- Pincian Hill
Infobox Hill of Rome 2
name =Pincian Hill
Latin name =Collis Hortulorum
(hill of the gardens), or
Mons Pincius
Italian name =Pincio
rione =Prati
buildings =Galleria Borghese ,Borghese gardens ,Horti Lucullani ,Horti Sallustiani ,Horti Pompeiani ,Horti Aciliorum ,Piazza del Popolo
palazzi =
churches =
people =Pincii ,Scipione Borghese
events =
religion =
mythology =
sculptures =|The Pincian Hill (Italian: "Pincio", fromLatin "Mons Pincius") is ahill in the northeast quadrant of the historical center ofRome . The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking theCampus Martius . It was outside the original boundaries of the ancient city of Rome, and was not one of theSeven hills of Rome , but it lies within the wall built byRoman Emperor Aurelian between 270 and 273.Several important families in
Ancient Rome had villas and gardens ("horti") on the south-facing slopes in the lateRoman Republic , including theHorti Lucullani (created byLucullus ), theHorti Sallustiani (created by the historianSallust ), theHorti Pompeiani , and theHorti Aciliorum . The hill came to be known in Roman times as "Collis Hortulorum" (the "Hill of Gardens"). Its current name comes from the Pincii, one of the families that occupied it in the 4th century AD.The Pincio as we see it today was laid out in 1809-14 by
Giuseppe Valadier ; [The site held the Horti Domitii in ancient times. (TCI, "Roma e dintorni" 1965:271.] theFrench Academy at Rome had moved into theVilla Medici in 1802. The orchards of the Pincio were laid out with wide gravelledallée s ("viali") that are struck through dense "boschi" to unite some pre-existing features: one "viale" extends a garden axis of the Villa Medici to the obelisk ("illustration, left") placed at the center of radiating "viali". The obelisk was erected in September 1822 [ [http://members.aol.com/Sokamoto31/pincio.htm "Obelisk of the World"] ] to provide an eye-catcher in the vistas; it is a Roman obelisk, not an Egyptian one, erected under theEmperor Hadrian in the early second century, as part of a memorial to his belovedAntinous outside the Porta Maggiore. [ [http://www.romeartlover.it/Obelisks.html Roberto Piperno, "Rome ArtLover: Obelisks of Rome"] ] . The "Piazza Napoleone"— in fact Napoleon's grand urbanistic example was set from a distance, as he never visited Rome— is a grand open space that looks out overPiazza del Popolo , also laid out by Valadier, and provides views to the west, and of the skyline of Rome beyond. Valadier linked the two spaces with formal staircases broken by generous landings, ("illustration") and a switchback carriageway. In the gardens of the Pincio, it wasGiuseppe Mazzini 's urging [According to (Touring Club Italiano), "Roma e dintorni" 1965:271] that lined the "viali" with busts of notable Italians.Though the
Villa Ludovisi was built over at the turn of the twentieth century, several villas and their gardens still occupy the hill, including theBorghese gardens , linked to the Pincio by a pedestrian bridge that crosses the via del Muro Torto in the nrrow cleft below; the "Muro Torto" is the winding stretch of theAurelian Wall , pierced by the Porta Pinciana.References
External links
* [http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRItkwRom101BasicTopo.html Hills and walls of Ancient Rome]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Pincius_Mons.html Samuel Ball Platner and Thomas Ashby, "A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome," London: Oxford University Press, 1929: Pincius Mons]
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