CONTINUING in a direct course from the Piazza Borghese, we pass through a series of narrow dirty streets quite devoid of interest, but bordering on one side upon the Tiber, of which—with its bridge, S. Angelo and St. Peter's—beautiful views may be obtained from little courts and narrow strips of shore, at the back of the houses.

A short distance after passing (on left) the Locanda dell' Orso, where Montaigne used to stay when he was in Rome, and beneath which are some curious vaulted chambers of c. A.D. 1500, the street, which repeatedly changes its name, is called Via Tordinona, from the Tor di Nona, which once stood here, but was destroyed in 1690. It was used as a prison, as is shown by the verse of Regnier:

"Qu'un barisel vous mit dedans la tour de Nonne."

One of the narrow streets on the left of the Via Tordinona debouches into the Via dei Coronari, close to the Church of S. Salvatore in Lauro, built on the site of a laurel-grove, which flourished near the portico of Europa. It contains a picture of the Nativity, by Pietro da Cortona, and a modern work of Gagliardi, representing S. Emidio, S. Nicolo da Tolentino, and S. Giacomo della Marina, the three protectors of Ancona. In a side chapel, opening out of the cloisters, is the rich tomb of Pope Eugenius IV. (Gabriele Condolmieri, ob. 1439), with his recumbent figure by Isaia da Pisa. Francesco Salviati painted a portrait of this pope for the adjoining convent, to which he had belonged, as well as a fine fresco of the Marriage of Cana.[316]

(There are several other fine monuments in the same chapel with the tomb, which in 1867 was given up as a barrack to the Flemish zouaves, at the great risk of injury to its delicate carvings.)

Passing the Apollo Theatre, the Via Tordinona emerges upon the quay of the Tiber, opposite S. Angelo. Hence several streets diverge into the heart of the city.

(At the corner of the Via di Banchi is a house with a frieze, richly sculptured with lions' heads, &c. On the left is the Church of San Celso in Banchi, in front of which Lorenzo Colonna, the protonotary, was murdered by the Orsini and Santa Croce, immediately after the death of Sixtus IV. (1484); and where his mother, finding his head cut off, and seizing it by the hair, shrieked forth her curses upon his enemies. On the right, further down the street, is the Church of Sta. Caterina da Siena, which contains an interesting altar-piece by Girolamo Genga, representing the return of Gregory XI. from Avignon, which was due to her influence.)

The house joining the Ponte S. Angelo is said to have been that of the "Violinista," the friend of Raphael, who is familiar to us from his portrait in the Sciarra Palace. Some say that Raphael died while he was on a visit to him. But the best authorities maintain that he died in a house built for him by Bramante, in the Piazza Rusticucci, which was pulled down to enlarge the Piazza of St. Peter's. No. 124, Via Coronari, not far from the Ponte S. Angelo, is shown as the house in which the great painter lived previously to this, and is that which he bequeathed to the chapel in the Pantheon in which he is buried. It was partly rebuilt in 1705, when Carlo Maderno painted on its faÇade a portrait of Raphael in chiaro-scuro, now almost obliterated. The house at present belongs to the canons of Sta. Maria Maggiore.

(The Via S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini leads to the Church of that name, abutting picturesquely into the angle of the Tiber. This is the national church of the Tuscans, and was built at the expense of the city of Florence. In the tribune are tombs of the Falconieri family. Here are several fine pictures; a St. Jerome writing, by Cigoli, who is buried in this church; St. Jerome praying before a crucifix, Tito Santi[317] (1538—1603); St. Francis, Tito Santi; SS. Cosmo and Damian condemned to martyrdom by fire,—a grand work of Salvator Rosa.

The Chapel of the Crucifix is painted by Lanfranco: the third chapel on the right has frescoes by Tempesta on the roof, relating to the history of S. Lorenzo.

The building of this church was begun in the reign of Leo X. by Sansovino, who, for want of space, laid its foundations, at enormous expense, in the bed of the Tiber. While overlooking this, he fell from a scaffold, and being dangerously hurt, was obliged to give up his place to Antonio da Sangallo.[318] Soon after Pope Leo died, and the work, with many others, was suspended during the reign of Adrian VI. Under Clement VII. Sansovino returned, but was driven away, robbed of all his possessions in the sack of Rome, under the Constable de Bourbon. The church was finished by Giacomo della Porta in 1588, but Alessandro Galileo added the faÇade in 1725.

The Ponte S. Angelo is the Pons Elius of Hadrian, built as an approach to his mausoleum, and only intended for this, as another public bridge existed close by, at the time of its construction. It is almost entirely ancient, except the parapets. The statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, at the extremity, were erected by Clement VII., in the place of two chapels, in 1530, and the angels, by Clement IX., in 1688. The pedestal of the third angel on the right is a relic of the siege of Rome in 1849, and bears the impress of a cannon-ball.

These angels, which have been called the "breezy maniacs" of Bernini, are only from his designs. The two angels which he executed himself, and intended for this bridge, are now at S. Andrea delle Fratte. The idea of Clement IX. was a fine one, that "an avenue of the heavenly host should be assembled to welcome the pilgrim to the shrine of the great apostle."

Dante saw the bridge of S. Angelo divided lengthways by barriers to facilitate the movement of the crowds going to and from St Peter's on the occasion of the first jubilee, 1300.

From the Ponte S. Angelo, when the Tiber is low, are visible the remains of the bridge by which the ancient Via Triumphalis crossed the river. Close by, where Santo Spirito now stands, was the Porta Triumphalis, by which victors entered the city in triumph.

Facing the bridge, is the famous Castle of S. Angelo, built by the Emperor Hadrian as his family tomb, because the last niche in the imperial mausoleum of Augustus was filled when the ashes of Nerva were laid there. The first funeral here was that of Elius Verus, the first adopted son of Hadrian, who died before him. The emperor himself died at BaiÆ, but his remains were transported hither from a temporary tomb at Pozzuoli by his successor Antoninus Pius, by whom the mausoleum was completed in A.D. 140. Here, also, were buried, Antoninus Pius, A.D. 161; Marcus Aurelius, 180; Commodus, 192; and Septimius Severus, in an urn of gold, enclosed in one of alabaster, A.D. 211; Caracalla, in 217, was the last emperor interred here. The well-known lines of Byron:

seem rather applicable to the Pyramid of Caius Cestius than to this mausoleum.

The castle, as it now appears, is but the skeleton of the magnificent tomb of the emperors. Procopius, writing in the sixth century, describes its appearance in his time. "It is built," he says, "of Parian marble; the square blocks fit closely to each other without any cement. It has four equal sides, each a stone's throw in length. In height it rises above the walls of the city. On the summit are statues of men and horses, of admirable workmanship, in Parian marble." Canina, in his "Architectura Romana," gives a restoration of the mausoleum, which shows how it consisted of three storeys: 1, a quadrangular basement, the upper part intersected with Doric pillars, between which were spaces for epitaphs of the dead within, and surmounted at the corners by marble equestrian statues; 2, a circular storey, with fluted Ionic colonnades: 3, a circular storey, surrounded by Corinthian columns, between which were statues. The whole was surmounted by a pyramidal roof, ending in a bronze fir-cone.

The history of the Mausoleum, in the middle ages, is almost the history of Rome. It was probably first turned into a fortress by Honorius, A.D. 423. From Theodoric it derives the name of "Carcer Theodorici." In 537, it was besieged by Vitiges, when the defending garrison, reduced to the last extremity, hurled down all the magnificent statues which decorated the cornice, upon the besiegers. In A.D. 498 Pope Symmachus removed the bronze fir-cone at the apex of the roof to the court of St. Peter's, whence it was afterwards transferred to the Vatican garden, where it is still to be seen between two bronze peacocks, which probably stood on either side of the entrance.

Belisarius defended the castle against Totila, whose Gothic troops captured and held it for three years, after which it was taken by Narses.

It was in 530 that the event occurred which gave the building its present name. Pope Gregory the Great was leading a penitential procession to St. Peter's, in order to offer up prayers for the staying of the great pestilence which followed the inundation of 589; when, as he was crossing the bridge, even while the people were falling dead around him, he looked up at the mausoleum, and saw an angel on its summit, sheathing a bloody sword,[319] while a choir of angels around chaunted with celestial voices, the anthem, since adopted by the Church in her vesper service—"Regina coeli, lÆtare—quia quem meruisti portare—resurrexit, sicut dixit, Alleluja"—To which the earthly voice of the pope solemnly responded, "Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluja."[320]

In the tenth century the fortress was occupied by the infamous Marozia, who, in turn, brought her three husbands (Alberic, Count of Tusculum; Guido, Marquis of Tuscany; and Hugo, King of Italy) thither, to tyrannise with her over Rome. It was within the walls of this building that Alberic, her son by her first husband, waiting upon his royal stepfather at table, threw a bowl of water over him, when Hugo retorted by a blow, which was the signal for an insurrection, the people taking part with Alberic, putting the king to flight, and imprisoning Marozia. Shut up within these walls, Pope John XI. (931-936), son of Marozia by her first husband, ruled under the guidance of his stronger-minded brother Alberic; here, also, Octavian, son of Alberic, and grandson of Marozia, succeeded in forcing his election as John XII. (being the first pope who took a new name), and scandalised Christendom by a life of murder, robbery, adultery, and incest.

In 974 the castle was seized by Cencio (Crescenzio Nomentano), the consul, who raised up an anti-pope (Boniface VII.) here, with the determination of destroying the temporal power of the popes, and imprisoned and murdered two popes, Benedict VI. (972), and John XIV. (984), within these walls. In 996 another lawful pope, Gregory V., calling in the emperor Otho to his assistance, took the castle, and beheaded Cencio, though he had promised him life if he would surrender. From this governor the fortress long held the name of Castello de Crescenzio, or Turris Crescentii, by which it is described in mediÆval writings. A second Cencio supported another anti-pope, Cadolaus, here in 1063, against Pope Alexander II. A third Cencio imprisoned Gregory VII. here in 1084. From this time the possession of the castle was a constant point of contest between popes and anti-popes. In 1313 Arlotto degli Stefaneschi, having demolished most of the other towers in the city, arranged the same fate for S. Angelo, but it was saved by cession to the Orsini. It was from hence, on December 15, 1347, that Rienzi fled to Bohemia, at the end of his first period of power, his wife having previously made her escape disguised as a friar.

"The cause of final ruin to this monument" is described by Nibby to have been the resentment of the citizens against a French governor who espoused the cause of the anti-pope (Clement VII.) against Urban VI. in 1378. It was then that the marble casings were all torn from the walls and used as street pavements.

A drawing of Sangallo of 1465 shows the "upper part of the fortress crowned with high square towers and turreted buildings; a cincture of bastions and massive square towers girding the whole; two square-built bulwarks flanking the extremity of the bridge, which was then so connected with these outworks that passengers would have immediately found themselves inside the fortress after crossing the river. Marlianus, 1588, describes its double cincture of fortifications—a large round tower at the inner extremity of the bridge; two towers with high pinnacles, and the cross on their summits, the river flowing all around."[321]

The castle began to assume its present aspect under Boniface IX. in 1395. John XXIII., 1411, commenced the covered way to the Vatican, which was finished by Alexander VI.; and roofed by Urban VIII., in 1630. By the last-named pope the great outworks of the fortress were built under Bernini, and furnished with cannon made from the bronze roof of the Pantheon. Under Paul III. the interior was decorated with frescoes, and a colossal marble angel erected on the summit, in the place of a chapel (S. Angelo inter Nubes), built by Boniface IV. The marble angel was exchanged by Benedict XIV. for the existing angel of bronze, by a Dutch artist, Verschaffelt.

Of the castle, as we now see it externally, only the quadrangular basement is of the time of Hadrian; the round tower is of that of Urban VIII., its top added by Paul III. The four round towers of the outworks, called after the four Evangelists, are of Nicholas V., 1447.

The interior of the fortress can be visited by an order. Excavations made in 1825 have laid open the sepulchral chamber in the midst of the basement. Here stood, in the centre, the porphyry sarcophagus of Hadrian, which was stolen by Pope Innocent II. to be used as his own tomb in the Lateran, where it was destroyed by the fire of 1360, the cover alone escaping, which was used for the tomb of Otho II., in the atrium of St. Peter's, and which, after filling this office for seven centuries, is now the baptismal font of that basilica. A spiral passage, thirty feet high, and eleven wide, up which a chariot could be driven, gradually ascends through the solid mass of masonry. There is wonderfully little to be seen. A saloon of the time of Paul III. is adorned with frescoes of the life of Alexander the Great, by Pierino del Vaga. This room would be used by the pope in case of his having to take refuge in S. Angelo. An adjoining room, adorned with a stucco frieze of Tritons and Nereids, is that in which Cardinal Caraffa was strangled (1561) under Pius IV., for alleged abuses of authority under his uncle, Paul IV.—his brother, the Marquis Caraffa, being beheaded in the castle the same night. The reputed prison of Beatrice Cenci is shown, but it is very uncertain that she was ever confined here,—also the prison of Cagliostro, and that of Benvenuto Cellini, who escaped, and broke his leg in trying to let himself down by a rope from the ramparts. The statue of the angel by Montelupo is to be seen stowed away in a dark corner. Several horrible trabocchette (oubliettes) are shown.

On the roof, from which there is a beautiful view, are many modern prisons, where prisoners suffer terribly from the summer sun beating upon their flat roofs.

Among the sculptures found here were the Barberini Faun, now at Munich, the Dancing Faun, at Florence, and the Bust of Hadrian at the Vatican. The sepulchral inscriptions of the Antonines existed till 1572, when they were cut up by Gregory XIII. (Buoncompagni), and the marble used to decorate a chapel in St Peter's! The magnificent Easter display of fireworks (from an idea of Michael Angelo, carried out by Bernini), called the girandola, used to be exhibited here, but now takes place at S. Pietro in Montorio, or from the Pincio. From 1849 to 1870, the castle was occupied by French troops, and their banner floated here, except on great festivals, when it was exchanged for that of the pope.

Running behind, and crossing the back streets of the Borgo, is the covered passage intended for the escape of the popes to the castle. It was used by Alexander VI. when invaded by Charles VIII. in 1494, and twice by Clement VII. (Giulio di Medici), who fled, in 1527, from Moncada, viceroy of Naples, and in May, 1527, during the terrible sack of Rome by the troops of the Constable de Bourbon.

"The Escape" consists of two passages; the upper open like a loggia, the lower covered, and only lighted by loop-holes. The keys of both are kept by the pope himself.

S. Angelo is at the entrance of the Borgo, promised at the Italian invasion of September, 1870, as the sanctuary of the papacy, the tiny sovereignty where the temporal sway of the popes should remain undisturbed,—the sole relic left to them of all their ancient dominions. The Borgo, or Leonine City, is surrounded by walls of its own, which were begun in A.D. 846, by Pope Leo IV., for the better defence of St. Peter's from the Saracens, who had been carrying their devastations up to the very walls of Rome. These walls, 10,800 feet in circumference, were completed in four years by labourers summoned from every town and monastery of the Roman states. Pope Leo himself daily encouraged their exertions by his presence. In 852 the walls were solemnly consecrated by a vast procession of the whole Roman clergy barefooted, their heads strewn with ashes, who sprinkled them with holy water, while the pope offered a prayer composed by himself,[322] at each of the three gates.

The adjoining Piazza Pia is decorated with a fountain erected by Pius IX. The principal of the streets which meet here is the Via del Borgo Nuovo, the main artery to St. Peter's. On its left is the Church of Sta. Maria Traspontina, built 1566, containing two columns which bear inscriptions, stating that they were those to which St. Peter and St. Paul were respectively attached, when they suffered flagellation by order of Nero!

This church occupies the site of a Pyramid supposed to have been erected to Scipio Africanus, who died at Liternum, B.C. 183, and which was regarded in the middle ages as the tomb of Romulus. Its sides were once coated with marble, which was stripped off by Donus I. This pyramid is represented on the bronze doors of St Peter's.

A little further is the Palazzo Giraud, belonging to Prince Torlonia. It was built, 1506, by Bramante, for Cardinal Adriano da Corneto,[323] who gave it to Henry VIII., by whom it was given to Cardinal Campeggio. Thus it was for a short time the residence of the English ambassador before the Reformation. Innocent XII. converted it into a college for priests, by whom it was sold to the Marquis Giraud.

Facing this palace is the Piazza Scossa Cavalli, with a pretty fountain. Its name bears witness to a curious legend, which tells how when St. Helena returned from Palestine, bringing with her the stone on which Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, and that on which the Virgin Mary sate down at the time of the presentation of the Saviour in the Temple, the horses drawing these precious relics stood still at this spot, and refused every effort to make them move. Then Christian people, "recognising the finger of God," erected a church on this spot (S. Giacomo Scossa Cavalli), where the stones are still to be seen.

The Strada del Borgo Sto. Spirito contains the immense Hospital of Santo Spirito, running along the bank of the Tiber. This establishment was founded in 1198 by Innocent III. Sixtus IV., in 1471, ordered it to be rebuilt by Bacio Pintelli, who added a hall 376 feet long by 44 high and 37 wide. Under Benedict XIV., Ferdinando Fuga built another great hall. The altar in the midst of the great hall is the only work of Andrea Palladio in Rome. The church was designed by Bacio Pintelli, but built by Antonio di San Gallo under Paul III. Under Gregory XIII., Ottaviano Mascherino built the palace of the governor, which unites the hospital with the church.

The institution comprises a hospital for every kind of disease, containing in ordinary times 1620 beds, a number which can be almost doubled in time of necessity; a lunatic asylum containing an average of 450 inmates; and a foundling hospital, where children are received from all parts of the papal states, and even from the Neapolitan towns. Upwards of 3000 foundlings pass through the hospital annually, but the mortality is very great,—in the return of 1846, as much as fifty-seven per cent. The person who wishes to deposit an infant rings a bell, when a little bed is turned towards the grille near the door, in which the baby is deposited. Close to this is another grille, without any apparent use. "What is that for?" you ask. "Because, when nurses come in from the country, they might be tempted to take the children for money, and yet not feel any natural tenderness towards them, but by looking through the second grille, they can see the child, and discover if it is simpatico, and if not, they can go away and leave it."

At the end of the street one enters the Piazza Rusticucci (where Raphael died), from which open the magnificent colonnades of Bernini, which lead the eye up to the faÇade of St. Peter's, while the middle distance is broken by the silvery spray of its glittering fountains.

The Colonnades have 284 columns, are sixty-one feet wide, and sixty-four high; they enclose an area of 777 English feet; they were built by Bernini for Alexander VII., 1657-67. In the centre is the famous red granite Obelisk of the Vatican, brought to Rome from Heliopolis by Caligula, in a ship which Pliny describes as being "nearly as long as the left side of the port of Ostia." It was used to adorn the circus of Nero, and was brought from a position near the present sacristy of St. Peter's by Sixtus V. in 1586. Here it was elevated by Domenico Fontana, who estimated its weight at 963,537 Roman pounds; and employed 800 men, 150 horses, and 46 cranes in its removal.

The obelisk was first exorcised as a pagan idol, and then dedicated to the Cross. Its removal was preceded by high mass in St. Peter's, after which Pope Sixtus bestowed a solemn benediction upon Fontana and his workmen, and ordained that none should speak, upon pain of death, during the raising of the obelisk. The immense mass was slowly rising upon its base, when suddenly it ceased to move, and it was evident that the ropes were giving way. An awful moment of suspense ensued, when the breathless silence was broken by a cry of "Acqua alle funi!"—throw water on the ropes, and the workmen, acting on the advice so unexpectedly received, again saw the monster move, and gradually settle on its base. The man who saved the obelisk was Bresca, a sailor of Bordighiera, a village of the Riviera di Ponente, and Sixtus V., in his gratitude, promised him that his native village should ever henceforth have the privilege of furnishing the Easter palms to St. Peter's. A vessel laden with palm-branches, which abound in Bordighiera, is still annually sent to the Tiber in the week before Palm Sunday, and the palms, after being prepared and plaited by the nuns of S. Antonio Abbate, are used in the ceremonial in St. Peter's.

The height of the whole obelisk is 132 feet, that of the shaft, eighty-three feet. Upon the shaft is the inscription to Augustus and Tiberius: "DIVO. CÆS. DIVI. JULII. F. AUGUSTO.—TI. CÆSARI. DIVI. AUG. F.—AUGUSTA. SACRUM." The inscriptions on the base show its modern dedication to the Cross[324]—"Ecce Crux Domini—Fugite partes adversÆ—Vicit Leo de tribu Juda."

No one can look upon the Piazza of St. Peter's without associating it with the great religious ceremonies with which it is connected, especially that of the Easter Benediction.

The first church which existed on or near the site of the present building, was the oratory founded in A.D. 90, by Anacletus, bishop of Rome, who is said to have been ordained by St. Peter himself, and who thus marked the spot where many Christian martyrs had suffered in the circus of Nero, and where St. Peter was buried after his crucifixion.

In 306 Constantine the Great yielded to the request of Pope Sylvester, and began the erection of a basilica on this spot, labouring with his own hands at the work, and himself carrying away twelve loads of earth, in honour of the twelve apostles.[327] Anastasius describes how the body of the great apostle was exhumed at this time, and re-interred in a shrine of silver, enclosed in a sarcophagus of gilt bronze. The early basilica measured 395 feet in length by 212 in width. Its nave and aisles were divided by eighty-six marble pillars of different sizes, in great part brought from the Septizonium of Severus, and it had an atrium, and a paradisus, or quadrangular portico, along its front.[328] Though only half the size of the present cathedral, still it covered a greater space than any mediÆval cathedral except those of Milan and Seville, with which it ranked in size.[329]

The old basilica suffered severely in the Saracenic invasion of 846, when some authorities maintain that even the tomb of the great apostle was rifled of its contents, but it was restored by Leo IV., who raised the fortifications of the Borgo for its defence.

Among the most remarkable of its early pilgrims were, Theodosius, who came to pray for a victory over Eugenius; Valentinian, emperor of the East, with his wife Eudoxia, and his mother Galla-Placidia; Belisarius, the great general under Justinian; Totila; Cedwalla, king of the West Saxons, who came for baptism; Concred, king of the Mercians, who came to remain as a monk, having cut off and consecrated his long hair at the tomb of St. Peter; Luitprand, king of the Lombards; Ina of Wessex, who founded a church here in honour of the Virgin, that Anglo-Saxons might have a place of prayer, and those who died, a grave; Carloman of France, who came for absolution and remained as a monk, first at S. Oreste (Soracte), then at Monte Casino; Richard of England; Bertrade, wife of Pepin, and mother of Charlemagne; Offa, the Saxon, who made his kingdom tributary to St. Peter; Charlemagne (four times), who was crowned here by Leo III.; Lothaire, crowned by Paschal I.; and, in the last year of the reign of Leo IV., Ethelwolf, king of the Anglo-Saxons, who was crowned here, remained a year, and who brought with him his boy of six years old, afterwards the great Alfred.

Of the old basilica, the crypt is now the only remnant, and there are collected the few relics preserved of the endless works of art with which it was filled, and which for the most part were lost or wilfully destroyed, when it was pulled down. Its destruction was first planned by Nicholas V. (1450), but was not carried out till the time of Julius II., who in 1506 began the new St. Peter's from designs of Bramante. The four great piers and their arches above were completed, before the deaths of both Bramante and Pope Julius interrupted the work. The next pope, Leo X., obtained a design for a church in the form of a Latin cross from Raphael, which was changed, after his death (on account of expense) to a Greek cross, by Baldassare Peruzzi, who only lived to complete the tribune. Paul III. (1534) employed Antonio di Sangallo as an architect, who returned to the design of a Latin cross, but died before he could carry out any of his intentions. Giulio Romano succeeded him and died also. Then the pope, "being inspired by God," says Vasari, sent for Michael Angelo, then in his seventy-second year, who continued the work under Julius III., returning to the plan of a Greek cross, enlarging the tribune and transepts, and beginning the dome on a new plan, which he said would "raise the Pantheon in the air." The dome designed by Michael Angelo, however, was very different to that which we now admire, being much lower, flatter, and heavier. The present dome is due to Giacomo della Porta, who brought the great work to a conclusion in 1590, under Sixtus V., who devoted 100,000 gold crowns annually to the building. In 1605 Paul V. destroyed all that remained of the old basilica, and employed Carlo Maderno as his architect, who once more returned to the plan of the Latin cross, and completed the present ugly faÇade in 1614. The church was dedicated by Urban VIII., November 18th, 1626; the colonnade added by Alexander VII., 1667, the sacristy by Pius VI., in 1780. The building of the present St. Peter's extended altogether over 176 years, and its expenses were so great that Julius II. and Leo X. were obliged to meet them by the sale of indulgences, which led to the Reformation. The expense of the main building alone has been estimated at 10,000,000l. The annual expense of repairs is 6300l.

"St. Pierre est une sorte de ville À part dans Rome, ayant son climat, sa tempÉrature propre, sa lumiÈre trop vive pour Être religieuse, tantÔt deserte, tantÔt traversÉe par des sociÉtÉs de voyageurs, ou remplie d'une foule attirÉe par les cÉrÉmonies religieuses (À l'Époque des jubilÉs le nombre des pÉlerins s'est parfois ÉlevÉ À Rome, jusqu'À 400,000). Elle a ses reservoirs d'eau; sa fontaine coulant perpetuellement au pied de la grande coupole, dans un bassin de plomb, pour la commoditÉ des travaux; ses rampes, par lesquelles les bÊtes de somme peuvent monter; sa population fixe, habitant ses terrasses. Les San PietrinÉ, ouvriers chargÉs de tous les travaux qu'exige la conservation d'un aussi prÉcieux edifice, s'y succÈdent de pÈre en fils, et forment une corporation qui a ses lois et sa police."—A. Du Pays.