Via della Pilotta
Four Arches
Rome Italy
2016

The toponym of this street derives from the “ gioco della pilotta ”, a kind of ball game, which since the 16th century was played in the nearby “ piazza dell'Olmo ”, corresponding to the current piazza della Pilotta . The street, taken from via Quattro Novembre , is characterized by the four arches that cross it, called "archi della Pilotta", which connect Palazzo Colonna to the rear gardens of Villa Colonna. The two central arches have travertine balustrades alternating with iron railings and were added between 1756 and 1761, then at the two ends, during the works carried out in Palazzo Colonna by the architect Paolo Bosi at the behest of Cardinal Girolamo Colonna.

In ancient times, the street was a small country lane indicated as “ vicus Capralicus ” or “ Caprarius ” due to the presence of an “ aedicula capraria” in which a goat was depicted and which would have given the name to the alley. Villa Colonna, or "Giardino dei Colonnesi", as it was called by the Romans, occupies the area where in ancient times the "Temple of Serapis" was located, built by Caracalla in the 3rd century AD, located high up, in the center of a vast enclosure on a partially artificial terrace accessible from below by means of two grand parallel stairways. Of the temple, inside the villa, only pieces of columns with a diameter of almost 2 meters and a fragment of trabeation on the rear side of the temple remain, which remained standing until 1630 and on which the "Torre Mesa" stood. This tower was part of the defensive system of the Colonna family around the main palace , like the nearby Torre Colonna, and the story tells that its name means "half" because it was "halved" by the Caetanis during the bloody medieval struggles: the tower was definitively demolished in 1574 during the expansion works of the Quirinale palace . Villa Colonna was already fenced off on via della Pilotta from 1625 and from here it extended up to the Quirinale divided into three large terraces: the lower one was at the level of Palazzo Colonna , to which it was connected by arches, and was decorated according to the canons of the garden Italian-style with flowerbeds delimited by box or myrtle hedges. At the western end (practically at the height of today's INAIL building) an aedicula was built with three statues inside niches: the central one depicted "Marco Antonio Colonna", head of the papal fleet and winner of the battle of Lepanto, in the guise of an ancient Roman, erected in 1713. On the opposite side there was a Casino demolished in 1923 during the construction works of the Gregorian University . The second level was decorated with a wall fountain, from which the water descended along two wide stairways (probably built on the structure of the "Temple of Serapis").

The third level was divided into tree-lined flowerbeds and ended with the grandiose portal of 1618, with a magnificent crowning of statues, which we can still admire today in via Ventiquattro Maggio . The spectacular double balustrade staircase was added following the works to lower the street level which took place under Pius IX. The villa, although reduced compared to the original extension, also due to the overlapping of the buildings on via Quattro Novembre, still remains the property of the Colonnas and for this reason it cannot be visited.