Pasquino
Pasquino is the fragment of an ancient group of statues that stands on the north side of Piazza Pantaleo, the south-western side square of Piazza Navona in Rome. From the early 16th century to the present, anonymous ridiculous verses about the current rulers, their politics and their scandals have been pinned to this torso. The pasquino served as an outlet for the discontent of the Romans , especially in times when freedom of expression was suppressed.
The term Pasquill , Italian pasquinate, for a satirical poem is derived from Pasquino .
The pasquino is the most famous and only one of the so-called speaking statues of Rome that is still in use . As such, were mainly in the time of the nepotism of the Popes and the Marforio , now in the Capitoline Museum , the Babuino at the Spanish Steps , the Abbate Luigi at the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle , the Facchino , a fountain sculpture at Palazzo De Carolis, today Banca di Roma, opposite the Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj , and Madama Lucrezia in the Piazza San Marco, the western branch of the Piazza Venezia , used.
history
In 1501, during the paving work of the square south of Palazzo Orsini, which was replaced by today's Palazzo Braschi in the late 18th century , a body was badly damaged in the place where the Pasquino, the torso of a Hellenistic group of sculptures, still stands Figure with the middle part of a second, found. The then owner of the palace, Cardinal Oliviero Carafa , insisted on preserving the figure, which is missing arms, legs and nose, and therefore had it erected on a plinth on the left corner of the main facade of his palace, next to the coat of arms of the Client also contains an inscription which documents the installation of the figure by Carafa: Oliverii Carafae beneficio sum anno salutis MDI (thanks to the favor of Oliverio Carafa I am here in the year of salvation 1501).
There are different opinions about the original meaning of the sculpture: It is probably part of a group of figures that belonged to the furnishings of the ancient Roman stadium of Domitian , over which today's Piazza Navona is located. It probably represented Menelaus with the corpse of Patroclus . In the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, a copy of an ancient sculpture has been preserved that depicts this scene and is very similar in composition to the Pasquino group.
The name Pasquino
There are only guesses and legends about the origin of the name Pasquino. Neighboring craftsmen or innkeepers are said to have served as godparents, or even a teacher at a Latin school who, in the opinion of the students, resembled the standing figure in the two-figure sculpture, and who was mocked by them with satirical verses on the statue. A namesake and also possible namesake is the main character Pasquino of the seventh novella of the fourth day of Boccaccio's Decamerone , who dies in agony after consuming a sage leaf. His mistress is then charged with murder, and after she too died of a sage leaf, it is discovered that the shrub was poisoned by a toad. A medicinal plant was fatal in this case, as is the abuse of spiritual power by the Popes, one of the most popular themes in the Pasquino.
Pasquino's verses
Pasquino's verses are anonymous , in Italian, in Roman dialect or, earlier, in Latin. However, only a few examples have survived, such as the saying Quod non fecerunt barbari fecerunt Barberini, quoted in all Rome guides (what the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did). This refers to Pope Urban VIII. Barberini , who melted down the bronze roof cladding of the Pantheon's vestibule to get material for the ciborium in St. Peter's Basilica and for a number of cannons.
The target group of Pasquino's verses are the holders of power, that is, from the 16th to the early 19th century, above all Pope and cardinals, as well as the ruling noble families of Rome. Pope Alexander VI was the reason for what was probably the first mockery . , Rodrigo Borgia . In 1501, during the time of his absence, he had entrusted the government of the Papal States to his illegitimate daughter Lucrezia , an enormous process for the Romans. During the Pope election of Hadrian VI. used Pietro Aretino the Pasquino to his brilliant satirical poems mocking the states at the Curia to denounce, with the strategy to influence the papal election. Hadrian could only be prevented with difficulty from sinking the Pasquino in the Tiber.
After a long period of silence, the Romans began again to attach notes to the base of the statue in 1938. The occasion was Hitler's visit to Rome. Pasquino has not been silent since then. The former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has recently been the preferred target of Roman ridicule .
After the restoration of the sculpture and cleaning of the base in 2009/2010, during which all layers of paper were removed, the city administration tried to prevent the re-affixing of ridiculous verses and therefore placed a plaque next to the statue to attach notes.
See also
- Il Gobbo di Rialto , a talking statue in Venice that is said to communicate with the Pasquino.
literature
- Francesco Cancellieri: Note delle due famous statue di un fiume e di Patroclo dette volgarmente di Marforio e di Pasquino. Rome 1789.
- Paola Ciancio Rossetto: Pasquino. Riflessioni e acquisizioni dal restauro. In: Caroline Michel d'Annoville, Yann Rivière (Eds.), Faire parler et faire taire les statues. De l'nvention de l'écriture à l'usage de l'explosif. Collection de l'École française de Rome vol. 520. École française de Rome, Rome 2016, pp. 11-27. ISBN 978-2-7283-1244-3 .
- Caterina Giannottu, La voix de Pasquin. Écriture affichée, satire politique et mémoire dans la Rome contemporaine. In: Caroline Michel d'Annoville, Yann Rivière (Eds.), Faire parler et faire taire les statues. De l'nvention de l'écriture à l'usage de l'explosif. Collection de l'École française de Rome vol. 520. École française de Rome, Rome 2016, pp. 29–44. ISBN 978-2-7283-1244-3 .
- Claudio Rendina: Pasquino, statua parlante. Quattro secoli di pasquinate. Newton Compton, Rome, 4th edition 1996. ISBN 88-8183-295-X .
Web links
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Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 51.8 " N , 12 ° 28 ′ 20.2" E