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Monument to Pietro Metastasio, Rome

1886 sculpturesMonuments and memorials in RomeOutdoor sculptures in Rome
Parione monumento a Metastasio di Emilio Gallori 1010713
Parione monumento a Metastasio di Emilio Gallori 1010713

The Monument to Pietro Metastasio is a memorial statue dedicated to the Roman poet and dramatist Pietro Metastasio (1698 – 1782); it is located along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, at the piazza before the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Piazza di Chiesa Nuova), in central Rome, Italy. In 1873, a committee of artists, led by Francesco Podesti, then director of the Academy of St Luke, decided to erect a statue to Metastasio, initially to be completed by the centenary of his death. A contest for a design was promulgated with an award of 25,000 Lira, paid in increments until completion. The contest was won in 1882 by the sculptor Emilio Gallori, but the monument was installed first in Piazza San Silvestro in Capite on 21 April 1886. In the early 20th century, with the widening and embellishment of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, the statue was moved to its present location, which was close to the birth-house of Metastasio, located in via dei Cappellari #30. In addition, some of Metastasio's sacred works had been first presented at the adjacent Oratory of Filippo Neri. Metastasio himself was buried in Vienna, where he lived the last four decades of his life. The marble statue rises on a high pedestal. Metastasio stands beside a short column stacked with books. In his right hand he holds a writing quill, and on his right a pamphlet. He looks down towards the piazza. The base is ornamented with the symbols of the melodramatic arts: a mask and a lyre. The rear has a shield with the lupa, symbol of Rome.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Monument to Pietro Metastasio, Rome (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Monument to Pietro Metastasio, Rome
Rome Municipio Roma I

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N 41.89786 ° E 12.46918 °
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Rome, Municipio Roma I
Lazio, Italy
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Parione monumento a Metastasio di Emilio Gallori 1010713
Parione monumento a Metastasio di Emilio Gallori 1010713
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Monument to Nicola Spedalieri
Monument to Nicola Spedalieri

The Monument to Nicola Spedalieri is a memorial statue to an 18th-century priest and political theorist (140–1795); the statue was installed in 1903 at the Piazza Forza Cesarini along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in central Rome, Italy. Spedalieri and his ideas, and thus the monument, have been variously disputed or celebrated by different factions. Spedalieri's most famous work, De' diritti dell'Uomo (1791), had a mixed reception. Written as a critique of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by the French National Assembly in 1789, Spedalieri supports the idea of natural rights of man, and opposes a tyrannical law imposed by rulers claiming a divine anointment. However, he claims that the selfish desires of human nature need to be tempered by religious authority, specifically Roman Catholic morality. The anti-absolutist ideas in his writings stirred opposition from ruling authorities battling the rising Jacobin and republican forces. These notions led liberal forces of the 19th century to honor him as the origin of an Italian enlightenment about the rights of citizens. By the late 19th century, Rome, the new capital of the Italian Kingdom, was seeking to memorialize the past in ways that celebrated their political beliefs, but also the struggles for an Italian identity. The Corso had been widened and flanking areas embellished with a number of memorials to both recent heroes of the Italian independence, but also to historical opponents of the forces hindering an Italian identity, for example, Giordano Bruno's monument at Campo di Fiori. Spedalieri was an awkward figure to defend by Liberals, since he had also been supported and supportive in his day of the Papacy. This monument was first proposed in 1882 by the lawyer Giuseppe Cimbali, a native from the same town in Sicily where Spedalieri was born. In 1893 a committee was established to supervise a contest to erect a monument by the centennial of Spedialeri's death. None of the proposals received by 1894 were approved. A second round of proposals the next year led to the selection of the design by Sicilia sculptor Mario Rutelli. The site and inauguration of the monument were controversial, and the monument was first unveiled, without ceremony, in Piazza Vidoni (alongside the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle) in the middle of the night of 23 November 1903. In 1951, because of the busy location, the statue was moved to the present Piazza, where it replaced the Monument to Terenzio Mamiani, which was then moved about four blocks north to a park at the intersection of the Corso and Via Acciaioli. Paradoxically Mamiani had written scholarly reassessments of Spedialeri's works that kept the latter's influence current.The monument is a bronze statue on a pedestal. Spedalieri stands with this opus of Diritti dell'uomo in his left hand. His vestments are not ecclesiastical. Below, on the pedestal is a wreath with the Trinacria, a symbol of Sicily, surrounded by palm leaves. The 1903 inscription reads that the new Italy memorializes Spedalieri.

Oratory of Saint Philip Neri
Oratory of Saint Philip Neri

The Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri is a pontifical society of apostolic life of Catholic priests and lay-brothers who live together in a community bound together by no formal vows but only with the bond of charity. They are commonly referred to as Oratorians (also Oratorian Fathers). This "Congregation of the Oratory" should not be confused with the French Oratory, a distinct congregation, the Society of the Oratory of Jesus (Société de l'Oratoire de Jésus), founded by Pierre de Bérulle in 1611 in Paris. Founded in Rome in 1575 by St. Philip Neri, today it has spread around the world, with over 70 Oratories and some 500 priests. The post-nominal initials commonly used to identify members of the society are "C.O." (Congregatio Oratorii). The abbreviation "Cong. Orat." is also used. Unlike a religious institute (the members of which take vows and are answerable to a central authority) or a monastery (the monks of which are likewise bound by vows in a community that may itself be autonomous and answerable directly to the Pope), the Oratorians are made up of members who commit themselves to membership in a particular, independent, self-governing local community (an Oratory, usually named for the place in which it is located: e.g., Birmingham Oratory, Oxford Oratory, Brooklyn Oratory) without actually taking vows, an unusual and innovative arrangement created by St. Philip. Normally an oratory must have a minimum of four members, two being ordained, in order to be founded. If a group of men seeks to establish an oratory, they may apply to do so, going through the proper diocesan channels; during the process of formation a member (or members) of a well-established oratory resides in the community to facilitate every aspect of the proposed foundation.