During the persecutions by emperors Claudius and Nero, many Christians were killed, and among them was apostle Peter (d.AD 64 or 67), the first pope of the Church of Rome, who was buried by his disciples among other very simple graves just outside the aforesaid circus.
When emperor Constantine the Great lifted the ban over the Christian religion, being his mother (St.Helen) a fervent Christian herself, he decided to build a basilica dedicated to St.Peter [1] on the spot where the apostle was buried: this was one of Rome's first churches and undoubtly one the largest ever built. Therefore, this site became a place of worship: pilgrims from many lands came to visit it, and during their stay they camped in the grounds surrounding the church, where hostels, charity institutions and profitable commercial establishments began to grow. This was the first nucleus of the district.

Leo IV's wall (known as the Passetto)

Being located outside the city, the basilica was unprotected, and when the Saracens raided Rome in the early 9th century they plundered its treasury and damaged the church. So a few years later pope Leo IV (847-55) took measures against further risks by having a whole set of walls built, as explained in Curious and Unusual page 4. This became a suburban citadel, named Civitas Nova ("New City") and later renamed Civitas Leonina ("Leo's City"). In the late Middle Age, a long walkable passage that linked the Vatican to Sant'Angelo Castle was built on top of this wall [2]; the passage was then covered and turned it into a gallery for most of its length. As the district kept expanding, in the mid 16th century pope Pius IV had a further wall built almost parallel to the old one, in order to include its new parts, that were named Borgo Nuovo ("new Borgo"). Soon after, in 1586, the citadel was officially included in Rome's urban territory, and Borgo became the city's fourteenth district.

The wall built under Pius IV ran almost perfectly straight from the castle towards the Vatican. It was taken down for most of its length in the late 19th century, when Rome was chosen as the capital of the newborn Italian state and thousands kept flocking to the city from rural areas: this neighborhood, as well as some others, rapidly expanded and the wall, no longer acting as a defensive structure, caused hindrance to the making of new houses. But still today the northern boundary of Borgo district follows the same straight line once marked by the lost wall.

In the early 1930s the whole central part of Borgo, known as 'the spine', was abruptly taken down for the opening of a large avenue, via della Conciliazione [3] (compare the old and modern views in The Popes' Walls, part I); this was a token of friendship paid by the ruling Fascist government to pope Pius XI who, by signing a concordat with Italy in 1931, sixty years after the fall of the Papal State granted to the Church of Rome once again its own independent country, now called Vatican State. With the loss of Borgo's spine, some historical buildings also disappeared, among which the church of San Giacomo Scossacavalli, while the fountain that stood before it was moved to Sant'Eustachio district.

the wide avenue that left a deep cut through Borgo

Other interesting buildings spared from destruction are still today aligned along the sides of the modern avenue. Among them is the Renaissance church of Santa Maria in Traspontina [4], originally founded much closer to the Castle.

Santa Maria in Traspontina

Its belltower, though, got into the way of the cannons that defended the district from the top of the fortress. So in the mid 1500s the church was taken down and rebuilt into its present shape, about 100 m (or yards) farther from the castle, on the spot where the remains of the aforesaid pyramid were still standing; on this occasion, every trace of the ancient monument definitively disappeared. On the same side of the street is another large building in white travertine dating back to the late 15th century, Palazzo Torlonia [5], one of the several mansions in Rome bearing the name of this family. Its shape recalls the even larger Chancellery Palace in Parione district. Its first owner, a cardinal and a secretary of pope Alexander VI, on leaving Rome gave the building to the king of England Henry VIII, who sponsored its further enlargment and decorations on the front. But when the monarch split from the Church of Rome, this property was confiscated from him. It changed owner several times, until in the 1700s it was taken by the Torlonia family, whose coat of arms now hangs over the main doorway.

16th cent. house (vicolo del Campanile)	Opposite Palazzo Torlonia is Palazzo dei Penitenzieri [6] (second half of the 1400s), built at the expenses of the father of the future pope Julius II, likely inspired by Palazzo Venezia (see Pigna district). It originally had fresco paintings by Pinturicchio on the front, now completely lost, but others by the same painter are still extant inside the building, a part of which has been turned into a five-star hotel. Just before St.Peter's Square, stands another historical building recently turned into a hotel: Palazzo Cesi [7] (1580), built for cardinal Armellini in the early 1500s, and then refurbished into its present shape after having been sold to cardinal Cesi, whence its present name.	Palazzo Torlonia

Besides these large buildings, what has been left standing of the old Borgo district is a texture of old and new: some of the houses are still original, and the ones that were rebuilt harmonize with the old ones. Also the street plan has never changed, based on few long and straight streets that cut through the whole district (presently named Borgo Vittorio, Borgo Pio, Borgo Sant'Angelo, Borgo Santo Spirito), crossing smaller lanes at right angles. But especially in Borgo Nuovo, i.e. the northern half, the vicinity of the Vatican, thus tourism business, has inevitably influenced the spirit of the district, now (over)crowded with touristic establishments.

Nevertheless, raising one's eyes above the row of modern souvenir shops, restaurants and bars, the old windows framed with marble cornices and the ceilings crossed by wooden beams still give us a glimpse of the past. In Borgo's lanes lived some of the personages whose name is bound to Rome's history. Among them was the famous executioner Mastro Titta (see Curious and Unusual page 9), whose house in vicolo degli Ombrellari is no longer standing. the house where Domenico Fontana lived (plaque on the left) has been turned into ...the Bramante Hotel!! Another one was Domenico Fontana, the chief architect and fountain-maker of pope Sixtus V, whose house though has been turned into a hotel (picture on the left), paradoxically named after another famous architect of the Renaissance!

piazza del Catalone, with its small 19th century fountain, is a charming spot along Borgo Pio

An important complex with a long history, located in the southern part of Borgo, is Santo Spirito in Sassia [8].

the ancient Arch-hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia

In year 728, after having abdicated, king Ine of Wessex left Britain and came to Rome as a pilgrim; about forty years earlier, also his predecessor Caedwalla had done the same. Having met with pope Gregory II, Ine agreed the making of a school for the community of fellow countrymen who lived near the tomb of St.Peter. The complex, which also included a hostel and a church, was locally known as Schola Saxonum ("School of the Saxons"), and stood by the western bank of the Tiber. The Saxon community used to call this citadel Burg, whence the Latin name burgus Saxonum given to the whole district, and finally Borgo. Several other national communities, such as the Franks, the Frisians, the Armenians and the Hungarians, each of which had its own school and hospice, were located in this neighborhood.

During the following centuries, the Schola Saxonum was damaged by fire a number of times, therefore its original shape considerably changed in time. Then, around 1200, pope Innocent III gave it to the newborn Order of the Hospitallers of the Holy Spirit, who turned it into a hospital (Arch-hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia), also setting here the headquarters of the congregation, which had branches in many European lands.

Having been damaged again by a fire in 1471, during the following years it was rebuilt in its present shape by pope Sixtus IV, whose coat of arms, bearing the oak tree of the Della Rovere family, can be seen hanging from windows, doorways, pillars, etc. (left). Also the seal of the Order of the Hospitallers who ran the hospital, a Lorraine cross with a double crossbar, is commonly found anywhere around the complex. Santo Spirito in Sassia, vaguely triangular in shape, occupies the whole large block that forms the south-eastern part of the district, which in place names is still referred to as Saxia (now often spelt Sassia) after the early Saxon community who once lived there. Its side that stretches along Borgo Santo Spirito includes the old Arch-hospital of Santo Spirito [8a] (c.1475), the building where its chief administrator lived (Palazzo del Commendatore [8b], c.1570, with a lavish courtyard, presently acting as a library) and the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia [8c] (founded in c.700, rebuilt in the mid 1500s, but with a tall Romanesque belltower dating back to the previous century).

the Sistine Ward; beyond the window is the lantern that divides it into two twin rooms

Along the side of the complex that follows the river bank, instead, is the modern wing of the same hospital [8d], still active, whose back is connected to the unfinished Santo Spirito Gate and its mighty bastion [9], both Renaissance works by Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane (see The Popes' Walls, part II page 2).
Although in the 1600s the hospital was enlarged, its oldest part consisted of a single ward (originally known as the Sistine Ward, after pope Sixtus IV), 120 m or yards long, broken into two wings, later renamed the Baglivi Room and the Lancisi Room after two distinguished physicians and anatomists of the late 17th-early 18th centuries.

the ceiling of the octagonal lantern

The ward is divided by a small hall enclosed by a tall octagonal tower-shaped lantern, easily recognizable from the outside, which originally acted as the hospital's main entrance: in fact, it still maintains its original marble doorway, a fine late 1400s work by Andrea Bregno, subsequently covered by a further doorway in Baroque style. The walls of the ward are decorated with late 15th century fresco paintings, alternating with ogival windows that bear the coat of arms of the pope, and painted wooden panels cover the ceiling: it is even difficult to think of this place as an actual hospital, with the patients' beds lined up! The ward is now only used for holding meetings and conferences. the courtyard of Palazzo del Commendatore

A curious feature along the outer wall of the hospital, by the lantern, is an old 'wheel', a device by which unwanted newborn babies could be anonymously left to the Order of the Hospitallers, instead of being abandoned in the streets or even drowned in the river: actually, it is said that pope Innocent III had the first wheel built by the time the hospital was founded, after some fishermen reported that dead babies had been found in their nets.

the wooden wheel, behind the iron grill with a round opening for the baby

In time, wheels similar to this one appeared by many other religious institutions, such as hospices, convents, etc., becoming a common custom. The device consisted of a revolving hollow cylinder made of wood, open on one side, sometimes protected by an iron grill with an opening large enough to let a baby through it. Usually at night-time, the child was placed into the cylinder through the opening, which was then turned towards the inside, where the hospital staff collected the baby and took care of him. An alms-box on one side of the wheel collected offerings for the abandoned children. Besides being the first one ever opened, Santo Spirito's wheel seems to be one of the very few surviving ones. Obviously, this practice is no longer in use today, but it still was no more than one century ago. On the same wall, slightly further, a plaque dated 1598 remembers one of Rome's worst floods, occurred on Christmas eve of that year (see Curious and Unusual page 3 for pictures and details). curious statue of a beggar by the entrance of the new wing of Santo Spirito Hospital

The most important feature in Borgo is undoubtly Sant'Angelo Castle [10], simply 'Castle' for the locals, located in the western corner of the district, at one end of the beautiful Sant'Angelo Bridge, after which the adjoining Rione V was named (see Ponte for details).

Sant'Angelo Castle and Sant'Angelo Bridge

The regular geometric shape of the castle is actually the result of almost 1500 years of additions and alterations to the original structure. In fact, in Roman times this was the Hadrianeum, i.e. the monumental tomb of emperor Hadrian who had it built between AD 130 and 139 for himself (while still alive!) and for his successors: the following emperors up to Caracalla (d.217) were buried there too. It stands on the western bank of the Tiber, just outside the ancient city boundary. Although its descriptions in literature fail in giving us a detailed idea of what the momument looked like, there is little doubt that it consisted of a three-storey structure, with a large square base, a cylinder on top crowned by a further cylinder that was topped by a bronze statue of the emperor riding a chariot. The second level was surrounded by a large number of trees that grew over the free surface above the square base.

The monument was white, as it was built in stone blocks lined with marble. It could be reached from the city by means of a bridge called Pons Aelius [11], after the second name of the emperor, whose full name was Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus. When Aurelian's Wall was built (c.275), the huge tomb already started having strategic impact on the defensive system, due to its crucial location, at one end of a bridge that gave access to the northen part of the city. In those days, also an older bridge was standing 200 m (or yards) further south: Triumphal Bridge [☆ in the district locator map] (a.k.a. Nero's Bridge or Vatican Bridge), which led to the aforesaid circus by the Vatican Hill. emperor Hadrian →

Around year 400, emperor Honorius, foreseeing the sieges that a few years later the Visigoths and then the Vandals imposed on Rome, strengthened the set of walls and its gates: by that time, the tomb of Hadrian began to be explicitly referred to as castellum, i.e. "fortress, stronghold".

reconstruction of Hadrian's Mausoleum		When one century later also the Ostrogoths attacked the city (537), Triumphal Bridge was taken down for security reasons (traces of its pillars can still be seen when the water level of the Tiber is low), so that Aelius Bridge remained the only approach to the city. From the top of the new fortress even the statues that decorated it all around were hurled against the attackers: some of their fragments were found, many centuries later, while digging the moat below the castle. The name Sant'Angelo (i.e. "Saint Angel") sprung more or less in the same age, following a legendary fact, said to have taken place in year 590, while Rome was being stricken by a terrible plague. Pope Gregory the Great was leading a religious procession to plea for God's protection against the calamity, when an angel (archangel Michael) was seen flying above the monument, in the attitude of sheathing back his sword: this vision marked the end of the plague. During the Middle Ages, the tomb itself was altered in order to use it for defensive purposes: in c.1040, the height of its central element (now the keep of the fortress) was increased, and its top part was made square in shape; its base was dug, so to create a circular corridor around the keep, while the base was turned into an actual square set of walls. In the mid 1400s a tower was built on three out of its four corners. Around 1500 the fourth tower was added, and all of them were strengthened, and surrounded with a moat that drew water from the nearby river. Finally, in the mid 1500s a further set of walls was built around the moat, shaped as a pentagon, with a powerful arrow-shaped bastion on each of the five corners; its purpose was to keep the eventual clash between the attackers and the guards as far as possible from the papal apartments. Interestingly, the pentagonal wall has the same structure as the ones built to defend the city, i.e. made of bricks, with a sloping outer surface and a white kerbstone running horizontally along its full length (further details can be found in The City Walls).

Despite the many changes, the ancient Roman tomb always remained the core of the building: its rough texture of large stone blocks, having lost its marble surface, is clearly recognizable in the lower half of the keep. Instead the present height of the ground level, raised in modern times, makes the wall on the front side of the castle appear considerably lower than its real height, as can be told by comparing its other three sides.

the penultimate (fifth) angel, by Raffaello da Montelupo (1544)	the present (sixth) angel by Peter van Verschaffelt (1753)		Since the castle is dedicated to archangel Michael, as of the late 11th century an angel has always been standing on its top: in time, six different statues have been used. The first one, in wood, was completely worn out due to the permanent exposure to the sun, wind and rain; the second one, in marble with bronze wings, was damaged during a siege; the third one, made in the same way, was destroyed by a thunderbolt; the fourth one, made of gilded bronze, had to be replaced when its metal was recycled for moulding cannons, during the sack of Rome in 1527; the fifth one, once again in marble and bronze, lasted some 200 years before being replaced in the 1750s by the present one, in bronze. The penultimate statue is still kept on display in the Courtyard of the Angel.

Sant'Angelo Castle has belonged to the popes for a very long time: its location, so close to St.Peter's basilica, and the walkable passage above the wall, which since the late 1200s links the fortress to the Vatican, almost automatically turned the castle almost into an outbuilding of the papal apartments. In 1367, its keys were offered to the French pope Urban V, in those years residing in Avignon (France), in order to convince him to come back to Rome, yet without success. Since c.1500, besides its defensive purposes, the castle started acting also as a papal residence, and in the late 1500s also the Vatican treasury and archives were moved into it; but most of all, it also acted as a place of detention. Although such use had already started under emperor Honorius, particularly from the 16th through the 18th centuries the cells of Sant'Angelo Castle were frequently occupied by political prisoners, whereas common delinquents were more often held in other ill-famed jails, such as Corte Savella (in Regola district), the Tor di Nona prison (in Ponte district) and the New Prisons (opened in 1650 in Ponte district, as well). In the castle's basement, the cells for the convicts were so small that it was impossible either to stand straight or to lay on the floor, and some of them had no door, so that the convict had to be lowered from above. Important prisoners, instead, were kept in much larger rooms at a higher level, below the pope's apartments.

Sant'Angelo Bridge from the lodge of Julius II

One curious detail, that very few notice while visiting the castle, is that most papal coats of arms hanging from the outer walls, including the large one on the front of the keep, that once featured the family insignia of Alexander VI (Borgia), and a smaller one just above the lodge of Julius II, that bore the oak tree of the Della Rovere family, are now blank: a closer inspection reveals that they were deliberately chiselled off. Who did this were the French Napoleonic soldiers, during Rome's occupation from 1808 to 1814, in the attempt of cancelling all signs of the pope's authority from the building. ← the coat of arms of pope Alexander VI, chiselled off In 1870 the castle became a property of the Italian government, and in 1906 it was turned into a museum, while in its deep moat is now a public garden.

view from a castle's window	Sant'Angelo Castle and the basilica of St.Peter (the latter now belonging to the independent Vatican State, but once a part of this district, as well) have always reflected the two aspects of papal power, i.e. temporal and spiritual. Therefore, in 1928, unlike any other district, Borgo was given not one fountain recalling its features, but two different ones (see Fountains, part II page 4): the Fountain of the Cannon-balls [12] (shown in the opening page of this section), inspired by the castle, and the Fountain of the Tiaras [13], shaped as the traditional headgear once worn by the popes, bearing the triple crown, and decorated with the papal insignia, i.e. the crossed keys of St.Peter.	the Fountain of the Tiaras (1928)

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