Rome's "talking statues"

Pasquino and the talking statues

In the twenty-first century, in the west, we take for granted the separation of Church and the State. In other cultures today and in Europe in the past, it was not always thus. The Church in Italy, for many centuries, wielded both spiritual and temporal power in a territory that included Rome and central Italy. This pontifical state, headed by the pope, found itself exercising, besides spiritual power, also the executive, legislative and judicial. Because of its authoritarian nature, a lay opposition could not express itself. In spite of that, the voice of the people found a way to be heard by anonymous and satirical com­ments that were left attached to certain statues in Rome. The most famous of these “talking statues” was Pasquino the ancient mutilated torso of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, dragging the body of his son.

Pasquino

There are several stories about the ori­gin of Pasquino, but this is the most plausible. Near this ancient half-buried statue, in the fifteenth century, a certain tailor named Pasquino had his shop. Here, prelates and gentle­men met to order clothes, converse on recent events and chat. Pasquino was particularly witty and humorous and able to gener­ate pungent and satirical comments in verse.

After the tailor’s death, in order to repair the road, the old statue was dug up and leaned temporarily by his shop. People began to jokingly declare that Pasquino was back, so the statue took on his name. From that moment on every satirical verse or epigram that someone wanted to leave was attributed to Pasquino. From this, we got the word pasquinade.

He spoke out about the people's dissatisfaction, denounced injustice, and criticized misgovernment by members of the Church. Later, these pungent comments were left on other “talking statues,” such as the Babuino in Via del Babuino, Marforio in the courtyard of the Capitoline Museum, il Facchino in Via Lata, Madame Lucrezia in Piazza San Marco near the entrance to the church, and Abbot Luigi, to the left of the church Sant’Andrea della Valle. Frequently conversations between the statues were carried on for days, each responding to comments on another. 

The Facchino fountain

The catalyst was the licentious life, the scandalous nepotism and the bad government of Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503). Of him Pasquino said:

Sextus Tarquinus. Sextus Nero – Sextus et iste;
Semper sub Sextus Perdita Roma fuit.

Tarquinus the sixth (ancient Roman king). Nero the sixth (emperor).  The sixth now (Pope Alexander VI).  Always under the sixth is Rome ruined.

Regarding the accusations that Alexander VI became pope thanks to raging corruption, echoing the themes of the new Protestant movement:

Alexander sells the keys, the altar, Christ;
He who first bought them has a good right to sell.

After the death of Pope Clement VII, whose death was commonly attributed to the incompetence of his doctor, Matteo Curzio, Pasquino said:

Curzio has killed Clement, to him are due rich offerings
To him who gave us, as a gift, the public health.

Pope Paul IV (1555-59), in the climate of the Counter reformation, expanded the powers of the Inquisition, the right to use torture and had the Jews confined to the ghetto. Commenting on his work Pasquino said:

            Children, less judgment
        And more faith, commands the Holy Office.
            And reason little,
        For against Reason there is the fire.
            And keep your tongue in its post
        For Paul likes a lot his roast.

The day Paul IV died, the people of Rome rebelled. The palazzo of the Inquisition was burned and his statue on the Campidoglio was destroyed and thrown into the Tiber.

Madama Lucrezia

Many popes felt profoundly offended by these epigrams. In particular Hadrian VI was very close to throwing the statue of Pasquino into the Tiber and Paul III repeatedly tried to have him silenced by passing severe laws prohibiting pasquinades. During the years there were many attempts to catalog at least part of these satirical comments but they were sharply fought by the Church. The collection of epigrams was systematically burned, and merely being found in possession of a copy could risk your life.

Several other talking statues reside near Piazza Venezia.  Madama Lucrezia is a colossal Roman bust, about 10 feet high, sited on a plinth in the corner of a piazza between the Palazzo Venezia and the basilica of St. Mark. The statue is badly disfigured, and the original subject cannot be identified with certainty, but her characteristic clothing may indicate the Egyptian goddess Isis (or of a priestess of Isis).

Marforio

On the nearby Campidoglio, inside the courtyard of the Palazzo Nuovo is Marforio a large 1st century Roman marble sculpture of a reclining bearded river god which represents the Tiber.

Also near, the fountain called Il Facchino (the por­ter) is from the sixteenth century and is set into the wall on Via Lata. It represents a man holding a barrel, but instead of wine, it contained water. 

In Piazza Vidoni is the Roman statue of Abate Luigi (Abbot Luigi), another of the “talking statues.” It depicts a Roman in a toga, probably a magisgtrate, and was found under the foundation of a nearby palazzo. During the years it was decapitated by vandals, or, as Pasquino would say it has “lost its head” several times, but promptly replaced with another from the city warehouse. No one knows why it is called “abbot” but the name has stuck. On the base is the following in Roman dialect:

Abbot Luigi

I was a citizen of Ancient Rome
Now all call me Abbot Louis
Along with Marforio and Pasquino I conquer
Eternal fame for Urban Satire
I received offences, disgrace, and burial,
till here I found new life and finally safety   

 Finally, along Via del Babuino, is a fountain with an ancient statue of Silenus, a god of the forest, depicted as part man and part goat, reclining on a marble tub. The human part was often pictured as an old man with a beard in a jovial intoxicated state. Originally this statue held a bagpipe in its hand. Already long ago his form must have been disfigured and frightening with the missing hands and corroded lines of his face. When the statue was moved here, in the sixteenth century, it was already so ugly that the Romans quickly bap­tized it “babbuino” or baboon. This epithet became so popular that it actually caused the name of the street to be changed from Via Paolina to Via del Babuino. 

The Babuino fountain

The pasquinades of Il Babuino are more properly called babuinate, but the principle of satirical criticism is the same. The tradition of political comment continued as graffiti in modern times, to the extent that the fountain was considered an eyesore rather than an asset to this upmarket street. Recently, the wall behind it has been painted with an anti-vandal paint, to prevent the graffiti reappearing.