Rome's Historical Districts - VII

	NAME Regola is a phonetic corruption of Arenula - both a street and a square still bear this name - which comes from the Latin renula ("fine sand"). In fact, Regola used to be covered with sand left by the Tiber, along whose eastern bank the district stretches, after the river's frequent floods. One of its streets called vicolo del Polverone (more or less "Big Dust Lane") might have been given this name for the same reason. Nowadays, the river banks have a regular wall to prevent floods, but this work was only carried out by the early 20th century. In the Middle Ages it was called Regio Arenule et Chacabariorum, where the second name was referred to the chacabariis, coppersmiths who made cauldrons and similar kitchenware. Also two local churches were named after them: Santa Maria in Cacaberis (now called Santa Maria de' Calderari, its equivalent in Italian), and San Salvatore in Cacabariis whose name was turned into Santa Maria del Pianto in the 16th century.

NAME
Regola is a phonetic corruption of Arenula - both a street and a square still bear this name - which comes from the Latin renula ("fine sand"). In fact, Regola used to be covered with sand left by the Tiber, along whose eastern bank the district stretches, after the river's frequent floods. One of its streets called vicolo del Polverone (more or less "Big Dust Lane") might have been given this name for the same reason. Nowadays, the river banks have a regular wall to prevent floods, but this work was only carried out by the early 20th century.
In the Middle Ages it was called Regio Arenule et Chacabariorum, where the second name was referred to the chacabariis, coppersmiths who made cauldrons and similar kitchenware. Also two local churches were named after them: Santa Maria in Cacaberis (now called Santa Maria de' Calderari, its equivalent in Italian), and San Salvatore in Cacabariis whose name was turned into Santa Maria del Pianto in the 16th century.

COAT OF ARMS A deer. Regola was famous for its craftsmen, after whose activities many streets were named (see below, MAIN FEATURES). Leather and suede tanners, who used especially deer skin for making clothes, were particularly renowned, whence the choice of the rione's coat of arms. BOUNDARY Via dei Banchi Vecchi; via del Pellegrino; via dei Cappellari; piazza Campo dei Fiori; via dei Giubbonari; piazza Benedetto Cairoli; via di Santa Maria del Pianto; via del Progresso (former piazza delle Cinque Scole); lungotevere de' Cenci; lungotevere dei Vallati; lungotevere dei Tebaldi; lungotevere di Sangallo; vicolo della Scimia; via delle Carceri.	16th century house between via del Pellegrino and via di Monserrato

COAT OF ARMS
A deer. Regola was famous for its craftsmen, after whose activities many streets were named (see below, MAIN FEATURES). Leather and suede tanners, who used especially deer skin for making clothes, were particularly renowned, whence the choice of the rione's coat of arms.

BOUNDARY
Via dei Banchi Vecchi; via del Pellegrino; via dei Cappellari; piazza Campo dei Fiori; via dei Giubbonari; piazza Benedetto Cairoli; via di Santa Maria del Pianto; via del Progresso (former piazza delle Cinque Scole); lungotevere de' Cenci; lungotevere dei Vallati; lungotevere dei Tebaldi; lungotevere di Sangallo; vicolo della Scimia; via delle Carceri.

16th century house between via del Pellegrino and via di Monserrato

MAIN FEATURES (the black numbers in brackets refer to the map on the right) In ancient roman times, Regola belonged to the Regio IX, as it corresponded to the southernmost tip of the Campus Martius (Field of Mars), see Rione IV Campo Marzio for details.

piazza Farnese, with Palazzo Farnese in the background	The heart of this long and narrow district is piazza Farnese [1], decorated by two twin fountains; here stands the early 16th century Palazzo Farnese, considered one of Rome's most beautiful Renaissance buildings, drawn by famous architects such as Sangallo, Michelangelo and Della Porta, and sponsored by cardinal Alessandro Farnese (who later became pope Paul III). A famous detail by Michelangelo is the beautiful cornice that frames the top of the building, whose carved flowers are all different.

piazza Farnese, with Palazzo Farnese in the background

The heart of this long and narrow district is piazza Farnese [1], decorated by two twin fountains; here stands the early 16th century Palazzo Farnese, considered one of Rome's most beautiful Renaissance buildings, drawn by famous architects such as Sangallo, Michelangelo and Della Porta, and sponsored by cardinal Alessandro Farnese (who later became pope Paul III).
A famous detail by Michelangelo is the beautiful cornice that frames the top of the building, whose carved flowers are all different.
piazza Farnese

In time the building's property passed from the Farnese family to the Bourbons, the royal family of the kingdom of Naples, and then to the French government. It is presently houses the French Embassy in Rome; a symbolic token is payed by France to Italy for the use of the building.

Curiously, a fleur-de-lys was the emblem of both the Farnese and the French royal family, and this flower actually appears many times on the building as well as on the two twin fountains, whose base consists of large marble tubs coming from ancient roman baths (see Fountains, part III page 14). Many of the streets that surround this square have preserved their historical atmosphere. At the back of Palazzo Farnese, almost parallel to the Tiber's course, runs the famous via Giulia [2], the first long and straight street opened through the old medieval neighborhood during the Renaissance, following the course of a pre-existing ancient roman road. In year 2008 via Giulia marked its 500th anniversary. Along its northern half, which belongs to Ponte (Rione V), stand several historical buildings; instead its southern stretch, belonging to Regola, has most of its interesting features concentrated behind Palazzo Farnese.	via Giulia's fountain

Curiously, a fleur-de-lys was the emblem of both the Farnese and the French royal family, and this flower actually appears many times on the building as well as on the two twin fountains, whose base consists of large marble tubs coming from ancient roman baths (see Fountains, part III page 14).

Many of the streets that surround this square have preserved their historical atmosphere.
At the back of Palazzo Farnese, almost parallel to the Tiber's course, runs the famous via Giulia [2], the first long and straight street opened through the old medieval neighborhood during the Renaissance, following the course of a pre-existing ancient roman road. In year 2008 via Giulia marked its 500th anniversary.
Along its northern half, which belongs to Ponte (Rione V), stand several historical buildings; instead its southern stretch, belonging to Regola, has most of its interesting features concentrated behind Palazzo Farnese.

via Giulia's fountain

the Farnese arch crossing via Giulia	Here, leaning against the wall, is the early 17th century fountain known as Mascherone di via Giulia ("via Giulia's grotesque face") [3], made by reusing ancient roman marbles; the bronze flower seen at the top is the Farnese family's heraldic device, the fleur-de-lys. Almost on the same spot, the street is crossed by the Farnese arch [4], a walkable passage, connecting the back of Palazzo Farnese to the buildings on the opposite side of the street. These rather low buildings now stand in place of an older complex, called the Camerini Farnesiani ("Farnese Cabinets"), where the family kept a rich collection of statues and other works of art. The cabinets themselves were decorated with paintings by distinguished artists, such as Annibale Carracci, Domenichino and Giovanni Lanfranco. Only three small frescoes by the latter author were spared when the cabinets were demolished and replaced by the present buildings; they are now kept in the nearby church of Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte (see below). Some believe that the Farnese arch was also supposed to be the first part of a longer walkway that should have spanned across the river Tiber acting as a private bridge, linking the family's palace to another rich mansion they owned on the opposite side of the river, Villa Farnesina (see Trastevere, Rione 13). But this project was never carried out, and the archway remained merely a passageway to the art collection.

the Farnese arch crossing via Giulia

Here, leaning against the wall, is the early 17th century fountain known as Mascherone di via Giulia ("via Giulia's grotesque face") [3], made by reusing ancient roman marbles; the bronze flower seen at the top is the Farnese family's heraldic device, the fleur-de-lys.

Almost on the same spot, the street is crossed by the Farnese arch [4], a walkable passage, connecting the back of Palazzo Farnese to the buildings on the opposite side of the street. These rather low buildings now stand in place of an older complex, called the Camerini Farnesiani ("Farnese Cabinets"), where the family kept a rich collection of statues and other works of art. The cabinets themselves were decorated with paintings by distinguished artists, such as Annibale Carracci, Domenichino and Giovanni Lanfranco. Only three small frescoes by the latter author were spared when the cabinets were demolished and replaced by the present buildings; they are now kept in the nearby church of Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte (see below).
Some believe that the Farnese arch was also supposed to be the first part of a longer walkway that should have spanned across the river Tiber acting as a private bridge, linking the family's palace to another rich mansion they owned on the opposite side of the river, Villa Farnesina (see Trastevere, Rione 13). But this project was never carried out, and the archway remained merely a passageway to the art collection.

Below the arch stands the small church of Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte (i.e. St.Mary of Prayer and Death), only open on Sunday afternoons for the short time of a religious function [note: in year 2008 the church is open to the public, to celebrate via Giulia's 500th anniversary].

Up to the 19th century, the duty of the religious congregation for whom this church was first built in 1575, was to go into the countryside and collect the many corpses of the peasants and the poor, simply left in the open air, and give them a burial in the church's cemetery. Having become too small for its duties, the church was then rebuilt into its present shape in 1733-37. The decorations of the church explicitly refer to the pityful yet gruesome activity of the congregates, by featuring several skulls on the façade, as well as other allegories of time and death (winged hour-glasses, skeletons, etc.), such as the ones on the two old alms-boxes. The cemetery, housed in a vault below the church, once stretched up to the nearby Tiber, but it had to be shortened in the early 20th century, when the walls along the river's banks were set into place, to prevent frequent floods.	(↑ above) skulls and a winged hourglass on the front of the church; (↓ below) a detail of the vault

Up to the 19th century, the duty of the religious congregation for whom this church was first built in 1575, was to go into the countryside and collect the many corpses of the peasants and the poor, simply left in the open air, and give them a burial in the church's cemetery. Having become too small for its duties, the church was then rebuilt into its present shape in 1733-37.
The decorations of the church explicitly refer to the pityful yet gruesome activity of the congregates, by featuring several skulls on the façade, as well as other allegories of time and death (winged hour-glasses, skeletons, etc.), such as the ones on the two old alms-boxes. The cemetery, housed in a vault below the church, once stretched up to the nearby Tiber, but it had to be shortened in the early 20th century, when the walls along the river's banks were set into place, to prevent frequent floods.

(↑ above) skulls and a winged hourglass on the front of the church;
(↓ below) a detail of the vault

Still today many skulls are kept on display, and the light is provided by lamps made with human bones. This should not surprise: several religious establishments in Rome once used to hang human remains on the walls and ceilings of their vaults. This custom came to an end in the early 1800s; today only two churches still maintain specimens of this eerie form of art (the other one is the Capuchin church in via Veneto, see Legendary Rome page 6).

← one of the old alms-boxes of the church, dated 1694

By the right side of the building, a large falcon's head with a female bust stares at the passers-by from the top of a pilaster: here the church's façade adjoins Palazzo Falconieri, a historical residence built in the 1500s that changed owners several times.

← one of the falcon's heads of Palazzo Falconieri

It originally belonged to the Ceci family, but it was soon sold to the Odescalchi, then became a property of the Farnese and finally, around 1635, the Falconieri purchased it, hiring Francesco Borromini to enlarge it and refurbish it. The curious carving is therefore the emblem of the family (an identical one is found at the opposite corner), while the female bust is said to represent the beauty boasted by the female members of the Falconieri. In the early 1900s the building was sold to a Hungarian scholar, who some time later bequoth it to his home country: since 1927 Palazzo Falconieri houses the Hungarian Academy in Rome.

At the opposite end of via Giulia, where the street enters Ponte district, a mighty building has large windows on the ground level closed by thick iron bars. These were the New Prisons [5] which, as a plaque hanging over the entrance says in Latin, "were built in 1650 by pope Innocent X out of justice and clemency, for a safer and milder custody of the guilty". The building, though, was only used as a jail from 1658, as soon after its making a plague broke out in Rome, and the sick were kept here, where they could be safely secluded from the rest of the population.

the New Prisons in via Giulia	Another historical street that springs from piazza Farnese is via di Monserrato, parallel to via Giulia and crowded with many tall, narrow houses, most of which built in the 1500s, or even earlier. One of them is particularly eye-catching, both due to its medieval shape and to its excellent state of preservation: the house of St.Catherine from Siena (14th century); the plaque over the doorway, though, states that this building is but a faithful replica of the one dwelt by the saint in Siena, and the date it bears (April 30, 1912) completes the disenchantment. Almost on the same spot, but on the opposite side of the street, a plaque set in 1999 remembers that 500 years ago in that place stood Corte Savella, an ill-famed law court with a dungeon in the basement, feared throughout Rome for the harsh treatment reserved to the convicts, both during their trial and their detention. It stopped working when the aforesaid New Prisons building was opened in via Giulia. Corte Savella was later demolished, to cancel any trace of such gruesome institution.

the New Prisons in via Giulia

Another historical street that springs from piazza Farnese is via di Monserrato, parallel to via Giulia and crowded with many tall, narrow houses, most of which built in the 1500s, or even earlier. One of them is particularly eye-catching, both due to its medieval shape and to its excellent state of preservation: the house of St.Catherine from Siena (14th century); the plaque over the doorway, though, states that this building is but a faithful replica of the one dwelt by the saint in Siena, and the date it bears (April 30, 1912) completes the disenchantment.

Almost on the same spot, but on the opposite side of the street, a plaque set in 1999 remembers that 500 years ago in that place stood Corte Savella, an ill-famed law court with a dungeon in the basement, feared throughout Rome for the harsh treatment reserved to the convicts, both during their trial and their detention. It stopped working when the aforesaid New Prisons building was opened in via Giulia. Corte Savella was later demolished, to cancel any trace of such gruesome institution.

At the opposite end of via di Monserrato, in the small piazza de' Ricci [6] stands a pretty 16th century building, whose façade is decorated with paintings rather poorly preserved, and whose back looks towards via Giulia.

Palazzo Ricci		It originally belonged to the Ricci family. Many dwelt in Palazzo Ricci, but it is mainly remembered for having been the residence of the infamous daughter of pope Paul III (1534-49), Costanza Farnese, who allegedly had an incestuous relationship with her own father.

Behind the building, at the end of a lane that from via Giulia leads towards the river Tiber, stands the small church of Sant'Eligio degli Orefici [7], drawn by Raphael in 1516 for the goldsmiths' guild, whose cute hemispheric dome is easily told.

Sant'Eligio degli Orefici

The southern part of the district is a texture of short and narrow lanes connecting small squares. In one of them stands a large building called Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, which houses Rome's main public pawn shop, an institution founded in year 1539 for the public benefit. The building dates back to the late 1500s, and is decorated by a small fountain of slightly later age.

In another small square nearby, piazza della Quercia ("oak square", after the centuries-old tree that grows in the centre) stands another important and particurly ornate building, Palazzo Spada [8], whose façade is decorated with elegant friezes and statues of outstanding personages of ancient Rome. It was built for cardinal Capo di Ferro in 1540; then, one century later, it was bought by another cardinal, Bernardino Spada, who hired Francesco Borromini for enlarging and altering the original building. It houses an important collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings: the Spada Gallery.

Borromini's perspective gallery looks
four times longer than its actual size

Palazzo Spada, though, is better known for its so-called perspective gallery.

It is a bizzarre, short tunnel built by Borromini on one side of the building, whose actual length is about 9 metres or yards, but designed and arranged in such a way that an optical effect makes it appear four times longer. Another consequence of the perspective effect is that a person standing at the opposite end looks like a giant.		Palazzo Spada

This simple yet truly amazing optical effect shows how well Baroque architects amused their patrons by blending originality with technical and scientific skills; in fact, for the making of this gallery Borromini cooperated with an outstanding mathematician.

The building is faced by a small cute fountain, also arranged by Borromini, consisting of a female figure (a nymph) standing in a niche over an ancient sarcophagus; the wall at the back is painted so to mimic ashlar work, in a typical Baroque fashion (see Fountains, part II page 1). Palazzo Spada's courtyard (which is also extremely ornate) was altered by Borromini so that from its central spot both the perspective gallery and the fountain can be seen at right angles.

Along the lane running left to the building, called via Capo di Ferro (after the first owner of Palazzo Spada), an old house built sometime during the Middle Ages features ancient columns enclosed in its simple and rather rough brick texture: they were likely taken from an archaeologic site nearby, and reused as building material, a typical custom of that age.

medieval house in via Capo di Ferro	More than in any other rione, many streets, lanes and squares in Regola are named after the shops and workshops once found there (a trend also proven by the ancient name of the district and by its coat of arms): among them are via dei Giubbonari (jacket-makers), via dei Chiavari (key-makers), via dei Baullari (trunk-makers), via dei Pettinari (comb-makers), vicolo dei Catinari (basin-makers), via dei Balestrari (crossbow-makers), via dei Cappellari (hat-makers), and a few others.	the so-called houses of St.Paul

Towards the southern end of the district is an interesting complex of medieval houses, dating back to the 13th century, known as the 'houses of St.Paul' [9], following a popular belief according to which the saint is said to have dwelt there.

At the very bottom of Regola, by the boundary with Sant'Angelo, stands Palazzo Cenci [11], built in the mid 1500s over the ruins of a preexisting fortress. Here lived the young Beatrice Cenci, the famous hero whose ghost is still said to haunt the city streets.

← the arch at the back of Palazzo Cenci