Farnese gardens

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Farnese Gardens - engraving by Giuseppe Vasi 1761

The Farnese Gardens , even Farnese Gardens called (Latin Horti Farnesiani ; Italian: Orti Farnesiani ) are located in the northwestern part of the Palatine Hill , one of the seven hills of Rome - called in ancient times Germalus. The Farnese family , starting from Pope Paul III. , from 1542 until the 17th century, had an extensive garden area extending over several terraces laid out and richly furnished. The ancient foundation walls of the Domus Tiberiana were built over for this purpose. Today only a small part of the original complex has been preserved.

history

Palatine Hill at the time of the Roman Empire

Historical topography

During the Roman Empire, on the northwestern elevation of the Palatine Hill, there was the Domus Tiberiana , a palace complex built by the second Roman Emperor Tiberius (42 BC - 36 AD) and expanded by Emperor Caligula . The 20 m high arcades above the Roman Forum still give an impression of the monumentality of the ancient palace. A 130 m long corridor, the cryptoporticus of Nero with remains of the wall plaster and floor mosaics were uncovered next to the palace . At the end of the imperial era, the Palatine Hill had been expanded into a single, huge building complex by further palace buildings by subsequent emperors. Its water supply came from the branch of the Aqua Claudia, which was extended from Emperor Nero to Domus Aurea and Emperor Domitian across the valley between Caelius and the Palatine Hill . The mighty remains of the aqueduct can still be seen today over the Via di San Gregorio. However, the imperial palaces became deserted at the end of the Roman Empire. The destroyed remains of the formerly built living and state rooms are buried under the Farnesian Gardens.

  • View of the Roman Forum and Maxentius Basilica

  • Palatine Hill - Palace of Tiberius

  • Cryptoporticus of Nero in the palace of Tiberius

At the beginning of the 16th century, on the Palatine Hill, which was called Palazzo Maggiore in the Middle Ages , there were vineyards and vegetable gardens between ancient ruins and fragments that, according to contemporary notarial records, belonged to Roman citizens. In one of his Lettere Pittoriche in 1538 , Annibale Caro describes a garden with parts of ruins made of untidy, leafy tufa blocks, sarcophagi as fountains and grottoes in a manner of ruin sentimentality. Due to the construction of the Via triumphalis on the occasion of the visit of Emperor Charles V in 1536, which passed the Palatine Hill, this place of the former Roman imperial palaces received more attention and urban development importance.

The Horti Palatini Farnesianorum by Alessandro Farnese (16th century)

Detail from the Rome plan by Antonio Tempesta 1593

Between 1542 and 1579, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese , the grandson of Pope Paul III , who was born in 1520, acquired . , several vineyards over the ruins of the Tiberius Palace and had the area filled with earth to build a large villa complex over several terraces. Building on the splendor of ancient emperors was part of the Farnese dynastic family policy. Already in 1548, a year before the death of Pope Paul III, the property passed in the form of a Fideikommiß to the younger brother of Alessandro, Ottavio Farnese , Duke of Parma and Piacenza, who was responsible for the further expansion. Contemporary views of the 16th century on the extent of the villa complex and the buildings erected there from that time have not been preserved.

The Farnese family used the garden for dining in front of the sublime ancient backdrop of the Roman Forum, as can be seen from traditional documents. It can be assumed that the garden corresponded to the ideal of the garden art of the Cinquecento and was laid out with beds of useful and ornamental plants and equipped with grottos and overgrown pergolas in the middle of the exposed ruins.

Another property was bought in 1565 by Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese , also a brother of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who expanded and beautified the garden. Since his appointment as cardinal in 1545, Ranuccio lived in the Farnese family palace in Rome, while Alessandro resided in the Palazzo della Cancelleria . After Ranuccio's death in 1565, Cardinal Alexander took on the further expansion of the Horti Farnesiani complex and had the representative terrace complex on Campo Vaccino built. Exact information about the start of construction is not available, the year 1565 is assumed as the starting year. The progressive design of the complex is documented on the basis of the Rome plans by Dupérac-Lafréry (1577), Bartolomeo Marliani (1588) and Tempesta (1593). The main buildings at the time of Alessandro Farnese are the surrounding wall with windows, the double-storey central portal, aligned with the large central vault of the opposite Maxentius basilica , the side portals with the corner pavilions, the entrance exedra ( theater ) and the cryptoportici.

The two-story small casino, which still exists today, was built on the partial property acquired in 1579 on the upper part of the hill. Since it impresa contains the cardinal, it must be created before his death in 1589th

In connection with the planning and execution of the hillside, in particular the portal and the windows in the upper part of the wall, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola is mentioned in the literature as the architect , who was first mentioned by Giovanni Baglione in 1642 in his treatise on the Horti Farnesiani. Hildegard Giess shows in her publication on the Farnese Villa on the Palatin that this is rather unlikely. On the one hand, the biographer Vignolas, Ignazio Danti , does not mention this undoubtedly important work, and the construction can only have been completed in the 1970s, whereas Vignola died in 1573. Compared to other works by the artist, the formal language is more nuanced and more perfectly formed than the components ascribed to him. Who was the main architect of the facility during this time remains open and requires further research. Giacomo del Duca is also named as the architect - the windows and portals may be his work - however, the material in one of the Farnese archives has not yet been evaluated.

Cardinal Odoardo Farnese's villa

Palatine Hill (Rome); Detail from the Rome plan by Johann Friedrich Greuter 1618

Cardinal Odoardo Farnese (1573-1626), the great-grandson of Pope Paul III. and Emperor Charles V as well as the great-nephew of Cardinal Alessandro, inherited the usufruct right to the Farnesian Gardens in 1587. He had been promoted to cardinal in 1591 and resided in Rome in the family palace. The Rome plan by Matthäus Greuter from 1618 shows a spacious, splendid garden with ornamental beds and numerous buildings. The trees in the southwest part of the garden, as can be seen from the plan of Tempesta 1593, have completely disappeared. The central axis of the slope, aligned with the Maxentius basilica, is emphasized by just a bird house ( uccelliera ). The award of water rights to the Farnese family from 1588 for the Orti Palatini resulted in fountains, grottoes, water features and the nymphaeum . Numerous ancient statues adorned the villa complex, the terraces and grottos. These are listed individually in an inventory drawn up in 1626.

The architect Girolamo Rainaldi , who worked on several projects for the Farnese family, was entrusted with the expansion of the gardens in the early Baroque style in the course of the 17th century . In particular, he owes the creation of an extensive botanical garden on the third level and the redesign of the rear wall of the cryptoporticus into a nymphaeum. The layout of the terrace with the fountain ( teatro del fontanone ) and the two bird houses built after 1618, which still exist today, are also his works. In the gardens mainly plants from the Levant and East Asia, but also from Latin America , including the Farnese acacia, were planted . Rare tropical trees made the Orti Farnesiani famous as the first modern botanical garden. Cardinal Odoardo had Tobias Aldinus, who dubbed himself the head of the Horti Farnesiani, systematically breed exotic plants. In a small book published in 1625 and dedicated to Odoardo Farnese, 16 of these rare plant varieties are described and illustrated in detail.

The villa from the 17th century and its decline

Detail from the Rome plan by Giovanni Battista Nolli 1748

The heirs of Cardinal Odoardos, the Dukes of Parma, had no ties to Rome and therefore no reason to reside in Rome. Nevertheless, the Duke of Parma Odoardo I Farnese continued work on the villa, as he did on the Palazzo Farnese and the Villa Farnese in Caprarola, in order to make them available to his aristocratic guests. From 1632/33 he had the garden at the Palatine Hill expanded into a pleasure garden according to contemporary tastes. Walls and ceilings in the buildings and the staircases were richly decorated with sgraffiti and the large fountain with stalactites was extended one level below the two ucelliere . Hidden water features were intended to frighten visitors for the enjoyment of others. The consistent expansion of the slope, the strict orientation towards symmetry axes as well as the design according to new and modern ideas of the Baroque can be traced back to the continuing work of the architect Girolamo Rainaldi.

The important times of the Horti Farnesiani ended in the middle of the 17th century. The Duke of Parma and Piacenza Ranuccio II. Farnese had individual modifications carried out in order to give the Accademia dell'Arcadia a seat in 1693. After a short time, however, he withdrew his offer due to critical, polemical statements by the poets' circle. With Francesco Farnese and Antonio Farnese, the male line of the Farnese family expires in 1727 and 1731 respectively. After the marriage of the stepdaughter Francesos Elisabetta Farnese to the King of Spain Philip V from the House of Bourbon in 1714, all properties passed to the Bourbons. The gardens are leased to a Filippini family in 1769 and all the valuable objects are removed and transferred to Naples, as in the other Farnese possessions.

Design of the garden after the engraving by Giovanni Falda (17th century)

  • View from the Roman Forum - Engraving by GB Falda, circa 1683

  • Bird's Eye View of Farnese Gardens - Engraving by GB Falda, circa 1683

The engraving by Giovanni Battista Falda from around 1683 shows a view of the unusual access area of ​​the complex. From the forum, an overall picture of the complex architectural structure should be provided. From here, the terraces join together like a single palace facade, with the two birdhouses serving as a tower-like crown. From the Roman Forum you entered the complex through the monumental, two-story entrance portal into a semicircular exedra decorated with statues and grottos. In the middle it was broken through by a wide, gently rising staircase; it led to a great rain nymphaeum . The terraces bordered by balustrades rise in ever richer motifs, adorned with flower beds and evergreen hedges. Another staircase led from the second to the third level, where there was a second exedra and a large fountain ( fontanone ). On the wall of the highest terrace, two ramp stairs lead up to the level of the garden area. A small palace was originally built there for the cardinal. This was later torn down and in its place two aviaries covered with pagoda-shaped roofs and connected to a loggia were built. A second entrance portal was on the side of the Arch of Constantine ( on the road to the powder magazine ). The garden itself was formed by a regular network of park paths and borders with flower-decked parters and further fountains. On the side of the Circus Maximus was the private garden ( giardino segreto ), dominated by the garden house ( casino del belvedere ), the remains of which can still be seen on the side of the antiquarian hall of the Palatine. The main attraction of the large, level garden has always been the ruins of the palatine, visible all around, and the view down to the debris of the forum protruding from the green vegetation. From this side the bird houses look like small pavilions. The garden lacked any residential building, it was solely a place for a stroll; only the small casino in the southern corner offered temporary protection.

Excavations on the Palatine Hill

Palatine Hill - Terraces of the Farnese Gardens

Archaeological excavations on the Palatine Hill began around 1820, thus initiating further destruction of the gardens. In 1861 Napoleon III acquired , the nephew of Napoleon I and just as interested in art and archeology as he is, the villa and has Pietro Rosa dig it systematically , who discovered a large colonnaded courtyard with a few adjoining rooms. After the withdrawal of the French troops from Rome in 1870, the area was transferred to the Kingdom of Italy.

Giacomo Boni , who was chief archaeologist at the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill at the beginning of the 20th century, succeeded in excavating the nymphaeum in 1914 due to the engraving by Falda. In the remaining small part of today's garden, he laid out a garden with roses and citrus trees in the style of a baroque garden. He lived in a house on the Palatine Hill and was encouraged in his work by Benito Mussolini . His grave is in the middle of the garden. In the 1980s, excavations continued under the Farnese Gardens.

What has been preserved of the once magnificent gardens to this day are only a few fountains and ponds, the access ramp, the cryptoporticus and the two recently renovated aviary pavilions. The two-storey entrance portal to Campo Vaccino was demolished in 1883 and rebuilt in 1957 as the main entrance to the Palatine Hill in Via San Gregorio (Fig.) .

literature

  • Filippo Coarelli : Rome. An archaeological guide. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2685-8 , pp. 258-301.
  • Paolo Coen: Le magnificenze di Roma nelle incisioni di Giuseppe Vasi. Newton Compton Editori, Roma 2006, ISBN 88-541-0748-4 .
  • Hans-Joachim Fischer: Dumont Art Guide Rome. DuMont Kunstverlag, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-7701-5607-8 , p. 182.
  • Marie Luise Gothein : History of garden art. First volume, Eugen Diederichs, 1997, ISBN 3-424-013676-1 , Chapter 9: Italy in the age of the Renaissance.
  • Hildegard Giess: Studies on the Farnese Villa on the Palatine. In: Roman yearbook for art history. Volume 13, 1971, pp. 179-230.
  • Guida d'Italia, ROMA. Touring Club Italiano, 2006, ISBN 88-365-4134-8 , p. 467 f.
  • Penelope Hobhouse: The Garden - A Cultural History. Dorling Kindersley, London / Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8310-1079-0 , p. 184.
  • Mauro Lucentini: Rome routes through the city. Pattloch Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-629-01621-9 , p. 279.
  • Giuseppe Morganti: Gli Orti Farnesiani sul Palatino. Scuola Tipografia, Rome 1990, ISBN 2-7283-0199-9 .
  • Samuel Ball Platner : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. 1929. (Cambridge University Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1-108-08324-9 .)

Web links

Commons : Farnese Gardens  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ F. Coarelli: Rome. 2000, p. 148 ff.
  2. ^ Jacob Burckhardt: History of the Renaissance in Italy ; I, p. 206.
  3. ↑ The name can be found on the former main portico, today on Via di San Gregorio.
  4. ^ Ferdinand de Navenne: Rome, le Palais Farnèse et les Farnèses. 1914.
  5. ↑ Hildegard Giess: Studies for the Farnese Villa on the Palatine. 1971, p. 190.
  6. ^ Carte Farnesiane, Naples State Archives: Purchase of the Vigna Mantaco-Cultelli on June 16, 1579.
  7. ↑ Hildegard Giess: Studies for the Farnese Villa on the Palatine. 1971, p. 193 ff.
  8. ↑ Buste in the State Archives of Naples, Carte Farnesiane, report dated July 4, 1866 gives a detailed water rights, awarded to the respective owners of the garden from the various water lines as Acqua Felice, Acqua Virgo , Acqua Paola on
  9. ↑ The inventory is kept in the Naples State Archives
  10. ↑ He described himself as: medico chimico et horti praefecto
  11. ↑ Hildegard Giess: Studies for the Farnese Villa on the Palatine. 1971, p. 216.
  12. ^ Filippo Coarelli: Rome. 2000, p. 151 and p. 164 ff.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 25 ″  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 11 ″  E