La Mostra    1575

Reception of pilgrims in Rome in the 1575 Jubilee, as reported by Dominican Father Angelo Pientini

Angelo Pientini, Le pie narrationi dell'opere piu memorabili fatte in Roma l'anno del giubileo MDLXXV..., Firenze 1583

Establishment of new confraternities, hospitals and assistance facilities in Rome during the papacy of Gregory XIII

Marcantonio Ciappi, Compendio delle heroiche et gloriose attioni et santa vita di papa Greg. XIII, distinto in tredici capi in memoria delli XIII anni ch'egli visse nel suo felice pontificato..., Roma 1596

St. John in Lateran in 1575

Natale Bonifacio (engr.), Anno Iubilei 1575 Lateranensis Basylica S. Ioannis in Urbe, in: Principio Fabrizi, Delle allusioni, imprese, et emblemi del sig. Principio Fabricii da Teramo sopra la vita, opere et attioni di Gregorio XIII..., Roma 1588

Camillo Fanucci's description of charity work in Rome for the benefit of pilgrims in the Jubilees of 1575 and 1600

In the notice to readers introducing his “Trattato di tutte l’opere pie dell’alma città di Roma”, Camillo Fanucci writes: “If, during the Holy Year of fifteen seventy five, I had been amazed at the greate charity of all kinds that was meted out in Rome to those who came to Rome to participate in the Jubilee most holy, in this year of sixteen hundred I was astonished, amazed & practically beside myself, having seen the great & indeed immense works of charity & piety undertaken by the city’s confraternities...”

Camillo Fanucci, Trattato di tutte l'opere pie dell'alma città di Roma... nel quale si descivono tutti gli Spedali, Confraternite & altri luoghi pii..., Roma 1602

Construction of places of worship and church enhancement under Gregory XIII

Carlo Coquelines, Delle azioni memorabili di papa Gregorio decimoterzo tratte dalle memorie originali de' suoi tempi, in: Giampietro Maffei, Degli annali di Gregorio XIII pontefice massimo..., vol. II, Roma 1742

Piazza della Rotonda before the 17th-century alterations

For the Jubilee of 1575 pope Gregory XIII commissioned to Giacomo della Porta a fountain to place in the middle of the square. The look of the fountain remained the same until 1711 when pope Clement XI established that the Egyptian obelisk then placed in San Macuto were repositioned in front of the Pantheon. In so doing it was been realized a radical restoration of the fountain, whose basin was replaced by a group of rocks and dolphins to support the obelisk. In the view by Cruyl you can also see the two side bell-towers built in the first half of the Seventeenth century by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for pope Urban VIII, then removed in 1883.

Levin Cruyl, stampa del 1667, in: Cento vedute di Roma antica raccolte e illustrate da Alfonso Bartoli, Firenze 1911

S. Carlo Borromeo comes to Rome for the Jubilee of 1575

Aristide Sala, Biografia di San Carlo Borromeo..., Milano 1858

"Le cose meravigliose dell'alma città di Roma" for the Jubilee of 1575

For the 1575 Jubilee, pilgrims could choose from as many as ten different editions of “Cose Meravigliose” on the city of Rome. These guides were enriched over time to regularly include descriptions of churches, stations and relics; handbooks on how to earn an indulgence; the “Roman guide” (a brief itinerary for visiting the city in three days); a chronology of popes, kings, Roman Emperors and pre-eminent Christians; Palladio/Tarcagnota’s Antiquities of Rome; and a list of the main post houses for changing horses. Some of these guides featured a pastoral letter dated 10 September 1574 from the Archbishop of Milan Carlo Borromeo to diocesans, urging them to embark on a pilgrimage to Rome during the forthcoming Jubilee.

Le cose maravigliose dell'alma città di Roma dove si tratta delle chiese, stationi, & reliquie de' corpi santi che vi sono. Con un trattato d'acquistar l'indulgentie. La guida romana che insegna facilmente a i forastieri a ritrovare le più notabil cose di Roma. Li nomi de i sommi pontefici, imperadori, & altri principi christiani. L'antichità di Roma brevemente raccolta. Et un discorso sopra i fuochi degli antichi. Tutti novamente purgati, & corretti. Et una epistola del cardinale Borromeo del giubileo dell'anno santo, Roma 1575

Old and new St. Peter's during the second half of XVI century

For much of the sixteenth century, the “old” and “new” St Peter’s coexisted, divided by the “Farnesian wall” built during Paul III’s papacy to cordon off the building site from the Constantine church, where believers and pilgrims continued to celebrate rites and ceremonies. The engraving by Natale Bonifacio shows the progress of the works in 1575, during the pontificate of Gregory XIII.

Natale Bonifacio (engr.), D. Petri Basilica in Vaticano Ann. Iubilei 1575, in: Principio Fabrizi, Delle allusioni, imprese, et emblemi del sig. Principio Fabricii da Teramo sopra la vita, opere et attioni di Gregorio XIII..., Roma 1588

The changes made by Gregory XIII, Sixtus V and Alexander VII to Piazza del Popolo

The view by Giovanni Battista Falda shows Piazza del Popolo after sixteenth-seventeenth century works commissioned by Gregory XIII, Sixtus V and Alexander VII. Actually you can see the fountain by Giacomo della Porta, got placed in the middle of the square in 1573, prior to 1575 Jubilee, by pope Gregory XIII; the Egyptian obelisk from Circus Maximus, which got erected in 1589 by Sixtus V; the interior façade of Porta del Popolo, restored by Gian Lorenzo Bernini on behalf of Alexander VII, who also entrusted him with a mandate to work on the basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, erected in XI century by Pascal II and rebuilt by pope Sixtus IV for the Jubilee of 1475.

Giovanni Battista Falda, Piazza del Popolo abbellita da n.s. papa Alessandro VII, in: Id., Il nuovo teatro delle fabriche et edificii in prospettiva di Roma moderna..., vol. I, Roma 1665

Gregory XIII's Bull of 1 October 1574, also known as Constitution "De aedificiis"

A fundamental urbanistic instrument, which remained in effect until about the beginning of XIX century, the constitution "De aedificiis" regulated the urban building activity prior to Holy year of 1575. By establishing the superiority of public interest on private one, it regulated the expropriation faculty of private buildings involved in the opening of new streets and obliged owners to keep the decency of the same buildings, by subjecting them to a strict public control.

Gregorio XIII, Quae publice utilia et decora(1 ottobre 1574), in: Magnum bullarum romanum... opus absolutissimum Laertii Cherubini, editio novissima quinque tomis distributa..., vol. II (A Pio quarto usque ad Innocentium IX), Lyon 1692

Via Gregoriana, known today as Via Merulana

An inscription conserved at St Mary Major states that Gregory XIII commissioned a road to be built for the 1575 Jubilee to link the basilicas of St Mary Major and St John. Originally known as Via Gregoriana, that road exists today as Via Merulana.

Roma prima di Sisto V: la pianta di Roma Du Perac-Lafréry del 1577 riprodotta dall'esemplare esistente nel museo britannico, per cura e con introduzione di Francesco Ehrle, Roma 1908, particolare

Via Gregoriana, known today as Via Merulana

An inscription conserved at St Mary Major states that Gregory XIII commissioned a road to be built for the 1575 Jubilee to link the basilicas of St Mary Major and St John. Originally known as Via Gregoriana, that road exists today as Via Merulana.

Nicola Ratti, Su la Basilica Liberiana, dissertazione letta all’Accademia Romana di archeologia li 9 marzo 1825..., Roma 1825

Via Gregoriana, known today as Via Merulana

An inscription conserved at St Mary Major states that Gregory XIII commissioned a road to be built for the 1575 Jubilee to link the basilicas of St Mary Major and St John. Originally known as Via Gregoriana, that road exists today as Via Merulana.

Nicola Ratti, Su la Basilica Liberiana, dissertazione letta all’Accademia Romana di archeologia li 9 marzo 1825..., Roma 1825

Via Gregoriana, known today as Via Merulana

An inscription conserved at St Mary Major states that Gregory XIII commissioned a road to be built for the 1575 Jubilee to link the basilicas of St Mary Major and St John. Originally known as Via Gregoriana, that road exists today as Via Merulana.

Nicola Ratti, Su la Basilica Liberiana, dissertazione letta all’Accademia Romana di archeologia li 9 marzo 1825..., Roma 1825

Via Gregoriana, known today as Via Merulana

An inscription conserved at St Mary Major states that Gregory XIII commissioned a road to be built for the 1575 Jubilee to link the basilicas of St Mary Major and St John. Originally known as Via Gregoriana, that road exists today as Via Merulana.

Angelo Uggeri, Via Merulana, in: Id., Journées pittoresques des édifices de Rome ancienne, suppl. voll. XXIII-XXV (Vues. Édifices de la Renaissance), Roma 1827

Processions in Rome for the Jubilee of 1575

Angelo Pientini, Le pie narrationi dell'opere piu memorabili fatte in Roma l'anno del giubileo MDLXXV..., Firenze 1583

Pastoral letter of 10 September 1574 addressed to diocesans by the archbishop of Milan Carlo Borromeo, by which he exhorted them to make the pilgrimage to Rome on the occasion of the forthcoming jubilee

Le cose maravigliose dell'alma città di Roma dove si tratta delle chiese, stationi, & reliquie de' corpi santi che vi sono. Con un trattato d'acquistar l'indulgentie. La guida romana che insegna facilmente a i forastieri a ritrovare le più notabil cose di Roma. Li nomi de i sommi pontefici, imperadori, & altri principi christiani. L'antichità di Roma brevemente raccolta. Et un discorso sopra i fuochi degli antichi. Tutti novamente purgati, & corretti. Et una epistola del cardinale Borromeo del giubileo dell'anno santo, Roma 1575

"Provinces from which people went in procession to 1575 Jubilee"

Angelo Pientini, Le pie narrationi dell'opere piu memorabili fatte in Roma l'anno del giubileo MDLXXV..., Firenze 1583