The square is in the middle of an ancient
commercial area between Rome and the harbour along the
river by the Tiber Island and the Emporium, the warehouse.
Here there were also the Forum Olitorio (for vegetables)
and the Forum Boario (cattle); bankers and moneychangers
run their business in the Velabro. After the Fall of
the Roman Empire it fell under Byzantine influence and
became the centre of the Greek colony. In this area
capital executions took place until 1868 using the
guillotine.
Here was in charge the famous Mastro
Titta who from 1796 to 1864 became sadly known for having
cutted 516 heads! Nowadays the square offers a complex
of monuments unique in the world: two ancient temples
still preserved, a fountain dating back to the 1700's,
a medieval church flanked by a splendid bell-tower.
The Temple of Vesta which is named after its uncanny
but unconnected resemblance to the Temple of Vesta in
the Roman Forum. It is among Rome's first marble buildings
dating back to the II cent. B.C. its initial dedication
was to the conquering god Hercules Victor. It was consecrated
as a Christian church, the interior walls were painted
with frescoes in the 1400's.
Beside it rises the Temple of Portunus,
a god of harbours, typical example of Greek-Roman architecture
which dates from the 2nd century B.C. Until the 1800's
the church was dedicated to Santa Maria Egiziaca, ex-courtesan
and for this reason she bacame the protectress of prositutes.
To decorate the square the pope, Clemens XI commissioned
a beautiful late-baroque fountain, designed in 1715
by Carlo Bizzaccheri, two tritons, with their tails
woven raise two shells and on the top the mountains,
symbol of the Albani family, tossing a jet up in the
air. |
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