The Marche region, despite its small population, has given birth to ten Popes, one of the most significant of which was perhaps Sixtus V.
Born Felice Piergentili Peretti in Grottammare in 1521, of distant Dalmatian origins, he became pontiff in 1585.
His pontificate was short but intense: five years, four months and three days in which his works but also his decisions were so many and incisive, often even overbearing, that he was called " the tough Pope".
The transformation Sixtus V brought to the urban planning and road development of Rome remains one of the great merits of his pontificate. From Nicholas V onward, that is, from the mid-1400s onwards, the pontiffs' initiatives had been directed towards the old Rome enclosed within the bend of the Tiber, with St. Peter's and St. John's as its centers. Pope Peretti expanded into upper Rome, designing major thoroughfares aimed at connecting points of special significance and attraction and enhancing the hills of the Pincian, Quirinal, and Esquiline, abandoned for centuries.
He is responsible for the master plan of Rome, Via Panisperna, Via Felice, Via dè Serpenti, and Via Maggiore, known to all as the Stradone di San Giovanni. The architect Domenico Fontana, who was granted so much power that after the Pope's death he was forced to resign, was responsible for all the works conceived and commissioned by Pope Peretti. Works such as the Mostra dell'Acqua Felice, later designed by G. Battista Piranesi, deserve such monumental remembrance.
Always remaining on the theme of the works, he had the dome of St. Peter's completed and began the work on the Sistine Chapel. It seems that he was always very serious in character and easily offended, so much so that for this reason he was not much appreciated by the Romans, famous for their good nature which often leads to satire and jokes, but his bull Christiana Pietas of 1586, when Jews were allowed to live in the cities and major towns without the obligation to reside in the ghetto, gives us an idea of its modernity and tolerance.
In short, the pragmatic work of this Pope is truly so noteworthy that it is surprising that he managed to accomplish it all in such a short time.
All things considered, isn't this a characteristic of our people?
A region that gave birth to geniuses of the caliber of Raphael, Rossini, and Leopardi, always seems to have to enter the high society of the personalities who have shaped the history of our country through a secondary route and in a modest position, as if they had appeared by chance and not by a specific inclination at birth and grown up in places that even an anthropologist of the caliber of Lombroso defined as the most suitable for fostering excellent minds.
Pope Sixtus V, despite his Roman commitments, never forgot his homeland, so much so that he erected the beautiful church of Santa Lucia in Grottammare, a poetic building overlooking the sea, as well as providing for the renovation of Palazzo Paradisi in Montalto.
This treasure trove of art is worth a visit, with its numerous frescoed rooms. The municipality of this small town is opening it to the public after a long and significant structural consolidation project.
Next Sunday, January 4th, Sunday 18th and the following Sunday 25th, starting at 10.30 am, guided tours by the director of the Metromuseum Museum Network of the Marca Villages Tommaso Strinati will illustrate the Palace, retracing the life and pontificate of Sixtus V, also focusing on the new section on the third floor dedicated to the altarpieces of the churches of the town and nearby.
For info: visitmontaltomarche@gmail.com
3381536106 phone
Sistine Museums of Piceno.
The Palace and the Exhibition are still visible on Saturdays and Sundays at different times
Saturday 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Sunday 11:00 – 12:30 / 15:30 – 18:00
