Page 77 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

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6 Aracoeli Staircase
Piazza d’Aracoeli. Map 5 A5 & 12 F4.
@ 40, 62, 63, 64, 110, 170. v 8.
The Aracoeli Staircase numbers
124 marble steps (122 if you
start from the right) and was
completed in 1348, some say
in thanks for the passing of the
Black Death, but probably in
honor of the Holy Year of 1350.
The 14th-century tribune-
turned-tyrant Cola di Rienzo
used to harangue the masses
from the Aracoeli Staircase; in
the 17th century, foreigners
used to sleep on the steps,
until Prince Caffarelli, who lived
on the hill, scared them off by
rolling barrels filled with stones
down them. Ceiling commemorating Battle of Lepanto in Santa Maria in Aracoeli
Popular belief has it that by
climbing the steps on your ancient temple to Juno. Its The church is most famous,
knees you can win the Italian 22 columns were taken from however, for an icon with
national lottery. From the top various ancient buildings; the apparently miraculous
there is a good view of Rome, inscription on the third column powers, the Santo Bambino,
with the domes of Sant’Andrea to the left tells us that it comes a 15th-century olive-wood
della Valle and St. Peter’s slightly “a cubiculo Augustorum” – from figure of the Christ Child that
to the right. the bedroom of the emperors. was carved out of a tree from
The church of the Roman the garden of Gethsemane.
senators and people, Santa Its powers are said to include
Maria in Aracoeli, has been used resurrecting the dead, and it is
to celebrate many triumphs sometimes summoned to the
over adversity. Its ceiling, with bedsides of the gravely ill. The
naval motifs, commemorates original figure was stolen in
the Battle of Lepanto (1571), and 1994 but has been replaced
was built under Pope Gregory by a replica.
XIII Boncompagni, whose family At Christmas the Christ Child
crest, the dragon, can be seen takes its place in the center of a
toward the altar end. picturesque crib (second chapel
Many other Roman families to the left) but is usually to be
and individuals are honored found in the sacristy, as is the
by memorials in the church. To panel of the Holy Family from
the right of the entrance door, the workshop of Giulio Romano.
the tombstone of archdeacon
Aracoeli Staircase Giovanni Crivelli, rather than
being set into the floor of the
7 Santa Maria church, stands eternally at
attention, partly so that the
in Aracoeli signature “Donatelli” (by
Donatello) can be read at
Piazza d’Aracoeli (entrances via eye level.
Aracoeli Staircase and door behind
Palazzo Nuovo). Map 5 A5 & 12 F4. The frescoes in the first
Tel 06-6976 3839. @ 40, 62, 63, 64, chapel on the right, painted
110, 170. v 8. Open summer: by Pinturicchio in the
9am–6:30pm daily; winter: 1480s in the beautifully clear
9am–5:30pm daily. style of the early Renaissance,
depict St. Bernardino of Siena.
Dating from at least the 6th On the left wall, the
century, the church of Santa perspective of The Burial of
Maria in Aracoeli, or St. Mary of the Saint slants to the right,
the Altar in the Sky, stands on taking into account the
the northern summit of the position of the viewer just The miraculous olive-wood Christ Child at
Capitoline, on the site of the outside the chapel. Santa Maria in Aracoeli

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