Pigna (Rione)

Location of Pigna in Rome

Coat of arms of Pigna

Bernini's elephant

Pigna is the IX. Rione (district) of Rome . It covers the central old town between Piazza Venezia and the Pantheon .

history

The name of the district comes from a huge antique pine cone ( Pigna in Italian ), which, according to legend, once closed the dome opening of the Pantheon. In fact, however, the sculpture was used as a fountain in the adjacent thermal baths of Agrippa . It is now in the Cortile della Pigna in the Vatican Museums .

coat of arms

The coat of arms shows a pine cone.

Cityscape

The district in the medieval center of Rome is almost square. It is bordered to the north by Via del Seminario, to the east by Via del Corso, to the south by Via delle Botteghe Oscure and to the west by Via di Torre Argentina. The southeast corner is the Piazza Venezia , the southwest is the Largo di Torre Argentina and the northwest corner is the Piazza della Rotonda with the Pantheon. As the main traffic axis, the district is cut from east to west by the Via del Plebiscito, which was first laid out in 1881.

The most important architectural monuments are:

• the pantheon
• the baroque Jesuit church Il Gesù
• Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio , also a Jesuit church
• the Palazzo del Collegio Romano
• the basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
• the Piazza della Minerva with Bernini's elephant
• the Palazzo Venezia
• the Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj with the Galleria Doria-Pamphilj
• the church of Santo Stefano del Cacco
• the Palazzo Maffei Marescotti
• the church of San Giovanni della Pigna

Web links

• Description of the Rione Pigna , Italian
• Description of the Rione Pigna , Italian
• Rione Pigna on Google Maps