|
The hotel's Reception hall is one of the two sections (the other being the adjacent parlour) of a supposed apsidal chapel with three naves of the IV-V centuries AD, and completed with Roman material found on the premises. Although it appears unquestionable that it is a chapel (in 1600's stamps we can see a tower on top of the building), we do not know with certainty whether the chapel was unconnected or rather annexed to some other ecclesiastic structure (an oratory church, a private chapel, a part of the convent of the mothers of the Sacro Cuore di Trinità dei Monti).
This is one of the little mysteries that surround this building.
Of great importance is the column of the Julio Claudian dynasty (1st century AD), which is in amazingly perfect conditions. It is the only column remaining of all the ones present among the naves and it is surmounted by a magnificent sculpted capitel.
A Roman well winds through the building up to the 2nd floor, reaching what once was the kitchen area of the convent of the Minim Friars of S. Francis di Paola. The well, which is visible in the second room obtained from the chapel, offers precious information on its use in Antiquity, when it provided the water supply to a great number of quarters. Many extended galleries, just as it happens in the whole area that goes from Trinità dei Monti to via of Porta Pinciana, up to via Salaria, open up in the underground of the building, enhancing the relevance of this site. Nevertheless, while the galleries outside the walls are undoubtedly Christian catacombs pre-dating the year 313 AD (date of the Edict of Constantine, with which Christians were allowed the freedom of religious belief), the galleries we are referring to now do not have any sepulchral niche and there is no evidence of their actual function in Antiquity. From one of these underground corridors unravels a 650 year-old wisteria, which surrounds the whole building in a spiral of emotions and constitutes its true distinctive characteristic.
This thriving plant, akin for rarity and beauty to the ancient vestiges kept in this building, winds though dozens of feet in the meanders of the building. It glides through every possible cavity, shows up shortly and then disappears again, only to reappear on the terrace in its magnificent, graceful splendor. In the eyes of romantic artists, especially those of Anglo-Saxon origins, the wisteria, a botanical symbol of force and tenacity, has always been the epitome of vigorous prosperity. From Emily Dickinson to Henry James, the mention of the wisteria in literature is recurrent. We like to elect the wisteria as a symbol of the past and future fortunes of our Hotel.
|
9°C