Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Roma

Qui vicino sorse, in seguito, la mint of Rome called precisely “Moneta” because it was 1 Stairway with column built next to the temple: from here the name “moneta” which we still give to money. The Mint, perhaps following the fire of 80 AD, was rebuilt on the slopes of the Caelian Hill: its remains have been identified under today’s basilica of S.Clemente. From the square of the Capitoline Hill two staircases built to a design by Vignola between 1547 and 1552 lead, respectively, to the “Capitolium” and to the church of S.Maria in Aracoeli.

At the top of the stairway a column with Corinthian capital and cross was placed in memory of the earthquake of 1703 which caused much fear but little damage. Little is known about the origin of S.Maria in Aracoeli but already in 880 “S.Maria in Capitolio” is mentioned (the term “in Aracoeli”, a Romanesque corruption of the Arx Capitolina, will come only in the 14th century) but it is even said to have been founded by Gregory the Great in 590. Certainly a Romanesque style church was built in the mid-12th century with the entrance facing the Asylum, with the beautiful fresco of the “Madonna and Child between two Angels”.

The new orientation was the work of the Franciscans and the new church, in Gothic style, was inaugurated in 1348 together with the stairway. In the Middle Ages the Church became almost the new forum of Rome: Cola di Rienzo spoke there to the people; Charles of Anjou held parliament there with the Romans; the Guelphs of Rome defended themselves there against Emperor Henry VII; the elections of the city’s Caporioni were also held there. The civil and religious character ended up being profaned during the French occupation and the Republic of 1797, when the church was deconsecrated and used as a stable.

It was rehabilitated with the end of Napoleonic Rome, but after 1870 it found itself at the center of demolition works for the construction of the Vittoriano and barely managed to be saved, while the ancient sacristy, the convent and the Tower of Paul III behind it were demolished. The façade, with the large surface of bare brick, was covered with mosaics and frescoes, unfortunately disappeared; there were also three rose windows above the portals but the central one, with a Jerusalem cross, was removed during the pontificate of Urban VIII (1623-44) for the insertion of a colored stained glass window, complete with the bees of the Barberini, as we can still admire today.

The clock is also missing, the first installed in Rome in December 1412, made by master Ludovico da Firenze, who built the mechanism, and master Pietro da Milano, who placed the bell. This was so important that a special office was created, the “moderatores horologii”, entrusted to the brothers Domenico and Fabio della Pedacchia.

Originally it was placed on the left of the façade, then in the center, and finally it was moved to the façade of the Palazzo Senatorio in 1806: the dial remained there until 1886 but today there is only the hole. The 122 columns that divide the interior of the church into three naves were recovered from various ancient buildings: the inscription, on the third column from the left, “a cubicolo Augustorum”, would suggest that it comes from the emperor’s bedroom on the Palatine, where the imperial house was.

The ceiling, decorated with naval motifs, commemorates the victory of Marcantonio Colonna in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and was created under the papacy of Gregory XIII Boncompagni, whose family emblem, the dragon, is visible at the end of the altar.

The church is reached via a staircase of 124 steps (122 if you climb from the right side), inaugurated, according to legend, by the tribune Cola di Rienzo in 1348 and made by Lorenzo di Simone Andreozzi at the expense of the Roman people, as thanks to the Virgin for saving the city from the plague: it would have cost 5000 florins. The church, however, is especially famous for the “Holy Child,” a wooden sculpture from Monte Oliveto and baptized in the Jordan River, according to tradition.

Since 1591 this pious legend has stirred the enthusiasm of the people, because the Child is endowed with miraculous powers.