Torre dell'Orologio
Piazza dell'Orologio
Rome Italy
2016

Although it does not rank among Rome’s best-known great monuments, it is still one of the city’s landmarks and it is no coincidence that the large central clock that dominates its façade ended up giving its name to the charming Rione Ponte square it overlooks, originally called “Piazza dei Rigattieri” and “Piazza di Monte Giordano”.

Designed and built under the direction of Borromini between 1647 and 1649, the clock tower decorates a corner of the convent of the Oratorian Fathers, which, together with the oratory and the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, formed the headquarters complex of the religious order founded by St. Philip Neri in the second half of the 16th century. The tower interrupts the simplicity and austerity of the building below by breaking up its architectural uniformity: in fact, it is characterized by concave and convex surfaces and lines, according to the purely Borrominian style, and is surmounted by a castle with iron volutes supporting the bells and suggesting the idea of a belfry. It is flanked by two pillars with 24-pointed bronze heraldic stars while, under the clock face, a splendid mosaic embellishes the whole: it represents the "Madonna of Vallicella" and was designed by Pietro da Cortona.

The original clock machine is preserved in the Museum of Rome in Palazzo Braschi. The part of the Palazzo dei Filippini facing the square is occupied today by the Casa delle Letterature and the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages.

Piazza dell'Orologio
Located a few steps from Piazza Navona, the square takes its name from the clock of the tower of the Convent of the Filippini, built by Borromini (1559-1667), between 1647 and 1648. In its concave section, placed under the clock, there is the beautiful mosaic of the Madonna della Vallicella, from a drawing by Pietro da Cortona.

Piazza dell’ Orologio, formerly known as Piazza dei Rigattieri, and then Piazza di Monte Giordano, also houses Palazzo Bennicelli built at the behest of Monsignor Virginio Spada, commander of the Banco di Santo Spirito. Monsignor Spada intended to assign it to the Banco, but the ministers of the institution considered the location inadequate as it was geographically too far outside the usual business circuit. However, the works began in 1660 and were entrusted to Francesco Borromini.

In 1662, at the death of Virginio Spada, the Banco ministers moved the new bank headquarters to the building that is still known as Banco di Santo Spirito. One of the Monsignor's heirs, Marquis Orazio Spada, purchased the unfinished palace for a large sum and had the works completed by Borromini.

At the end of the 19th century, the palace was purchased by the Counts Bennicelli, whose name it bears, who entrusted the restoration to the famous architect Gaetano Koch. He gave the building its current appearance, transforming the 17th-century facade by Borromini into a modern key.

Palazzo Bennicelli, however, is known above all because it was the home of Count Adriano Bennicelli, better known as Conte Tacchia, whose name derived from the activity of the family who traded timber. In the Roman dialect, the "tacchia" is a splinter of wood.

The Count was famous for his elegance, for his original way of life and for his carefree behavior. The 1982 film by Sergio Corbucci, Il Conte Tacchia, has also contributed to passing on his fame to us. It tells about his deeds through the brilliant interpretation by Enrico Montesano.

He used to walk the alleys and squares of the historic center aboard carriages pulled by 2 or 4 horses, but you had to be ready to make his way, otherwise slaps and bad words flew, often followed quarrels and complaints.

A canopy with fringes and pendants, on the corner of the building between Piazza dell' Orologio and Via del Governo Vecchio, overlooks a valuable Madonna with the Blessing Child, a 1756 fresco by the painter Antonio Bicchierai, whose opulent stucco frame is, instead, attributed to the sculptor Tommaso Righi.