Rome, Tourism, Accomodations Blog – Roma Turismo

POPE JOAN

This is one of the most famous medioeval legends: Joan is a young English woman, educated at Magonza. Because of her love for theology, she decides to dress-up like a monk and thanks to her great culture, once i Rome, rising through the Church hierarchy, she is chosen as Pope. She took the name of John VIII and reigned between 855 and 857.
Joan became pregnant by one of her lovers. While in Easter procession between Saint Peterʼs and Saint Joan the Lateranʼs Basilicas, meanwhile the crowd was growing its pressure, her horse got scared, frisked and she fell off. People watched in horror and astonishment when she gave birth to a child, revealing her female nature. The angry mob tied her feet at her same horse and dragged her to Ripa Grande. There she was stoned to death together with her baby.
it is a harsh story which takes us back to the darkest centuries of Rome. According to some scholars this legend, this is what it is, could have born as a “satire” against papacy and a ferocious criticism of some female personages as the corrupt noble ladies Teodora and her daughter Marozia, who during the 10th Century were at the same time lovers, mothers and killers of several popes.
The story of “popess Joan” gave rise to the following odd legend: since then, to avoid a repeat of such a shaming event, as soon as elected, popes had to sit on one of the thrones, with a potty-style hole in the seat, while an examining cleric felt under it to check his sex. Though, one of these two thrones, the so-called “sedes curules or prophyreticae”, according to recent studies, was actually established to be a thermal de-luxe water-closet, dating back the time of Emperor Hadrian.
The result is a complicated plot we better leave to historians. Lovers of Rome can satisfie their curiosity in Via dei querceti, by looking up at the niche on the wall with a Vergin Mary with child, which was built up on the same spot where our heroine is said to have given birth to her child.

ACCA LAURENTIA: Eros in Rome

The legend tells that Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome, were adopted by a
she-wolf (lupa) hence ‘she-wolf’ became the symbol of Rome. She-wolf is an
ambiguous word by which the roman prostitutes were referred and the word
‘lupanare’ (brothel) is also derived from lupa.
The legend suggests that Acca Laurentia, the wife of Faustulus, shepherd of
Numitor, saved the lives of Romulus and Remus. The shepherd’s wife who had
found the twins and who very likely adopted them, was she-wolf, a prostitute.
The populace passed on the origins of the Eternal City with many tales; we can say
metaphorically, that Rome is born with an inclination towards chaos. Ancient
Rome, both republican and imperial, had plenty of brothels, even though they
were placed in the suburbs of the town. Romans paid frequent visits to the
brothels mainly for erotic purposes. They favoured the mercenary love intended
as a peculiar pleasure, and in their turn, many women –honest matrons –
disguised themselves as ‘she-wolves’ in order to attend the brothels and enjoy
the unidentified services. Messalina, the wife of, Emperor Claudius, camouflaged
herself under false names and common dresses in order to participate in the
brothels’ life.
Not to overly dwell on dark images of sexuality, this form of ‘eroticism’, besides a
state of heritage of the origins of Rome, was due to the cult of Venus Ericina, who
was the symbol of fertility, therefore, of sensual love and as such, was the reason
why she was worshipped, unlike the Hellenic Venus who was the symbol of beauty
and chastity.
According to Aristotle and his syllogisms, the practice of the prostitution in Rome
at the time of its Empire comes from religious reasons.
Grazia Brasi
Centro Guide Roma

ROME 2010: IN THE SIGN OF CARAVAGGIO, EXHIBITION AT LE SCUDERIE DEL QUIRINALE

In the occasion of the 4th centenary of the death  of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,on
February 20th opened up the exhibition dedicated to him and going on until June 13th.

We will find his works coming from all over the world, for the first time gathered in an exhibition
also telling us about his tormented life through 30 out of his 40 paintings.
Only the works clearly signed up by the master were chosen, leaving aside those attributed to
his work-shop.

The artist who painted revolutionary and shocking canvasses commissioned by the Church and other
wealthy lovers of art, full of a deep religious feeling but  even of such a tormented and harsh realism
to make customers feel so embarassed to sometimes prefer to refuse his works.
The artist who was painting during the night, maybe while drinking wine, or taking a walk with his friends
through the old Roman alleys, taking part to riots and fights and even brutal crimes.
But no other painter was ever able to render such a tangible reality of life through that mysterious darkness
and that filtering and almost divine light which still capture our eyes and our souls.

It is worth taking this trip through his works of art, especially now that they are concentrated in one only
exclusive exhibition, such as  “BACCO” FROM UFFIZI GALLERY, “CANESTRA DI FRUTTA” FROM MILAN PAINTING
GALLERY, “THE MUSICIANS” FROM METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, “DINNER AT EMMAUS” FROM LONDON NATIONAL
GALLERY.

Lorenza Faraone
Roman Guide Centre

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