has so much the Air of a Goat, that either Mich. Angelo intended it, (which he was as likely to be guilty of as any Man) or he Mistook his Air, and instead of raising it to the top of Human Nature as he ought, has sunk it towards Brutality.
Jonathan and Jonathan Richardson - Account of Some of the Statues, etc. in Italy - 1722
Yesterday saw ... "Moses" by Michelangelo. Beard too long; horns, though sacred, yet ludicrous as like satyr; rest of the figure superb.
From James Boswell's letters on the Grand Tour related to his visit to Rome in 1765.
No piece of statuary has ever made a stronger impression on me than this. How often have I mounted the steep steps from the unlovely Corso Cavour to the lonely piazza where the deserted church stands, and have essayed to support the angry scorn of the hero's glance!
Sigmund Freud - The Moses of Michelangelo - 1913 - Translation by James Strachey.

(left) The monument seen from the right aisle with a transept chapel housing a painting by il Guercino in the background; (right) statue of Rachel or Contemplative Life by Michelangelo in a frame by Jacopo del Duca, one of his assistants

The statue of Moses was designed for a grand monument to be placed at the centre of S. Pietro (Nuovo), the new basilica which Pope Julius II decided to build on the site of the existing one. The death of the Pope in 1513 halted the completion of the monument; the new Pope Leo X Medici was hostile to the Della Rovere because both families competed for the control of the Duchy of Urbino. Eventually it was Francesco Maria Della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, who asked Michelangelo to rethink the design of his uncle's monument. This was completed in 1545 in S. Pietro in Vincoli; however the Pope is buried in a simple tomb on the floor of S. Pietro. In recent years an anecdote reported by Vasari, i.e. that when Michelangelo resumed sculpting the Moses, he decided to change its posture and in particular he twisted its head, has been given credit, because it explains some inconsistencies in the overall design of the statue.

Monument to Cardinal Girolamo Agucchi (d. 1605) by il Domenichino

Il Domenichino enjoyed the protection of Giovanni Battista Agucchi who helped him in obtaining his first commissions and provided him with accommodation. Agucchi was the secretary of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and the brother of Cardinal Girolamo Agucchi, whose funerary monument is a work by il Domenichino as an architect, a sculptor and a painter.
The church houses also many later monuments with symbols of death.

(left) The Liberation of St. Peter, copy of a painting by il Domenichino which was commissioned by Giovanni Battista Agucchi; (right) a Piet� attr. to Cristoro Roncalli, il Pomarancio

The Cloister

Cloister

The monastery of S. Pietro in Vincoli belonged to the Canon Regulars of the Lateran. In 1900, after they had been evicted from the monastery, they bought the nearby former nunnery of S. Maria della Purificazione. The cloister of the monastery is now inside the University buildings, but it is definitely worth a visit. It is generally attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo who was asked by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere to build a (lost) villa adjoining the church. In this villa the Cardinal kept a statue of Apollo which had been found at Anzio. When he became Pope Julius II he moved it to Casino di Belvedere and the statue became known as Apollo Belvedere.

(left) Detail of the well with a coat of arms of the two Della Rovere popes; (right) coat of arms of Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere

At the centre of the cloister an elegant well reminds us that this part of Rome did not have a supply of water until Pope Sixtus V built the aqueduct of Acqua Felice. The decoration of the well is attributed to Simone Mosca, a Florentine sculptor who worked with Michelangelo (see four sphinxes he made at S. Maria della Pace).

(left) 1642 fountain built at the expense of Cardinal Antonio Barberini; (right) inscription celebrating the event (see similar inscriptions at the Gate of Villa Medici)

Behind the well a small spouting fountain is a sign of the return of a constant supply of water to the hills of Rome. A lengthy inscription in a very elaborate frame celebrates the virtues of bees, the heraldic symbol of the Barberini:

Disce hospes aquae hujus perennitatem
e scatebra inexhausta;
Ea est Antonii Cardinalis Barberini Liberalitas.
Disce Suavitatem;
Eam Apes profundunt.
Sapor in aquis caeteris vitium,
In hac mel et nectar est.
Nulla melior influat in hortos aqua
dum apes propinant
Melleam flores usuram bibunt.

Broad meaning of the inscription: "Visitor, you should be aware that this perennial water which comes from a bubbling spring is a gift from Cardinal Antonio Barberini. Learn about sweetness; this is given to water by bees which take away vice and replace it with honey and nectar. There is no better nourishment for a garden, than that carried by bees for the never-ending appetite of flowers."
In 1644, after his uncle Pope Urban VIII died, Cardinal Barberini had to fly to France to escape imprisonment: the Romans had had enough of the Barberini bees.

S. Francesco di Paola

(left) Church and monastery of S. Francesco di Paola; (right) details of the church fa�ade

The church and the large monastery dedicated to St. Francis of Paola are now isolated on high ground because of the large street (Via Cavour) which was opened to link Stazione Termini (the Central Railway Station) with the southern part of the city. The church was built in 1623 and enlarged in 1650 at the expense of Donna Olimpia Aldobrandini (see the capital with her family's heraldic symbols - stars and stripes) and it has some interesting details. Olimpia Aldobrandini was the last of her family and thus the heiress of many important properties; she was the wife of Prince Paolo Borghese; when she lost her husband in 1646 she was convinced by Pope Innocent X to immediately marry his nephew Francesco Maria Pamphilj. By this marriage the Pamphilj acquired the palace where they still live.

(left) Interior: (right) detail of the stucco decoration

The 1650 decoration with stuccoes was completed in a second phase in the early XVIIIth century by Luigi Barattoni. At that time the use of stuccoes was very popular as a less expensive alternative to that of marbles. In some instances they were largely gilded (as at il Ges�), but in this case the decoration was soberer, in line with that of churches by Francesco Borromini, e.g. S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.

(left) S. Francesco di Paola, copy of a XVth century painting in a church in Calabria; (right) main altar designed by Giovanni Antonio de' Rossi, a pupil of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (see a page on the use of colour in the churches of Rome)

St. Francis of Paola was a hermit from Paola, a town in Calabria, who was canonized in 1519, a relatively short time after his death in 1507.

Inscription at the entrance to the monastery

He founded the Order of Minims, which has its headquarters in the monastery adjoining the church. A monastery for the French members of the order was founded by King Charles VIII on the Pincio Hill (SS. Trinit� dei Monti). The Minims enjoyed the protection of the King of Naples (after 1816 of Utriusque Siciliae, the Two Sicilies).

Torri degli Annibaldi e dei Cesarini (Case dei Borgia)

(left) Torre dei Cesarini (o Margani) and in the background that of Campidoglio; (centre) Torre degli Annibaldi; (right) Case dei Borgia

The area near S. Pietro in Vincoli retains some interesting medieval buildings:
a) a tower next to S. Francesco di Paola which came into the possession of the Cesarini in the XVth century when it was given a Renaissance appearance; it eventually became the bell tower of the church;
b) a medieval tower in good condition and not modified by excessive restoration; it belonged to the Annibaldi who (in the XIIIth century) were fierce enemies of the Frangipane who lived not far from here in a fortified section of Colosseo; the ciceroni of the past claimed that Emperor Nero stood on this tower while Rome was burning;
c) a building of the Cesarini where it was thought Vannozza Cattanei lived; she was the mistress of Pope Alexander VI Borgia. For this reason the house is called Case dei Borgia; the Cesarini had family bonds with the Borgia: in 1493 the Pope gave the cardinal's hat to Giuliano Cesarini, whose brother Gianandrea had married Gerolama Borgia, a daughter of the Pope from another mistress.

Collezione Torlonia: exhibits from the collection which was initiated by Cardinal Alessandro Cesarini in the first half of the XVIthe century in his palace near S. Pietro in Vincoli: (left) "Venus Cesarini"; (right) assumed statue of Chrysippus, a IIIrd century BC Greek philosopher

You may wish to read William Dean Howells' account of his 1908 visit to S. Pietro in Vincoli (with comments on Michelangelo's Moses) and to these towers.

Next plate in Book 3: Basilica di S. Giovanni in Laterano.
Next step in Day 2 itinerary: Monastero delle Filippine.
Next step in your tour of Rione Monti: Terme di Tito.

Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:

Chiesa di S. Pietro in Vinculis

Molto celebre � la chiesa, che siegue appresso le dette rovine, non solo perch� si conservano in essa le catene, con le quali il Principe degli Apostoli stette legato nella prigione di Gerusalemme, e le altre con le quali fu legato in Roma, miracolosamente unitesi insieme in tempo di s. Leone Magno; ma altres� per l'antichissima tradizione, che quivi il medesimo s. Pietro fondasse una chiesa, e vi celebrasse i divini Misteri, non gi� con quella magnificenza, e solennit�, che dipoi si fece, dopo avuta pace la Chiesa cattolica; ma con quella parsimonia, e modestia, che permettevano quei primi tempi; perci� da Adriano fu rinnovata, ed ornata con antiche colonne striate, cavate forse dalle suddette terme, o da' tempj de' gentili. Giulio II. mentre ne era Cardinale titolare, vi pose i Canonici regolari di s. Salvatore, e poi fatto Papa rinnov� la chiesa, ed ordin� al Buonarroti , che vi facesse il suo deposito; ma per nostra disavventura non vi fece altro, che la sola statua di Mos�, tanto stupenda, che si guarda con ammirazione sopra tutte le opere antiche, e moderne; il resto per� fu fatto da Raffaello di Montelupo. Il s. Agostino nel primo altare a destra � del Guercino da Cento, il sepolcro col ritratto del Card. Margotti, � del Domenichino; il s. Pietro in Carcere nell'altare, che siegue viene dal detto Domenichino; l'altro deposito col ritratto � similmente del Domenichino, e la mezza figura di s. Margherita da Cortona nell'ultima cappella � del suddetto Guercino. Le pitture, che sono nella tribuna, furono fatte a fresco da Giacomo Coppi Fiorentino, e del Cristo morto colla Madonna nella cappella a destra della tribuna, non se ne sa l'autore. La prigionia di san Pietro nell'altare, che siegue, � del Nogarj, ed il sepolcro del Card. Vecchiarelli fu fatto da due Napolitani. Siegue dopo un altare con l'immagine della ss. Vergine molto antica, ed un Santo fatto in mosaico: nell'ultimo altare evvi una Piet�, e nella volta il miracolo delle catene fu dipinto da Gio: Batista Paroti Genovese. Il monastero fu fatto con disegno di Giulio da Sangallo, e le rovine, che si vedono appresso, sono delle dette terme di Tito; quelle per�, che si dicono le sette sale, si credono conserve di acqua, forse per la naumachia di Nerone, che era ove vediamo il Colosseo.

Chiesa di S. Francesco di Paola ai Monti

A destra della riferita � questa chiesa, rivoltata per� dall'altra parte, e fu edificata dalla Principessa Panflli di Rossano con disegno di Gio: Pietro Morandi. Sta unita al convento de' Frati del medesimo santo Titolare, ed � ornata di varie pitture moderne; il s. Michele Arcangelo, ed il s. Francesco di Paola sono di Stefano Perugino, e i laterali nell'ultima cappella sono di Giuseppe Chiari.