1.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
2.
Pope Innocent XI
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Pope Innocent XI, born Benedetto Odescalchi, was Pope from 21 September 1676 to his death in 1689. He is known in Budapest as the Saviour of Hungary, much of his reign was concerned with tension with Louis XIV of France. A conservative, he lowered taxes in the Papal States during his pontificate, because of this surplus he repudiated excessive nepotism within the church. Innocent XI was frugal in matters of governing the Papal States, once he was elected to the papacy, he applied himself to moral and administrative reform of the Roman Curia. He abolished sinecures and pushed for greater simplicity in preaching as well as greater reverence in worship—requesting this of both the clergy and faithful. Benedetto Odescalchi was born at Como on 16 May 1611, the son of a Como nobleman, Livio Odescalchi and his siblings were Carlo, Lucrezia, Giulio Maria, Constantino, Nicola and Paolo. He also had several descendants of note through his sister, her grandson Cardinal Baldassare Erba-Odescalchi, Cardinal Benedetto Erba Odescalchi. The Odescalchi, a family of nobility, were determined entrepreneurs. In 1619, Benedettos brother founded a bank with his three uncles in Genoa which quickly grew into a successful money-lending business, after completing his studies in grammar and letters, the 15-year-old Benedetto moved to Genoa to take part in the family business as an apprentice. Lucrative economic transactions were established with clients in the major Italian and European cities, such as Nuremberg, Milan, Kraków, in 1626 Benedettos father died, and he began schooling in the humane sciences taught by the Jesuits at his local college, before transferring to Genoa. In 1630 he narrowly survived an outbreak of plague, which killed his mother, some time between 1632 and 1636, Benedetto decided to move to Rome and then Naples in order to study civil law. He subsequently became legate to Ferrara, when he was sent to Ferrara in order to assist the people stricken with a severe famine, the Pope introduced him to the people of Ferrara as the father of the poor. In 1650, Odescalchi became bishop of Novara, in which capacity he spent all the revenues of his see to relieve the poor, with the permission of the pope he resigned as bishop of Novara in favor of his brother Giulio in 1656 and went to Rome. While there he took a prominent part in the consultations of the congregations of which he was a member. Odescalchi was a papal candidate after the death of Pope Clement IX in 1669. After Pope Clement X died, Louis XIV of France again intended to use his influence against Odescalchis election. On 21 September 1676, Odescalchi was chosen to be Clement Xs successor and he chose this name in honour of Pope Innocent X, who made him a cardinal in 1645. He was formally crowned as pontiff on 4 October 1676 by the protodeacon, immediately upon his accession, Innocent XI turned all his efforts towards reducing the expenses of the Curia
3.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
4.
Republic of Venice
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It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice. It was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages, the Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade, in subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Asia, Europe and North Africa, the Venetian navy was used in the Crusades. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea, the city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the citys lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe, the city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, including Marco Polo, as well as the classical music composer Vivaldi. The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism, Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons, the opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venices decline as a maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire, in 1797, the country was colonized by Austria and France, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century and it was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the Most Serene Republics. He was the first historical Doge of Venice, whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea. Ursuss successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s and he was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire, another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish, supported mostly by clergy, they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers, the successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori, the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence, many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars
5.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren
6.
Frascati
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Frascati is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located 20 kilometres south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum, Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific laboratories. Frascati produces the wine with the same name. It is also a historical and artistic centre, the most important archeological finding in the area, dating back to Ancient Roman times, during the late Republican Age, is a patrician Roman villa probably belonging to Lucullus. In the first century AD its owner was Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus and his properties were later confiscated by the Flavian imperial dynasty. Consul Flavius Clemens lived in the villa with his wife Domitilla during the rule of Domitian, according to the Liber Pontificalis, in the 9th century Frascati was a little village, probably founded two centuries earlier. The name of the city comes from a typical local tradition of collecting firewood —many place-names around the town refer to trees or wood. After the destruction of nearby Tusculum in 1191, the population increased. It was owned by various families, including the Colonna, until, in 1460. In 1515 Colonna gave Frascati its first statute, Statuti e Capituli del Castello di Frascati, in 1518 a hospital was built, named after St. Sebastiano, in memory of the old basilica destroyed in the 9th century. After Prince Colonnas death in 1522, Lucrezia della Rovere sold Frascati to Pier Luigi Farnese, on May 1,1527 a Landsknecht company, after having sacked Rome, arrived out of the bordering villages. However, the changed the direction of their movement next to a niche, a Rural Aedicule consecrated to the Virgin Mary. This event is commemorated by a church now called Capocroce, in 1538, Pope Paul III conferred the title of Civitas to Frascati, with the name Tusculum Novum. In 1598 construction began on a new cathedral dedicated to St. Peter, on September 15,1616 the first public and free school in Europe was established on the initiative of Saint Joseph Calasanz. On June 18,1656 a part of the plaster peeled off a wall inside the Church of St. Mary in Vivario, and it was the image of Saints Sebastian and Roch, protector from the plague. In that same year there was an epidemic of plague in Rome, since that year, the two Saints have been co-patron Saints of the city. There are statues of the two saints in the façade of the Cathedral, between 1713 and 1729, the head from a colossus of Antinous was discovered in the area, and displayed in the Villa Mondragone. In 1757 the Valle theater opened in the centre of the town, in 1809 Frascati was annexed to the French Empire, and selected as the capital of the Roman canton
7.
Brescia
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Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometres from the lakes Garda, with a population of 196,480, it is the second largest city in the region and the fourth of northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the city limits and has a population of 672,822. The city is the capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy. Founded over 3,200 years ago, Brescia has been an important regional centre since pre-Roman times, Brescia is considered the industrial capital of Italy. The metallurgy and the production of tools and firearms are of particular economic significance, along with mechanical. In addition, Brescia is the setting for most of the action in Alessandro Manzonis 1822 play Adelchi, Brescia and its territory will be the European Region of Gastronomy in 2017. Various myths relate to the founding of Brescia, one assigns it to Hercules while another attributes its foundation as Altilia by a fugitive from the siege of Troy. According to another myth, the founder was the king of the Ligures, Cidnus, colle Cidneo was named after that version, and it is the site of the medieval castle. Others scholars attribute the founding of Brescia to the Etruscans, the Gallic Cenomani, allies of the Insubres, invaded in the 7th century BC, and used the town as their capital. The city became Roman in 225 BC, when the Cenomani submitted to the Romans, during the Carthaginian Wars, Brixia was allied with the Romans. During a Celtic alliance against the city remained fateful to the Romans, with their Roman allies the city remain and attacked and destroyed the Insubres by surprise. Subsequently, the city and the tribe entered the Roman world peacefully as faithful allies, in 89 BC, Brixia was recognized as civitas and in 41 BC, its inhabitants received Roman citizenship. Augustus founded a colony there in 27 BC, and he. Roman Brixia had at least three temples, an aqueduct, a theatre, a forum with another temple built under Vespasianus, when Constantine advanced against Maxentius in 312, an engagement took place at Brixia in which the enemy was forced to retreat as far as Verona. In 402, the city was ravaged by the Visigoths of Alaric I, during the 452 invasion of the Huns under Attila, the city was besieged and sacked. Forty years later, it was one of the first conquests by the Gothic general Theoderic the Great in his war against Odoacer, in 568, Brescia was taken from the Byzantines by the Lombards, who made it the capital of one of their semi-independent duchies. The first duke was Alachis, who died in 573, later dukes included the future kings of the Lombards Rothari and Rodoald, and Alachis II, a fervent anti-Catholic who was killed in battle at Cornate dAdda in 688
8.
Santa Maria in Trastevere
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The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, English, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and wall structure of the date back to the 340s. The first sanctuary was built in 221 and 227 by Pope Callixtus I, the church has large areas of important mosaics from the late 13th century by Pietro Cavallini. It is certainly one of the oldest churches in the city, a Christian house-church was founded here about 220 by Pope Saint Callixtus I on the site of the Taberna meritoria, a refuge for retired soldiers. In 340, when Pope Julius I rebuilt the titulus Callixti on a scale, it became the titulus Iulii in commemoration of his patronage. The church underwent two restorations in the fifth and eighth centuries and in 1140-43 it was re-erected on its old foundations under Pope Innocent II, Innocent II razed the church along with the recently completed tomb of the Antipope Anacletus II, his former rival. Innocent II arranged for his own burial on the formerly occupied by the tomb. The richly carved Ionic capitals reused along its nave were taken either from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla or the nearby Temple of Isis on the Janiculum. When scholarship during the 19th century identified the faces in their carved decoration as Isis, Serapis and Harpocrates, the inscriptions found in Santa Maria in Trastevere, a valuable resource illustrating the history of the Basilica, were collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The present nave preserves its original plan and stands on the earlier foundations. The 22 granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals that separate the nave from the aisles came from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, as did the lintel of the entrance door. Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics by Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the Life of the Virgin centering on a Coronation of the Virgin in the apse, domenichinos octagonal ceiling painting, Assumption of the Virgin fits in the coffered ceiling setting that he designed. The fifth chapel to the left is the Avila Chapel designed by Antonio Gherardi and this, and his Chapel of S. Cecilia in San Carlo ai Catinari are two of the most architecturally inventive chapels of the late-17th century in Rome. The lower order of the chapel is fairly dark and employs Borromini-like forms, in the dome, there is an opening or oculus from which four putti emerge to carry a central tempietto, all of which frames a light-filled chamber above, illuminated by windows not visible from below. The church keeps a relic of Saint Apollonia, her head, among those buried in the church are the relics of Pope Callixtus I, Pope Innocent II, Antipope Anacletus II, Cardinal Philippe of Alençon and Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio. The Romanesque campanile is from the 12th century, near the top, a niche protects a mosaic of the Madonna and Child. The mosaics on the façade are believed to be from the 12th century and they depict the Madonna enthroned and suckling the Child, flanked by 10 women holding lamps. This image on the façade showing Mary nursing Jesus is an example of a popular late-medieval
9.
Santa Prassede
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The Basilica of Saint Praxedes, commonly known in Italian as Santa Prassede, is an ancient titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, located near the papal basilica of Saint Mary Major. The current Cardinal Priest of Titulus Sancta Praxedis is Paul Poupard, peters first Christian convert in Rome. The two female saints were murdered for providing Christian burial for early martyrs in defiance of Roman law, the basilica was enlarged and decorated by Pope Paschal I in c. Pope Paschal, who reigned 817-824, was at the forefront of the Carolingian Renaissance started and advocated by the emperor Charlemagne and they desired to get back to the foundations of Christianity theologically and artistically. Paschal, thus, began two, linked, ambitious programs, the recovery of martyrs bones from the catacombs of Rome, Paschal dug up numerous skeletons and transplanted them to this church. The Titulus S. Praxedis was established by Pope Evaristus, around 112, the inscriptions found in Santa Prassede, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The church provided the inspiration for Robert Brownings poem The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxeds Church, the main altarpiece is a canvas of St Praxedes Gathering the Blood of the Martyrs by Domenico Muratori. The most famous element of the church is the mosaic decorative program, Paschal hired a team of professional mosaicists to complete the work in the apse, the apsidal arch, and the triumphal arch. In the apse, Jesus is in the center, flanked by Sts, peter and Paul who present Prassede and Pudenziana to God. On the far left is Paschal, with the halo of the living, presenting a model of the church as an offering to Jesus. Below runs an inscription of Paschals, hoping that this offering will be sufficient to secure his place in heaven, on the apsidal arch are twelve men on each side, holding wreaths of victory, welcoming the souls into heaven. Those mosaics, as well as those in the Chapel of Saint Zeno, ascending a spiral staircase, one enters a small room, covered in scaffolding, on the wall is a fresco cycle, dating most likely from the 8th century. The frescoes probably depict the life-cycle of the saint of the church. Santa Prassede also houses an alleged segment of the pillar upon which Jesus was flogged and tortured before his crucifixion in Jerusalem, among these legendary relics retrieved by Helena, which included pieces of the True Cross and wood from the Jesus crib enshrined at S. Maria Maggiore. Among known titulars of this see are Lambertus Scannabecchi, Ubaldo Allucingoli, Alain de Coëtivy, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, Saint Charles Borromeo, B. M. Apollonj Ghetti, Santa Prassede. Gillian Vallance Mackie, The Iconographic Programme of the Zeno Chapel at Santa Prassede, Rome. Mauck, “The Mosaic of the Triumphal Arch of Santa Prassede, A Liturgical Interpretation. ”Rotraut Wisskirchen, Mosaikprogramm von Santa Prassede in Rom. Anna Maria Affanni, La chiesa di Santa Prassede, la storia, il rilievo, il restauro. Mary M. Schaefer, Women in Pastoral Office, The Story of Santa Prassede, maurizio Caperna, La basilica di Santa Prassede, il significato della vicenda architettonica
10.
Pope Urban VIII
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Pope Urban VIII, reigned as Pope from 6 August 1623 to his death in 1644. He expanded the territory by force of arms and advantageous politicking, and was also a prominent patron of the arts. However, the debts incurred during his pontificate greatly weakened his successors. He was also involved in a controversy with Galileo and his theory on heliocentrism during his reign and he is the most recent pope to date to take the pontifical name of Urban upon being elected as pope. He was born Maffeo Barberini in April 1568 to Antonio Barberini, a Florentine nobleman and his father died when he was only three years old and his mother took him to Rome, where he was put in the charge of his uncle, Francesco Barberini, an apostolic protonotary. At the age of 16 he became his uncles heir and he was educated by the Society of Jesus, and received a doctorate of law from the University of Pisa in 1589. In 1601, Barberini, through the influence of his uncle, was able to secure from Pope Clement VIII appointment as a legate to the court of King Henry IV of France. In 1604, the pope appointed him as the Archbishop of Nazareth. At the death of his uncle, he inherited his riches, on 6 August 1623, at the papal conclave following the death of Pope Gregory XV, Barberini was chosen as Gregory XVs successor and took the name Urban VIII. Upon Pope Urban VIIIs election, Zeno, the Venetian envoy, wrote the description of him. His Holiness is tall, dark, with features and black hair turning grey. He is exceptionally elegant and refined in all details of his dress, has a graceful and aristocratic bearing and he is an excellent speaker and debater, writes verses and patronises poets and men of letters. Urban VIIIs papacy covered 21 years of the Thirty Years War, despite an early friendship and encouragement for his teachings, Urban VIII was responsible for summoning the scientist and astronomer Galileo to Rome in 1633 to recant his work. Urban VIII practiced nepotism on a scale, various members of his family were enormously enriched by him. He elevated his brother Antonio Marcello Barberini and then his nephews Francesco Barberini and he also bestowed upon their brother, Taddeo Barberini, the titles Prince of Palestrina, Gonfalonier of the Church, Prefect of Rome and Commander of SantAngelo. Historian Leopold von Ranke estimated that during his reign, Urban VIIIs immediate family amassed 105 million scudi in personal wealth, Urban VIII was a skilled writer of Latin verse, and a collection of Scriptural paraphrases as well as original hymns of his composition have been frequently reprinted. The 1638 papal bull Commissum Nobis protected the existence of Jesuit missions in South America by forbidding the enslavement of natives who were at the Jesuit Reductions. At the same time, Urban VIII repealed the Jesuit monopoly on missionary work in China and Japan, opening these countries to missionaries of other orders and missionary societies
11.
Rieti
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Rieti is a city and comune in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, the town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding from the southern edge the wide Rieti valley, at the bottom of Sabine mountains and of monti Reatini, among which mount Terminillo. The plain was once a lake, drained by ancient Romans. Only the small Ripasottile and Lungo lakes remain of the large one. According to the legend, Reate was founded by Rea, a divinity and it was founded at the beginning of the Iron Age. Probably in earlier times the lands around Rieti were inhabited by Umbri, then by Aborigines and later on by Sabines, Reate was originally a major site of the Sabine nation well before the foundation of Rome. According to the legend, when Romulus founded Rome, Romans kidnapped Sabine women in order to populate the town, so there was a war between Romans and Sabines. The battle of the Lacus Curtius came to an end only when the women threw themselves among the armies, Romulus and Titus Tatius reprieved and a collaboration between the two people started. According to a version based on history, Sabines settled on the Quirinale because of their continuous need. Many lands of Reate and Amiternum were confiscated and allocated to Romans, at the very beginning, Sabines were offered Roman citizenship but with no right of voting, but yet in 268 BC they gained the full citizenship, being included in two new tribes. Curius Dentatus drained a large portion of the lake by making the Velino a distributary of the Nera river, the wide area once occupied by the lake turned into a fertile plain. Following Roman customs, the land was split into characteristic square allotments, the town itself underwent significant development, being re-organised according to typical Roman urbanistic standards, and was fortified with strong walls. A stone bridge was laid across the Velino river, and a viaduct was built to bring goods from the Salaria road directly to Rietis southern door. Roman Reate receives a number of mentions in Latin literature, thanks to its soil, its valued assets. Cicero, for instance, describes the tensions between Reate and Interamna following the drainage, and refers to the country houses that his friend Q. One of the most important Sabine families that gained success in Rome was the Gens Flavia, the Reatin poet and writer Marcus Terentius Varro was born in 116 BC and he is usually referred to as the father of Roman erudition. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire Rieti suffered destruction by Barbarians, under the Franks, it was county capital. It was sacked by the Saracens in the 9th and 10th century, the city was rebuilt with the help of the Roman comune, and from 1198 was also a free commune, of Guelph orientation, with a podestà of its own
12.
Spoleto
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Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is 20 km S. of Trevi,29 km N. of Terni,63 km SE of Perugia,212 km SE of Florence, and 126 km N of Rome. Spoleto was situated on the branch of the Via Flaminia. An ancient road also ran hence to Nursia, the Ponte Sanguinario of the 1st century BC still exists. The Forum lies under todays marketplace, located at the head of a large, broad valley, surrounded by mountains, Spoleto has long occupied a strategic geographical position. It appears to have been an important town to the original Umbri tribes, after the Battle of Lake Trasimene Spoletium was attacked by Hannibal, who was repulsed by the inhabitants During the Second Punic War the city was a useful ally to Rome. It suffered greatly during the wars of Gaius Marius and Sulla. The latter, after his victory over Marius, confiscated the territory of Spoletium, from this time forth it was a municipium. Under the empire it seems to have flourished once again, but is not often mentioned in history, aemilianus, who had been proclaimed emperor by his soldiers in Moesia, was slain by them here on his way from Rome, after a reign of three or four months. Rescripts of Constantine and Julian are dated from Spoleto, owing to its elevated position Spoleto was an important stronghold during the Vandal and Gothic wars, its walls were dismantled by Totila. Under the Lombards, Spoleto became the capital of an independent duchy, the Duchy of Spoleto, in 774 it became part of Holy Roman Empire. Together with other fiefs, it was bequeathed to Pope Gregory VII by the powerful countess Matilda of Tuscany, in 1155 it was destroyed by Frederick Barbarossa. In 1213 it was occupied by Pope Gregory IX. After Napoleons conquest of Italy, in 1809 Spoleto became capital of the short-lived French department of Trasimène, returning to the Papal States after Napoleons defeat, in 1860, after a gallant defence, Spoleto was taken by the troops fighting for the unification of Italy. Giovanni Pontano, founder of the Accademia Pontaniana of Naples, was born here, the stage is occupied by the former church of St. Agatha, currently housing the National Archaeological Museum. Ponte Sanguinario, a Roman bridge 1st century BCE, the name is traditionally attributed to the persecutions of Christians in the nearby amphiteatre. A restored Roman house with floors, indicating it was built in the 1st century. An inscription by Polla to Emperor Caligula suggests the house was that of Vespasia Polla and it was turned into a fortress by Totila in 545 and in Middle Ages times was used for stores and shops, while in the cavea the church of San Gregorio Minore was built
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Alexander (popes)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 556.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 
