Piazza di Pasquino - Piazzas of Italy by Ultimate Italy

Piazza Di Pasquino

This is a small square, which is situated very near to Piazza Navona. It is famous for its talking statue.

The talking statue is actually the torso of a statue representing Menelaus with the body of Petraclus. This probably dates to the 3rd century B.C. However it is named Pasquino after a tailor who lived in the vicinity. Pasquino had a reputation for lampooning. He served the papal court. He had the habit of voicing his opinions in a vociferous manner. Soon if any sarcastic comment on the Pope was voiced most people attributed it to him. This statue was unearthed in a street, which was being repaved. Just around this time the tailor died and since the statue was erected near his tailoring shop it began to be known as Pasquino. Residents soon began pinning their irreverent and anonymous comments on the statue’s chest at night. Perhaps they did this in his memory. Whatever is the reason this was one of the favourite graffiti’s of the world though it may not be the oldest one.

In this piazza one can also find the church of San Maria degli Agonizzanti .The church served as a chapel for a brotherhood that assisted those sentenced to death. Hence the church was given the name Agonizzanti. In 1862 this church was given a new façade.

The Palazzo Braschi, a well-known palace, is found to the north of the piazza. It was built in the late 1700’s by Girolamo Onesti, the brother-in-law of Pope Pius VI on the site of an older building belonging to the Orsini family. The palace is decorated with the coat of arms of the Pope as well as that of a lion holding a pinecone in his mouth, which is the heraldic symbol of the Onesti family. Since 1952 the palazzo houses the exhibits of the Museo Di Roma.

The Palazzo Massimo is at the east of the piazza. It is the home to the Roman campus of the Cornell University. It was built as a private home in 1532. It has been designed with an unusual curved façade that corresponded to the narrow of the street it was built in. Most people view it as an odd remnant of the renaissance. It is open to the public only one day of the year. On March 17 every year the public can view it.

Many houses in the narrow streets near Piazza Pasquino retain some indications of their previous owners in the forms of crests or heraldic symbols. For example the dove of Pamphilj is seen on many buildings here. This family owned most of the estates around Piazza Navona. A hedgehog on the portal of a house tells us that that small palace belonged to the Ricci family at the beginning of the 18th century.

Thus indications of the history of the piazza Pasquino and its surroundings are ever present in this modern day and age.