The Tor Sanguigna is one of the medieval towers of Rome, Italy, built of tufa blocks and brick sited a few metres from piazza Navona in that city's Ponte district. 'Tor Sanguigna' was already used in the Middle Ages as a toponym for the whole surrounding area between what are now via Zanardelli, via dei Coronari and Sant'Agostino church. The piazza in which the tower stands is now named after it. [1]
A small head from an ancient Roman monument is built in at first floor level and fragments of other such monuments were probably also incorporated. Remains of the original doorway's arch survive, facing onto what is now via Zanardelli, onto which four asymmetrical windows also face. On the side facing piazza Navona the tower has only two windows on the first two floors. Under the battlements can be seen stone rings - these supported wooden beams from which boiling pitch could be poured down onto attackers. Over time the graffiti adorning the tower has been lost. [2]
Possibly built on the site of the first tower built by the Gemini family in the 11th century, the present tower is the only survivor from the powerful Sanguigni family's historic fortress, to which pope Leo VI and other Conservatori of the Campidoglio. The Sanguigni lived there until the 15th century, going extinct in the 18th century. In the Middle Ages it was the site of bloody episodes and executions such as that of Riccardo Sanguigni, beheaded in 1406 by Paolo Orsini for siding with the Colonna. The tower became a symbol of the area, becoming linked to medieval stories and legends of crimes, violence and defenestrations. Over the 19th century the tower was completely incorporated into the surrounding palazzo, which passed to the Sagnotti family in 1860. Today only the two external sides of the tower are visible after a floor of the palazzo was raised. [3]
The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
Piazza Navona is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans went there to watch the agones ("games"), and hence it was known as "Circus Agonalis". It is believed that over time the name changed to in avone to navone and eventually to navona.
Grosseto is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 kilometres from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river.
Piazza delle Erbe is a square in Verona, northern Italy. It was once the town's forum during the time of the Roman Empire.
The Doria Pamphilj Gallery is a large art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, Italy, between Via del Corso and Via della Gatta. The principal entrance is on the Via del Corso. The palace façade on Via del Corso is adjacent to a church, Santa Maria in Via Lata. Like the palace, it is still privately owned by the princely Roman family Doria Pamphili. Tours of the state rooms often culminate in concerts of Baroque and Renaissance music, paying tribute to the setting and the masterpieces it contains.
Palazzo Pamphilj, also spelled Palazzo Pamphili, is a palace facing onto the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It was built between 1644 and 1650.
Campo de' Fiori is a rectangular square south of Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy, at the border between rione Parione and rione Regola. It is diagonally southeast of the Palazzo della Cancelleria and one block northeast of the Palazzo Farnese. Campo de' Fiori, translated literally from Italian, means "field of flowers". The name dates to the Middle Ages when the area was a meadow.
The Tor di Nona is a neighborhood in Rome's rionePonte. It lies in the heart of the city's historic center, between the Via dei Coronari and the Tiber River. Its name commemorates the Torre dell'Annona, a mediaeval tower which once stood there and was later converted into one of the city's most important theatres, the Teatro Tordinona, later called the Teatro Apollo.
Ponte is the 5th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. V, and is located in Municipio I. Its name comes from Ponte Sant'Angelo, which connects Ponte with the rione of Borgo. This bridge was built by Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD to connect his mausoleum to the rest of the city. Though Pope Sixtus V changed the rione limits, so that the bridge belongs now to Borgo, not to Ponte anymore, the area has kept its name and a bridge as its coat of arms.
Parione is the 6th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. VI, and belongs to the Municipio I. Its name comes from the fact that in the area there was a huge ancient wall, maybe belonging to the stadium of Domitianus; the nickname people gave to this wall was Parietone, from which the name "Parione".
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is a fountain in the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Innocent X whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, faced onto the piazza as did the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone of which Innocent was the sponsor.
Sant'Agnese in Agone is a 17th-century Baroque church in Rome, Italy. It faces onto the Piazza Navona, one of the main urban spaces in the historic centre of the city and the site where the Early Christian Saint Agnes was martyred in the ancient Stadium of Domitian. Construction began in 1652 under the architects Girolamo Rainaldi and his son Carlo Rainaldi. After numerous quarrels, the other main architect involved was Francesco Borromini.
The Palazzo Venezia, formerly Palace of St. Mark, is a palazzo (palace) in central Rome, Italy, just north of the Capitoline Hill. The original structure of this great architectural complex consisted of a modest medieval house intended as the residence of the cardinals appointed to the church of San Marco. In 1469 it became a residential papal palace, having undergone a massive extension, and in 1564, Pope Pius IV, to win the sympathies of the Republic of Venice, gave the mansion to the Venetian embassy to Rome on the terms that part of the building would be kept as a residence for the cardinals, the Apartment Cibo, and that the republic would provide for the building's maintenance and future restoration. The palace faces Piazza Venezia and Via del Plebiscito. It currently houses the National Museum of the Palazzo Venezia.
Palazzo Braschi[paˈlat.tso ˈbras.ki] is a large Neoclassical palace in Rome, Italy and is located between the Piazza Navona, the Campo de' Fiori, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Piazza di Pasquino. It presently houses the Museo di Roma, the "museum of Rome", covering the history of the city in the period from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century.
Piazza della Repubblica is a city square in Florence, Italy. It was originally the site of the city's forum; then of its old ghetto, which was swept away during the improvement works, or Risanamento, initiated during the brief period when Florence was the capital of a reunited Italy—work that also created the city's avenues and boulevards. At that time, the Loggia del Pesce from the Mercato Vecchio was also moved to Piazza Ciompi. The square's Giubbe Rosse cafe has long been a meeting place for famous artists and writers, notably those of Futurism.
Palazzo Valentini is a palazzo in central Rome, Italy, not far from Piazza Venezia. Since 1873 it has been the base of the provincial and prefectural administration of Rome.
Piazza della Minerva is a piazza in Rome, Italy, near the Pantheon. Its name derives from the existence of a temple built on the site by Pompey dedicated to Minerva Calcidica, whose statue is now in the Vatican Museums.
Palazzo Aragona Gonzaga is a 16th-century palace in Rome, Italy; it was once the residence of Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga. Today, its late Renaissance street facade bears plaques commemorating two of its residents, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and the poet Torquato Tasso.
Via dei Coronari is a street in the historic center of Rome. The road, flanked by buildings mostly erected in the 15th and the 16th century, belongs entirely to the rione Ponte and is one of the most picturesque roads of the old city, having maintained the character of an Italian Renaissance street.
The Ducal Palace or Palazzo Ducale of Atina is a 14th-century gothic-style, government palace in Piazza Saturno, in the center of the town of Atina, province of Rieti, region of Lazio, Italy.