1.
President of Italy
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The President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, in that role, represents national unity and guarantees that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The presidents term of office lasts for seven years, the 11th President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, was elected on 10 May 2006, and elected to a second term for the first time in Italian Republic history, on 20 April 2013. On 31 January 2015, the incumbent President, former Constitutional judge Sergio Mattarella, was elected at the ballot with 665 votes out of 1,009. The framers of the Constitution of Italy intended for the President to be a statesman of some stature. Article 84 states that any citizen who is fifty or older on election day and enjoys civil and those citizens who already hold any other office are prohibited from becoming President unless they resign their previous office once they are elected. The 1948 Italian Constitution does not have term limits although until 2013 no Italian President of the Republic had run for a term of office. He made it clear, however, that he would not serve his full term, three representatives come from each region, save for the Aosta Valley, which appoints one, so as to guarantee representation for all localities and minorities. According to the Constitution, the election must be held by a ballot, with the 315 Senators, the 630 Deputies. A two-thirds vote is required to elect on any of the first three rounds of balloting, after that, a majority suffices. The election is presided over by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the vote is held in the Palazzo Montecitorio, home of the Chamber of Deputies, which is expanded and re-configured for the event. The President assumes office after having taken an oath before Parliament, the Presidents term may end by, voluntary resignation, death, permanent disability, due to serious illness, dismissal, as for crimes of high treason or an attack on the Constitution. Former Presidents of the Republic are called Presidents Emeritus of the Republic and are appointed Senator for life, in the absence of the President of the Republic, including travel abroad, presidential functions are performed by the President of the Senate. In judicial matters, Presiding over the Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura, Naming one-third of the Constitutional Court, in practice, the Presidents office is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial. Many of the others are duties that he is required to perform, however, pardons and commutations have been recognized as autonomous powers of the President. The President resides in Rome at the Quirinal Palace, and also has at his disposal the presidential holdings of Castelporziano, near Rome, and Villa Rosebery, in Naples. There is one living former Italian President, Italian presidential election,2015 List of Presidents of Italy Wife of the President of the Italian Republic Official site
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Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Pope Gregory XIII
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Pope Gregory XIII, born Ugo Boncompagni, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 13 May 1572 to his death in 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake for the Gregorian calendar, during his pontificate, Gregory fostered cultural patronages associated with his papacy. He strengthened many ecclesiastical and diplomatic envoys to Asia, namely the islands of Japan and he was also the first Pope to bestow the Immaculate Conception as Patroness to the Philippine Islands on 9 February 1579 through the Papal Bull Ilius Fulti Præsido. Ugo Boncompagni was born the son of Cristoforo Boncompagni and of his wife Angela Marescalchi in Bologna and he later taught jurisprudence for some years, and his students included notable figures such as Cardinals Alexander Farnese, Reginald Pole and Charles Borromeo. He had a son after an affair with Maddalena Fulchini, Giacomo Boncompagni. At the age of thirty-six he was summoned to Rome by Pope Paul III, under whom he held appointments as first judge of the capital, abbreviator. Pope Paul IV attached him as datarius to the suite of Cardinal Carlo Carafa, Pope Pius IV made him Cardinal-Priest of San Sisto Vecchio and he also served as a legate to Philip II of Spain, being sent by the Pope to investigate the Cardinal of Toledo. It was there that he formed a lasting and close relationship with the Spanish King, upon the death of Pope Pius V, the conclave chose Cardinal Boncompagni, who assumed the name of Gregory XIII in homage to the great reforming Pope, Gregory I, surnamed the Great. It was a very brief conclave, lasting less than 24 hours, many historians have attributed this to the influence and backing of the Spanish King. Gregory XIIIs character seemed to be perfect for the needs of the church at the time, unlike some of his predecessors, he was to lead a faultless personal life, becoming a model for his simplicity of life. Additionally, his brilliance and management abilities meant that he was able to respond and deal with major problems quickly and decisively. Once in the chair of Saint Peter, Gregory XIIIs rather worldly concerns became secondary and he committed himself to putting into practice the recommendations of the Council of Trent. He allowed no exceptions for cardinals to the rule that bishops must take up residence in their sees and he was the patron of a new and greatly improved edition of the Corpus juris canonici. In a time of considerable centralisation of power, Gregory XIII abolished the Cardinals Consistories, replacing them with Colleges and he was renowned for having a fierce independence, some confidants noted that he neither welcomed interventions nor sought advice. The power of the papacy increased under him, whereas the influence, a central part of the strategy of Gregory XIIIs reform was to apply the recommendations of Trent. He was a patron of the recently formed Society of Jesus throughout Europe. The Roman College of the Jesuits grew substantially under his patronage and it is now named the Pontifical Gregorian University. Pope Gregory XIII also founded numerous seminaries for training priests, beginning with the German College at Rome, in 1575 he gave official status to the Congregation of the Oratory, a community of priests without vows, dedicated to prayer and preaching
6.
Domenico Fontana
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Domenico Fontana was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in todays Ticino. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples and he was born at Melide, a village on the Lake Lugano, at that time joint possession of Swiss cantons of the old Swiss Confederacy, and presently part of Ticino, Switzerland, and died at Naples. He went to Rome in 1563, before the death of Michelangelo and it is a marvellously well-balanced structure, notwithstanding the profusion of detail and overloading of rich ornamentation, which in no way interferes with the main architectural scheme. It is crowned by a dome in the style of S. Mario at Montepulciano. After the cardinals accession as Sixtus V, he appointed Fontana Architect Of St. Peters, bestowing him, among other distinctions. He added the lantern to the dome of St. Peters, Fontana also designed the transverse arms separating the courts of the Vatican. In 1586 he erected the 327 ton obelisk in the Square of St. Peters and this feat of engineering took the concerted effort of 900 men,75 horses and countless pulleys and meters of rope. He gives an account of it in Della transportatione dellobelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V. The astronomer Ignazio Danti is known to have assisted Fontana in this work, after his patrons death, he continued for some time in the service of his successor, Pope Clement VIII. Soon, however, dissatisfaction with his style, envy, and the charge that he had misappropriated public moneys, caused him to be dismissed from his post, there he accepted the appointment of architect to the Viceroy, the count of Miranda. In addition to designing canals, he erected the Palazzo Reale and he died in 1607, and was buried in the church of SantAnna dei Lombardi. Domenicos brother Giovanni Fontana was also an architect, and his son Giulio Cesare succeeded him as Royal Architect in Naples, Della transportatione dellobelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V. Online edition, from New York Public Library, online edition, from Rare Book Room
7.
Carlo Maderno
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Carlo Maderno was an Italian architect, born in todays Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peters Basilica and SantAndrea della Valle were of key importance in the evolution of the Italian Baroque and he is often referred to as the brother of sculptor Stefano Maderno, but this is not universally agreed upon. He worked initially as a cutter, and his background in sculptural workmanship would help mold his architecture. The structure is a rhythm of columns and pilasters, with a protruding central bay. There is an incipient playfulness with the rules of classic design, the Santa Susanna façade won the attention of Pope Paul V, who in about 1603 appointed him chief architect of St Peters. Maderno was forced to modify Michelangelos plans for the Basilica and provide designs for a nave with a palatial façade. The façade is constructed to allow for Papal blessings from the emphatically enriched balcony above the central door. This forward extension of the basilica has been criticized because it blocks the view of the dome when seen from the Piazza, Maderno did not have as much freedom in designing this building as he had for others structures. Most of Madernos work continued to be the remodelling of existing structures, even Madernos masterpiece, the church of SantAndrea della Valle, is not entirely his. There he designed the façade and executed the dome, the second largest in the Roman skyline, the crossing contains the high altar, lit under Madernos dome on its high windowed drum. The earliest design is of 1608, construction took from 1621 to 1625, at Madernos death, the façade remained half built, it was completed to Madernos original conception by Carlo Fontana. His other works include the Roman churches of Gesù e Maria, San Giacomo degli Incurabili, Santa Lucia in Selci, in addition, he worked on the Quirinal Palace, the Papal palace in Castel Gandolfo and the Palazzo Barberini and for the Barberini Pope Urban VIII. In the Palazzo Barberini at Quattro Fontane, Madernos work is overshadowed at times by details added by Bernini and Borromini and his design of palaces is best represented by his design of Palazzo Mattei. Maderno was called upon to design chapels within existing churches, the Chapel of St Lawrence in San Paolo fuori le Mura and the Cappella Caetani in Santa Pudenziana. He designed the base supporting the Marian column in front of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Carlo Maderno and Roman Architecture 1580–1630. Vitruvio site, Carlo Maderno Wittkower, Rudolf, pelican History of Art, Art and Architecture Italy, 1600-1750. Works by or about Carlo Maderno in libraries
8.
Official residence
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An official residence is the residence at which a nations head of state, head of government, governor or other senior figure officially resides. It may or may not be the location where the individual conducts work-related functions or lives. This has occurred in the 21st century in Detroit and New York City, in the case of Denver, no mayor has ever lived in the official residence, the city instead makes it available to certain non-profit groups for special functions. The President uses own private residence, - Its address is 1 Cheongwadae-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located next to Gyeongbokgung, the palace during the Joseon Dynasty. Cheong Nam Dae - Cheong Nam Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. It was returned to public in 2003, - It is located in Cheongwon-gun, North Chungcheong Province. Cheong Hae Dae - Cheong Hae Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. Although the president no longer uses this facility this compound is still under the administration of the Republic of Korea Navy, - It is located on one of the islands of Geoje-shi, South Gyeongsang Province. Chongri Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Prime Minister of Republic of Korea. The Prime Minister, however, does not work here, - Its address is 111-2 Samcheongdong-gil, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located close to Cheong Wa Dae, gukhoeuijang Gonggwan - This is the official residence for the Speaker of the National Assembly of Republic of Korea. The Speaker, also, does not work here, - It is located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where many foreign missions to Korea are located. Daebeobwonjang Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Chief Justice of Republic of Korea. The Chief Justice, also, does not work here, - It is also located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Most ministers of state and heads of administrative regions also have official residences, although they are not listed here. S
9.
Villa Rosebery
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The Villa Rosebery is one of the three official residences of the President of the Italian Republic. The villa grounds cover 6.6 hectares, Villa Rosebery is situated in Naples and it is so named because it was owned by the British Prime Minister, The 5th Earl of Rosebery. Originally built as a cottage in the grounds of the Belverdere in 1801 by Count Thurn, the original building was rebuilt under the ownership of Don Agostion Serra Terranova in the mid 19th century as the Casino Gaudiosa, achieving much of its current form. Following Garibaldis revolution the villa was sold in 1860 to a businessman, Gustavo Delahente, in 1909 Lord Rosebery presented the building to the British Government for the use of the British Ambassador to Italy. In 1932 the British Government in turn presented the building to the Italian State, from June 1944 until his abdication and exile in May 1946, the villa was the residence of King Victor Emmanuel III. From 1946 to 1949 it was used by the Accademia Aeronautica, and after a period of dis-use it became an official residence of the President of the Italian Republic in 1957
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Naples
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Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
11.
Quirinal Hill
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The Quirinal Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the residence of the Italian head of state. The Quirinal Palace has an extension of 1.2 million square feet and it was originally part of a group of hills that included Collis Latiaris, Mucialis, Salutaris. These are now lost due to building in the 16th century, according to Roman legend, the Quirinal Hill was the site of a small village of the Sabines, and king Titus Tatius would have lived there after the peace between Romans and Sabines. These Sabines had erected altars in the honour of their god Quirinus, some authors consider it possible that the cult of the Capitoline Triad could have been celebrated here well before it became associated with the Capitoline Hill. The sanctuary of Flora, an Osco-Sabine goddess, was here too, according to Livy, the hill first became part of the city of Rome, along with the Viminal Hill, during the reign of Servius Tullius, Rome sixth king, in the 6th century BC. In 446 BC, a temple was dedicated on the Quirinal in honour of Semo Sancus Dius Fidius, augustus, too, ordered the building of a temple, dedicated to Mars. On a slope of the Quirinal were the gardens of Sallust. On the Quirinal Hill Constantine ordered the erection of his baths and these are now lost, having been incorporated into Renaissance Rome, with only some drawings from the 16th century remaining. In the Middle Ages, the Torre delle Milizie and the convent of St, in the same palazzo were also the two statues of river gods that Michelangelo moved to the steps of Palazzo Senatorio on the Capitoline Hill. According to the division of the center of Rome, the Hill belongs to the rione Trevi. The Quirinal Hill is today identified with the Palazzo del Quirinale, before the abolition of the Italian monarchy in 1946, it was the residence of the king of Italy, and before 1871 it was, as originally, a residence of the Pope. The healthy cool air of the Quirinal Hill attracted aristocrats and papal families that built villas where the gardens of Sallust had been in antiquity, in the 18th century, Ferdinando Fuga built the long wing called the Manica Lunga, which stretched 360 meters along via del Quirinale. In front lies the sloping Piazza del Quirinale where the pair of gigantic Roman marble Horse Tamers representing Castor and Pollux, in Piranesis view, the vast open space is unpaved. The Palazzo del Quirinale was the residence of the popes until 1870, when Rome was united to the Kingdom of Italy, the Quirinale became the residence of the kings until 1946. Several collections are in this Palazzo, including tapestries, paintings, statues, old carriages, watches, furniture and it formerly housed Mussolinis ministry of colonial affairs. The hill is the site of important monuments and buildings. The Piazza and Palazzo Barberini, built by Bernini and Maderno, Palazzo Volpi di Misurata, across from San Carlino, built in the 18th century
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Seven hills of Rome
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The Seven Hills of Rome east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the city. The seven hills denizens began to participate in a series of religious games, the city of Rome, thus, came into being as these separate settlements acted as a group, draining the marshy valleys between them and turning them into markets. Later, in the early 4th century BCE, the Servian Walls were constructed to protect the seven hills, of the seven hills of current Rome, five are populated with monuments, buildings, and parks. The Capitoline Hill now hosts Romes city hall, and the Palatine Hill belongs to the archaeological area. Constantinople is claimed to have built on its own seven hills
13.
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
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Monarchy of Italy
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King of Italy was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a military leader, in the late 5th century. With the Frankish conquest of Italy in the 8th century, the Carolingians assumed the title, the last Emperor to claim the title was Charles V in the 16th century. During this period, the holders of the title were crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, although Napoleon I used the title from 1805 to 1814, it was not until the Unification of Italy in the 1860s that a Kingdom of Italy was restored. From 1861 the House of Savoy held the title as monarchs of the peninsula until the last King of Italy, Umberto II. After the deposition of the last Western Emperor in 476, Heruli leader Odoacer was appointed Dux Italiae by the reigning Byzantine Emperor Zeno. Later, the Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a segment of the Italic Roman army. In 493, the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great killed Odoacer, Ostrogothic rule ended when Italy was reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in 552. In the 8th century, estrangement between the Italians and the Byzantines allowed the Lombards to capture the remaining Roman enclaves in northern Italy. However, in 774, they were defeated by the Franks under Charlemagne, after the death of Charles III the Fat in 887, Italy fell into instability and a number of kings attempted to establish themselves as independent Italian monarchs. During this period, known as the Feudal Anarchy, the title Rex Italicorum was introduced, after the breakup of the Frankish empire, Otto I added Italy to the Holy Roman Empire and continued the use of the title Rex Italicorum. The last to use this title was Henry II, subsequent emperors used the title king of Italy until Charles V. At first they were crowned in Pavia, later Milan, in 1805, Napoleon I was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at the Milan Cathedral. The next year, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated his imperial title, from the deposition of Napoleon I until the Italian Unification, there was no Italian monarch claiming the overarching title. The Risorgimento successfully established a dynasty, the House of Savoy, over the peninsula, uniting the kingdoms of Sardinia. The monarchy was superseded by the Italian Republic, after a referendum was held on 2 June 1946 after the World War II. The Italian monarchy formally ended on 12 June of that year, Guy of Spoleto opponent of Berengar, ruled most of Italy but was deposed by Arnulf. Lambert of Spoleto subking of his father Guy before 894, reduced to Spoleto 894–895, Arnulf of Carinthia Ratold In 896, Arnulf and Ratold lost control of Italy, which was divided between Berengar and Lambert, Berengar I seized Lamberts portion upon the latters death in 898
15.
White House
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The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D. C. It has been the residence of every U. S. president since John Adams in 1800, the term White House is often used to refer to actions of the president and his advisers, as in The White House announced that. The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style, construction took place between 1792 and 1800 using Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he added low colonnades on each wing that concealed stables and storage. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior, reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semi-circular South portico in 1824, because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later in 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office, in the main mansion, the third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as an area for social events. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space, by 1948, the houses load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the rooms were completely dismantled. Once this work was completed, the rooms were rebuilt. The Executive Residence is made up of six stories—the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor, the property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of the Presidents Park. In 2007, it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of Americas Favorite Architecture, in May 1790, New York began construction of Government House for his official residence, but he never occupied it. The national capital moved to Philadelphia in December 1790, the July 1790 Residence Act named Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the temporary national capital for a 10-year period while the Federal City was under construction. The City of Philadelphia rented Robert Morriss city house at 190 High Street for Washingtons presidential residence, the first president occupied the Market Street mansion from November 1790 to March 1797, and altered it in ways that may have influenced the design of the White House. As part of an effort to have Philadelphia named the permanent national capital, Pennsylvania built a much grander presidential mansion several blocks away. President John Adams also occupied the Market Street mansion from March 1797 to May 1800, on Saturday, November 1,1800, he became the first president to occupy the White House. The Presidents House in Philadelphia became a hotel and was demolished in 1832, the Presidents House was a major feature of Pierre Charles LEnfants plan for the newly established federal city, Washington, D. C
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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
17.
Flora (mythology)
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In Roman mythology, Flora was a Sabine-derived goddess of flowers and of the season of spring – a symbol for nature and flowers. Her name is derived from the Latin word flos which means flower, in modern English, Flora also means the plants of a particular region or period. Her festival, the Floralia, was held between April 28 and May 3 and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, drinking, and flowers. The festival was first instituted in 240 B. C. E, on May 23 another festival was held in her honor. Floras Greek equivalent was Chloris, who was a nymph, Flora was married to Favonius, the wind god also known as Zephyr, and her companion was Hercules. Flora achieved more prominence in the revival of Antiquity among Renaissance humanists than she had ever enjoyed in ancient Rome. Flora is the character of the ballet The Awakening of Flora. She is also mentioned in Henry Purcells Nymphs and Shepherds, there are many monuments of Flora, e. g. in Capitoline Museums in Rome, in Valencia and Szczecin. Ovid, Fasti V. 193-212 Macrobius, Saturnalia I.10. 11-14 Lactantius, the Obscure Goddess Online Directory, Flora
18.
Quirinus
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In Roman mythology and religion, Quirinus is an early god of the Roman state. In Augustan Rome, Quirinus was also an epithet of Janus and his name may be derived from the Sabine word quiris spear. Quirinus is probably an adjective meaning wielder of the spear, other suggested etymologies are, from the Sabine town Cures, from curia, i. e. he was the god of the Roman state as represented by the thirty curies, first proposed by Krestchmer. Cook explains Quirinus as the oak-god, and Quirites as the men of the oaken spear, Quirinus was most likely a Sabine god of war. The Sabines had a settlement near the site of Rome. When the Romans settled in the area, the cult of Quirinus became part of their belief system. This occurred before the later influences from the classical Greek culture and he claimed that the king had instructed him to tell his countrymen that he, Romulus was Quirinus. By the end of the first century BC, Quirinus would be considered to be the legendary king. Historian it, Angelo Brelich has argued that Quirinus and Romulus were originally the same divine entity which was split into a founder hero and a god when Roman religion became demythicised. To support this, he points to the association of both Romulus and Quirinus with the grain spelt, through the Fornacalia or Stultorum Feriae, according to Ovids Fasti, the last day of the festival is called the Quirinalia and corresponds with the traditional day of Romulus death. On that day, the Romans would toast spelt as an offering to the goddess Fornax. In the traditional legend of Romulus death, he was killed and cut into pieces by the nobles and each of them took a part of his body home and buried it on their land. The association of Quirinus and Romulus is further supported by a connection with Vofionos, Vofionos would be the equivalent of Liber or Teutates, in Latium and among the Celts respectively. His early importance led to his inclusion in the first Capitoline Triad, along with Mars, overtime, however, he became less significant, and he was absent from the later, more widely known triad. Varro mentions the Capitolium Vetus, a cult site on the Quirinal, devoted to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Eventually, Romans began to favor personal and mystical cults over the official state belief system and these included those of Bacchus, Cybele, and Isis, leaving only his flamen to worship him. The Flamen Quirinalis who remained, however, were the flamines maiores who had oversight over the Pontifex Maximus. In earlier Roman art, he was portrayed as a man with religious
19.
Constantine the Great
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Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and his father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian, in 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, the government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation and it would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was adopted by Christians, in military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. The age of Constantine marked an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself. It would later become the capital of the Empire for over one thousand years and his more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletians tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and centuries after his reign, the medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Critics portrayed him as a tyrant, trends in modern and recent scholarship attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the site of Jesus tomb in Jerusalem. The Papal claim to power in the High Middle Ages was based on the supposed Donation of Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, though Constantine has historically often been referred to as the First Christian Emperor, scholars debate his actual beliefs or even his actual comprehension of the Christian faith itself. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure, the fluctuations in Constantines reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but have strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period. There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantines life, the nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesareas Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography
20.
Castor and Pollux
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In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux, or Kastor and Polydeuces, were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi. Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers, Castor was the son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters or half-sisters Helen of Troy. In Latin the twins are known as the Gemini or Castores. When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, the pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmos fire, and were also associated with horsemanship. They are sometimes called the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids, later seen as a reference to their father and stepfather Tyndareus, the best-known story of the twins birth is that Zeus disguised himself as a swan and seduced Leda. Thus Ledas children are said to have hatched from two eggs that she then produced. The Dioscuri can be recognized in vase-paintings by the skull-cap they wear, the pilos, whether the children are thus mortal or half-immortal is not consistent among accounts, nor is whether the twins hatched together from one egg. In some accounts, only Pollux was fathered by Zeus, while Leda and this explains why they were granted an alternate immortality. It is a belief that one would live among the gods. Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine, one consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Pollux. In Homers Iliad, Helen looks down from the walls of Troy, the narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland of Lacedaemon, thus suggesting that at least in some early traditions, both were mortal. Their death and shared immortality offered by Zeus was material of the lost Cypria in the Epic cycle, the Dioscuri were regarded as helpers of humankind and held to be patrons of travellers and of sailors in particular, who invoked them to seek favourable winds. Their role as horsemen and boxers also led to them being regarded as the patrons of athletes and they characteristically intervened at the moment of crisis, aiding those who honoured or trusted them. Ancient Greek authors tell a number of versions of the story of Castor, homer portrays them initially as ordinary mortals, treating them as dead in the Iliad, but in the Odyssey they are treated as alive even though the corn-bearing earth holds them. The author describes them as having honour equal to gods, living on alternate days due to the intervention of Zeus, in both the Odyssey and in Hesiod, they are described as the sons of Tyndareus and Leda. In Pindar, Pollux is the son of Zeus while Castor is the son of the mortal Tyndareus, the theme of ambiguous parentage is not unique to Castor and Pollux, similar characterisations appear in the stories of Hercules and Theseus. The Dioscuri are also invoked in Alcaeus Fragment 34a, though whether this poem antedates the Homeric Hymn to the twins is unknown and they appear together in two plays by Euripides, Helen and Elektra
21.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
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Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was the sculptor of his age. Bernini was also a figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his contemporaries, the architect Francesco Borromini. Early in their careers they had all worked at the time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially under Carlo Maderno and, following his death. Later on, however, they were in competition for commissions, Peters Basilica, completed under Pope Paul V with the addition of Madernos nave and facade and finally re-consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on 18 November 1626, after 150 years of planning and building. Berninis design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is one of his most innovative, during his long career, Bernini received numerous important commissions, many of which were associated with the papacy. At an early age, he came to the attention of the nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Although he did not fare so well during the reign of Innocent X, under Alexander VII, he again regained pre-eminent artistic domination. Bernini and other artists fell from favor in later neoclassical criticism of the Baroque, the art historian Howard Hibbard concludes that, during the seventeenth century, there were no sculptors or architects comparable to Bernini. Bernini was born in Naples in 1598 to Angelica Galante and Mannerist sculptor Pietro Bernini and he was the sixth of their thirteen children. Gianlorenzo Bernini was the definition of childhood genius and he was “recognized as a prodigy when he was only eight years old, he was consistently encouraged by his father, Pietro. His precocity earned him the admiration and favor of powerful patrons who hailed him as ‘the Michelangelo of his century’” and his father was so impressed by his son’s obvious talent that he took him to Rome to showcase him to the cardinals and Pope. Bernini was presented before Pope Paul V, for whom he did a sketch of Saint Paul, once he was brought to Rome, he never left. “For Bernini there could be only one Rome, ‘You are made for Rome, ’ said Pope Urban VIII to him, ‘and Rome for you’”. It was in world of 17th century Rome and religious power. Under the patronage of the wealthy and most powerful Cardinal Scipione Borghese. By the time he was twenty-two, he was considered talented enough to have given a commission for a papal portrait. Berninis reputation, however, was established by four masterpieces
22.
Tiber
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It drains a basin estimated at 17,375 square kilometres. The river has achieved lasting fame as the watercourse of the city of Rome. The river rises at Mount Fumaiolo in central Italy and flows in a southerly direction past Perugia. However, it does not form a delta, owing to a strong north-flowing sea current close to the shore, to the steep shelving of the coast. The source of the Tiber consists of two springs 10 metres away from each other on Mount Fumaiolo and these springs are called Le Vene. The springs are in a beech forest 1,268 metres above sea level, during the 1930s, Benito Mussolini placed an antique marble Roman column at the point where the river arises, inscribed QUI NASCE IL FIUME SACRO AI DESTINI DI ROMA. There is an eagle on the top of this column, the first miles of the Tiber run through Valtiberina before entering Umbria. It is probable that the genesis of the name Tiber was pre-Latin, like the Roman name of Tibur, the same root is found in the Latin praenomen Tiberius. There are also Etruscan variants of this praenomen in Thefarie and Teperie, the legendary king Tiberinus, ninth in the king-list of Alba Longa, was said to have drowned in the river Albula, which was afterward called Tiberis. Yet another etymology is from *dubri-, water, considered by Alessio as Sicel and this root *dubri- is widespread in Western Europe e. g. Dover, Portus Dubris. According to the legend, Jupiter made him a god and guardian spirit of the river and this gave rise to the standard Roman depiction of the river as a powerfully built reclining god, also named Tiberinus, with streams of water flowing from his hair and beard. The Tiber was also believed to be the river into which Romulus and Remus were thrown as infants, according to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC on the banks of the Tiber about 25 kilometres from the sea at Ostia. The island Isola Tiberina in the centre of Rome, between Trastevere and the ancient center, was the site of an important ancient ford and was later bridged. Legend says Romes founders, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, were abandoned on its waters, the river marked the boundary between the lands of the Etruscans to the west, the Sabines to the east and the Latins to the south. Benito Mussolini, born in Romagna, adjusted the boundary between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, so that the springs of the Tiber would lie in Romagna and it was later used to ship stone, timber and foodstuffs to Rome. During the Punic Wars of the 3rd century BC, the harbour at Ostia became a key naval base and it later became Romes most important port, where wheat, olive oil, and wine were imported from Romes colonies around the Mediterranean. Wharves were also built along the riverside in Rome itself, lining the riverbanks around the Campus Martius area, the Romans connected the river with a sewer system and with an underground network of tunnels and other channels, to bring its water into the middle of the city. Wealthy Romans had garden-parks or horti on the banks of the river in Rome up through the first century BC and these may have been sold and developed about a century later
23.
Lateran Palace
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The Lateran Palace, formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran, is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome. Located on St. Johns Square in Lateran on the Caelian Hill, the edifice is adjacent to the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome. From the fourth century, the palace was the residence of the popes. The palace is now used by the Vatican Historical Museum, which illustrates the history of the Papal States. The palace also houses the offices of the Vicariate of Rome, as well as the apartments of the Cardinal vicar. Until 1970, the palace was home to the important collections of the Lateran Museum. Following the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the palace and adjoining basilica are extraterritorial properties of the Holy See, the site on which the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano sits was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the domus of the Plautii Laterani family. The Laterani served as administrators for several emperors, their ancestor Lucius Sextius Lateranus is said to have been the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, one of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the emperor. The accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties, the Domus Laterani fell into the hands of the emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Known by that time as the Domus Faustae or House of Fausta, the equites singulares had allegedly supported Maxentius against Constantine. He commissioned the construction of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano the site, the domus was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine. As Byzantium grew less able to help prevent Lombard incursions, the became more independent of the Empire. Author Erik Thunø notes that the incentive to refurbish the Lateran Palace was to create a residence from which the pope could exercise not only spiritual. The pope’s palace at the Lateran in Rome was extensively added to in the eighth century by Pope Hadrian I. Leo III, built an enormous Triclinium and it was one of the most famous halls of the ancient palace and was the state banqueting hall, lined with mosaics. Nothing remains of this, but in 1743 copies of the mosaics were made from drawings, the Triclinium and the sala del concilio, an oblong hall with apse mosaic and five ornate niches on each side, were built around 800 to serve as the heart of papal ceremonial. Architecturally they were reminiscent of Byzantine imperial buildings in Constantinople, in the tenth Century Sergius III restored it after a disastrous fire, and later it was greatly embellished by Innocent III. This was the period of its greatest magnificence, when Dante speaks of it as all human achievements
24.
Luigi d'Este
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Luigi dEste was an Italian Catholic cardinal, the second of the five children of Ercole II dEste, Duke of Modena and Ferrara, and Renée, daughter of Louis XII of France. Luigi, a member of the House of Este, was born in Ferrara and he played a key role, however, in the Papal conclave,1585. Luigi dEste lived partly in Rome and partly at the Villa dEste, Tivoli, among the Cardinals paintings was Correggios Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, now in the Louvre. He bequeathed his estate to his brother Alfonso II dEste. Luigi dEste is buried in the church of S. Maria Maggiore, Tivoli
25.
Francesco Borromini
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He seems to have had a sound understanding of structures, which perhaps Bernini and Cortona, who were principally trained in other areas of the visual arts, lacked. His soft lead drawings are particularly distinctive and he appears to have been a self-taught scholar, amassing a large library by the end of his life. His career was constrained by his personality, later critics of the Baroque, such as Francesco Milizia and the English architect Sir John Soane, were particularly critical of Borromini’s work. From the late nineteenth century onwards, interest has revived in the works of Borromini, Borromini was born at Bissone, near Lugano in the Ticino, which was at the time a bailiwick of the Swiss Confederacy. He was the son of a stonemason and began his career as a stonemason himself and he soon went to Milan to study and practice his craft. He moved to Rome in 1619 and started working for Carlo Maderno, his distant relative, at St. Peters, when Maderno died in 1629, he and Pietro da Cortona continued to work on the palace under the direction of Bernini. Once he had established in Rome, he changed his name from Castelli to Borromini. In 1634, Borromini received his first major independent commission to design the church, cloister, situated on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, the complex was designed for the Spanish Trinitarians, a religious order. The monastic buildings and the cloister were completed first after which construction of the church took place during the period 1638-1641, the church is considered by many to be an exemplary masterpiece of Roman Baroque architecture. San Carlino is remarkably small given its significance to Baroque architecture, the site was not an easy one, it was a corner site and the space was limited. Borromini positioned the church on the corner of two intersecting roads, Borromini devised the complex ground plan of the church from interlocking geometrical configurations, a typical Borromini device for constructing plans. The area of the marks the transition from the lower wall order to the oval opening of the dome. Illuminated by windows hidden from a viewer below, interlocking octagons, crosses, in the late sixteenth century, the Congregation of the Filippini rebuilt the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella in central Rome. In the 1620s, on an adjacent to the church. These exercises combined preaching and music in a form which became immensely popular, the architect Paolo Maruscelli drew up plans for the site and the sacristy was begun in 1629 and was in use by 1635. After a substantial benefaction in January 1637, however, Borromini was appointed as architect, by 1640, the oratory was in use, a taller and richer clock tower was accepted, and by 1643, the relocated library was complete. The striking brick curved facade adjacent to the entrance has an unusual pediment. The white oratory interior has a vault and a complex wall arrangement of engaged pilasters along with freestanding columns supporting first level balconies
26.
President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
27.
Barack Obama
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Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He is the first African American to have served as president and he previously served in the U. S. Senate representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, and in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, two years after the territory was admitted to the Union as the 50th state and he grew up mostly in Hawaii, but also spent one year of his childhood in Washington State and four years in Indonesia. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago, in 1988 Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he became a civil rights attorney and professor, Obama represented the 13th District for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, when he ran for the U. S. Senate. In 2008, Obama was nominated for president, a year after his campaign began and he was elected over Republican John McCain, and was inaugurated on January 20,2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, during his first two years in office, Obama signed more landmark legislation than any Democratic president since LBJs Great Society. Main reforms were the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, after a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, Obama signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, Obama increased U. S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the U. S. -Russian New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. He ordered military involvement in Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, after winning re-election over Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term in 2013. Obama also advocated gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning climate change and immigration. In foreign policy, Obama ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60% approval rating. He currently resides in Washington, D. C and his presidential library will be built in Chicago. Obama was born on August 4,1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu and he is the only President to have been born in Hawaii. He was born to a mother and a black father. His mother, Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, of mostly English descent, with some German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss and his father, Barack Obama Sr. was a married Luo Kenyan man from Nyangoma Kogelo. Obamas parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii on February 2,1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, Obamas mother moved him to the University of Washington in Seattle for a year
28.
First Lady
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First Lady is an unofficial title used for the wife or hostess of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is used to describe a woman seen to be at the top of her profession or art. Collectively, the President of the United States and his spouse are known as the First Couple and, if they have children, they are usually referred to as the First Family. The term is used, primarily in the U. S. to refer to the spouse of other non-monarchical heads of state. Some other countries have a title, formal or informal, that is or can be translated as first lady, the title is not normally used for the wife of a head of government who is not also head of state. The term in the United States is also used to refer to wives of governors and, less formally, to wives of college and it has even been used in reference to female spouses of men who were chairmen of major corporations. While there has never been a spouse of a U. S. President. First Gentleman is the equivalent of the title in countries where the head of states husband has been a man. The designation First Lady seems to have originated in the United States, in the early days of the United States, there was no generally accepted title for the wife of the president. Many early first ladies expressed their own preference for how they were addressed, indulging in no indolence, she left the pillow at dawn, and after breakfast, retired to her chamber for an hour for the study of the scriptures and devotion. However, the term first lady would not come into use until the late 1800s. Harriet Lane, niece of bachelor President James Buchanan, was the first woman to be called first lady while actually serving in that position. The phrase appeared in Frank Leslies Illustrated Monthly in 1860, when he wrote, The Lady of the White House, and by courtesy, once Harriet Lane was called first lady, the term was applied retrospectively to her predecessors. The title first gained recognition in 1877, when Mary C. Ames wrote an article in the New York City newspaper The Independent describing the inauguration of President Rutherford B and she used the term to describe his wife, Lucy Webb Hayes. The current First Lady of the United States is Melania Trump, the entire family of the head of state may be known familiarly as the First Family. The spouse of the second-in-command may be known as the Second Lady, less frequently, the family would be known as the Second Family. The spouse of the governor of a U. S. state is referred to as the First Lady or First Gentleman of that state
29.
Michelle Obama
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Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an American lawyer and writer who was First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is married to the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama and she subsequently worked as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago and the Vice President for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Barack and Michelle married in 1992 and have two daughters, Obama campaigned for her husbands presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. As First Lady, Obama became an icon, a role model for women, and an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition, physical activity. Her mother was a homemaker until Michelle entered high school. The Robinson and Shields families trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South, on her fathers side, she is descended from the Gullah people of South Carolinas Low Country region. Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was a slave on Friendfield Plantation in South Carolina and her grandfather Fraser Robinson, Jr. built his own house in South Carolina. He and his wife LaVaughn returned to the Low Country after retirement, among her maternal ancestors was her great-great-great-grandmother, Melvinia Shields, a slave on Henry Walls Shields 200-acre farm in Clayton County, Georgia. Melvinias first son, Dolphus T. Shields, was biracial, based on DNA and other evidence, in 2012 researchers said his father was likely 20-year-old Charles Marion Shields, son of her master. Melvinia did not talk to relatives about Dolphus father, Dolphus Shields moved to Birmingham, Alabama after the Civil War, and some of his children migrated to Cleveland, Ohio and Chicago. Her distant ancestry includes Irish and other European roots, in addition, a paternal first cousin once-removed is the African-American Jewish Rabbi Capers Funnye, son of her grandfathers sister. Robinson grew up in a bungalow on Euclid Avenue in Chicagos South Shore community area. Her parents rented an apartment on the second floor from her great-aunt. She was raised in what she describes as a home, with the mother at home. Her elementary school was down the street and they enjoyed playing games such as Monopoly, reading, and frequently saw extended family on both sides. She played piano, learning from her great-aunt who was a piano teacher, the Robinsons attended services at nearby South Shore United Methodist Church. They used to vacation in a cabin in White Cloud. She and her 21-month older brother, Craig, skipped the second grade and her father suffered from multiple sclerosis which had a profound emotional effect on her as she was growing up
30.
35th G8 summit
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The 35th G8 summit was held in LAquila, Abruzzo, Italy, on July 8–10,2009. It was moved from the Sardinian seaside city of La Maddalena as part of an attempt to redistribute disaster funds after the 2009 LAquila earthquake, the locations of previous summits to have been hosted by Italy include, Venice, Venice, Naples and Genoa. The G8 Summit has evolved beyond being a gathering of political leaders. The event has become an occasion for a variety of non-governmental organizations, activists and civic groups to congregate. The Iranian government made a complaint to the Italian government about violent suppression of justice-seeking protesters by the Italian police. The G8, meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition of Russia, in addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally invited to summits since 1981 and participates in all but political discussion and talks. The G8 is an annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom. The 35th G8 summit was the first summit for U. S. President Barack Obama and was the last summit for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and it was also the first and only summit for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. Political changes in the G8 member nations are likely to affect the composition of the 35th G8 summit, France would like to see China become a full member by the time the 37th G8 summit in 2011 is organized as France will be the host member. Hu Jintao curtailed his participation following the eruption of ethnic rioting in Ürümqi, in his place, State Councilor Dai Bingguo led the Chinese delegation at the summit. British Prime Minister Brown supports this proposal, the Italian presidency of the G8 varies the summits working methods and the numbers of participants depending on the subject under consideration. This variable geometry structure diverges from the traditional G8 format, the involvement of different actors at different stages goes further than the idea of a simple G8+. After an initial meeting of the core leaders of what is understood as the traditional G8), the agenda was broadened. The leaders of G8 countries and G5 countries were joined by a delegation from Egypt and this would convert the G8 summits into an informal global governance council. Leaders of major organizations have also been invited to attend in the past. Effective organization at the level is understood to be essential for the success of a summit meeting. The summit was intended as a venue for resolving differences among its members, as a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions. From Italys perspective, the important thing is for the evolving G8 to avoid being too closely linked to serial emergency situations when there is no room for discussing broader issues, mandelsons comment comes during a trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil
31.
Corazzieri
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The Cuirassiers Regiment is an Italian elite military unit and the honor guard of the President of the Italian Republic. Their motto Virtus in periculis firmior means Courage becomes stronger in danger, members of the unit, which is a specialized company of the Carabinieri, are distinguished by their uniforms and height. The units history dates back to the late 14th century, when the Red Count used a lifeguard of archers. In the 16th century, Emmanuel Philibert re-organized the Savoiard army, creating a personal unit of mounted archers. This guard saved Charles Emmanuel I during the siege of Mons, Charles Emmanuel created a company of cuirassiers, and this unit was enlarged by his successors until 1854, when the Carabinieri received the role of guards of the King during the campaigns. On 7 February 1868, for the wedding of Prince Umberto to Margherita of Savoy, the new unit was formally recognized as Carabinieri Guardie del Re on 7 January 1870, when it was entrusted with the safety of the king. After the end of the Kingdom of Italy, and the proclamation of the Republic, the unit was re-founded in 1946, in February 2006, the Corazzieri took part in the flag-raising ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Carabinieri Cavalry Regiment Carabinieri Cuirassier Honor guard History of the Carabinieri History Uniforms
32.
Carabinieri
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The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations. It originally was founded as the force of the Kingdom of Sardinia. During the process of Italian unification, it was appointed the First Force of the new military organization. Since 2001, it has one of the four Italian Armed Forces. Inspired by the French Gendarmerie, the corps was created by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps, previously, police duties were managed by the Dragoni di Sardegna corps, created in 1726 and composed of volunteers. The new force was divided into divisions on the scale of one division for each province, in 1868, the Corazzieri mounted division was formed – initially as an escort of honour for the sovereign, and since 1946 for the President of the Republic. The Italian unification saw the number of divisions increased, and on 24 January 1861 the Carabinieri were appointed the First Force of the new military organization. In May 1915 Italian troops marched to encompass South Tyrol, territory of their allies the Austro-Hungarian empire. The role of the Carabinieri was to act as barrier troops, setting up machine gun posts to control the rear of the attacking regiments, during the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, the Carabinieri were one of the police forces entrusted with suppressing opposition in Italy. During the same period, while part of the Italian Africa Police, during World War II they fought in their function as military police against the Allied forces, and against Yugoslav partisans as part of the Italian occupation force in Yugoslavia. After Mussolinis fall on 25 July 1943, he was arrested by the Carabinieri as he left the private residence in Rome. In southern Italy the Carabinieri Command for Liberated Italy was founded in Bari and these units were attached to the Italian Liberation Corps and the six Italian Combat Groups of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army, fighting with the Allied forces. In northern Italy the fascist regime organized the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana, to employ it as a military police, GNR was later joined by the Black Brigades which should have represented a new militant incarnation of the Fascist party. As German forces subsequently began to arrest and deport members of the Carabinieri to Germany for forced labour, large numbers of Carabinieri joined the Italian resistance movement. After the war the Carabinieri counted at least 2,735 fallen and 6,500 wounded, out of approximately 14,000 who had joined the Resistance in northern and central Italy. In Yugoslavia the Carabinieri formed a battalion of the Italian partisan Garibaldi Division, the battalion lost over 80% of its members in combat and was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor to commemorate the fallen. The Carabinieri increased in status and joined the Armed Forces on 31 March 2000, dAcquisto exchanged his life for the lives of citizens due to be executed in retaliation for the killing of a German soldier, instead, he claimed responsibility and was executed for the offence. In recent years Carabinieri units have been dispatched on peacekeeping missions, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, the State Forestry Corps was dissolved on 31 December 2016 and all personnel were militarized and absorbed by the Carabinieri
33.
Pope Paul V
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Pope Paul V, born Camillo Borghese, was Pope from 16 May 1605 to his death in 1621. He is best remembered today as the Pope who persecuted Galileo Galilei, Camillo Borghese was born on 17 September 1550 into the noble Borghese family of Siena which had recently fled to Rome, thus the reason as to why ROMANUS appears in most of his inscriptions. He began his career as an educated at Perugia and then in Padua. In June 1596 he was made the Cardinal-Priest of SantEusebio and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII, during this time, he opted for other titular churches like San Crisogono and Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Clement VIII also bestowed upon him episcopal consecration in 1597 after his appointment as Bishop of Jesi, in character he was very stern and unyielding, a lawyer rather than diplomat, who defended the privileges of the Church to his utmost. His first act was to send home to their sees the bishops who were sojourning in Rome, Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy. Paul V canonised Charles Borromeo on 1 November 1610 and Frances of Rome on 29 May 1608 and he also canonized Pompejanus in 1615 and canonized Cardinal Albert de Louvain on 9 August 1621. He also beatified a number of individuals which included Ignatius Loyola, Philip Neri, Theresa of Avila, and Francis Xavier. Venice passed two laws obnoxious to Paul, one forbidding the alienation of real estate in favour of the clergy, two priests charged by the Venetian state with cruelty, wholesale poisoning, murder and licentiousness, were arrested by the Senate and put in dungeons for trial. Having been found guilty, they were committed to prison, Paul V insisted that they be released to the Church. He demanded the release of the priests as not being amenable to the secular law, when this was refused, the Pope threatened an interdict on account of the property laws and the imprisonment of ecclesiastics, which threat was presented to the Senate on Christmas 1605. The Venetian position was defended by a canon lawyer, Paolo Sarpi. In April 1606 the Pope excommunicated the entire government of Venice, Father Sarpi strongly advised the Venetian government to refuse to receive the Popes interdict, and to reason with him while opposing force by force. The rest of the Catholic clergy sided with the city, with the exception of the Jesuits, the Theatines, the dissenting clergy were forthwith expelled from Venetian territories. Masses continued to be said in Venice, and the feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated with displays of pomp and magnificence. Within a year the disagreement was mediated by France and Spain, the Most Serene Republic refused to retract the laws, but asserted that Venice would conduct herself with her accustomed piety. The Jesuits, which Venice considered subversive Papal agents, remained banned, in September 1607, after unsuccessfully attempting to lure Father Sarpi to Rome, the Pope responded by putting out a contract on his life
34.
Papal conclave
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A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a new Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope. The pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the successor of Saint Peter. The conclave has been the procedure for choosing the pope for almost a thousand years, conclaves are now held in the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. Since the Apostolic Age, the Bishop of Rome, like other bishops, was chosen by the consensus of the clergy, the body of electors was more precisely defined when, in 1059, the College of Cardinals was designated the sole body of electors. Since then, other details of the process have developed, in 1970, Pope Paul VI limited the electors to cardinals under 80 years of age. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to elect the new pope, the procedures relating to the election of the pope have undergone almost two millennia of development. As the Christian communities became established they started to elect bishops, chosen by the clergy and laity of the community with the assistance of the bishops of neighbouring dioceses. St. Cyprian says that Pope Cornelius was chosen Bishop of Rome by the decree of God and of His Church, by the testimony of all the clergy, by the college of aged bishops. As was true for bishops of dioceses, the clergy of the Diocese of Rome was the electoral body for the Bishop of Rome. Instead of casting votes, the bishop was selected by consensus or by acclamation. The candidate would then be submitted to the people for their approval or disapproval. This lack of precision in the election procedures occasionally gave rise to rival popes or antipopes. The right of the laity to refuse the person elected was abolished by a Synod held in the Lateran in 769, the pope was also subjected to oaths of loyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor, whose task it was to provide security and public peace in Rome. The cardinal bishops were to meet first and discuss the candidates before summoning the cardinal priests, through much of the Middle Ages and Renaissance there were a small number of cardinals, down to as few as seven under either Pope Alexander IV or Pope John XXI. Difficult travel further reduced the number arriving at the conclave, with a small electorate an individual vote was significant, and was not easily shaken from familial or political lines. Conclaves could last months and even years, lengthy elections resumed and continued to be the norm until 1294, when a Benedictine hermit was elected Pope Celestine V. Celestine reinstated the strict conclave, but soon resigned the papacy. Beginning with Pope John XXIIIs attempts to broaden the representation of nations in the College of Cardinals, though this remains the theoretical limit, John Paul II exceeded this for short periods of time with knowledge of impending retirements. Originally, lay status did not bar election to the Bishop of Rome, Bishops of dioceses were sometimes elected while still catechumens, such as the case of St. Ambrose
35.
Papal conclave, 1823
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Following the death of Pope Pius VII on 20 August 1823, a papal conclave was held to determine his successor. The conclave began on 2 September and ended 26 days later with the election of Cardinal Annibale della Genga who became Pope Leo XII, Pius VII had reigned as Pope for what was then considered a very long pontificate. During Pius VIIs papacy, the cardinals had tended to divide into two groups, the zelanti and the politicani, the politicani, though anti-liberal, were much more moderate and favoured a conciliatory approach to dealing with the problems new ideologies and the incipient Industrial Revolution were creating. Thus, forty-seven of the electors had had no practical experience electing a Pope before this conclave. A number of cardinals were thought at the beginning of the conclave as possible successors to Pius VII. Antonio Gabriele Severoli was at first seen as the most likely papabile, francesco Saverio Castiglioni then took over as the most likely candidate. Castiglioni lost support in the 1823 conclave when the zelanti Cardinals came to realize that he was close to Consalvi. It was only then that the winner, Vicar of Rome Annibale della Genga. As a result, Della Genga was elected on 28 September, Leo XII was crowned as Pope on 5 October 1823
36.
Papal conclave, 1829
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The papal conclave to elect a successor to Pope Leo XII after his death on February 10,1829 began on February 24,1829. It took a time for the conclave to elect a new pope due to conflict between secular governments concerning who should be elected. At the time, France was governed by Charles X and Prime Minister Jean Baptiste Gay, Pacca was also seen by many in the conclave as being too gentle to be an effective Pope. The conclave did not move rapidly, the arrival of Giuseppe Albani caused the votes to center on Francesco Saverio Castiglioni. With the supporters of both De Gregorio and of Pacca unable to secure enough votes to elect their candidate to the papacy, consalvi however was already dead by the time of the 1829 conclave having died during the pontificate of Pope Leo XII. On March 31, Castiglioni was elected Pope
37.
Papal conclave, 1846
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The death of Pope Gregory XVI on 1 June 1846 triggered the Papal conclave of 1846. Fifty of the 62 members of the College of Cardinals assembled in the Quirinal Palace, one of the palaces in Rome. It was the issue of the government of the Papal States that was to central to the 1846 conclave. The College of Cardinals was split into two factions, a fourth papabile was Cardinal Ludovico Micara, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who was favored by the residents of Rome itself but he never gained support among the cardinals. Lambruschini received a majority of the votes in the early ballots, Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti reportedly received 15 votes with the rest going to Lambruschini and Gizzi. Bernetti then on his own initiative personally convinced the majority of the electors to switch their support to Mastai-Ferretti, Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti himself however made no effort to campaign for the papacy, made no promises and maintained aloofness throughout the process. Mastai-Ferretti at one point begged to be excused from his role as scrutineer but was not permitted to do so since it would have invalidated the ballot, as a result, Mastai-Ferretti had the rare experience of having to formally proclaim his own election to the cardinal-electors inside the conclave. He took the name Pope Pius IX, because it was night, no formal announcement was given, just the signal of white smoke. Many Catholics had assumed that Gizzi had been elected successor of St. Peter, in fact, celebrations began to take place in his hometown, and his personal staff, following a long-standing tradition, burned his cardinalitial vestments. On the following morning, the senior Cardinal-Deacon, Tommaso Riario Sforza, when the new pope appeared on the balcony, the mood became joyous. After his election Pius IX appointed Cardinal Gizzi as his Secretary of State, Pius IX was crowned on 21 June 1846. As with other conclaves up to and including the 1903 conclave, various Catholic monarchs claimed a right to veto a cardinal who might be elected, emperor Ferdinand of Austria had charged Cardinal Karl Kajetan Gaisruck, the Archbishop of Milan, with vetoing the liberal Ferretti. However Gaisruck arrived too late at the conclave, by the time he got there Ferretti had been elected, had accepted the papacy and had been proclaimed publicly. Pope Pius IX was crowned with the Papal tiara on 21 June 1846 and he became the longest-reigning pope since Saint Peter, sitting on the papal throne for nearly 32 years. In 1870 the remaining territories of the Papal States were seized by Victor Emmanuel II, Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, with the former papal palace, the Quirinal, becoming the Kings palace. Pius IX withdrew in protest to the Vatican where he lived as a self-proclaimed Prisoner in the Vatican
38.
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
39.
Kingdom of Italy
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals
40.
Palace
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A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which housed the Imperial residences, in many parts of Europe, the term is also applied to ambitious private mansions of the aristocracy. Many historic palaces are now put to uses such as parliaments, museums, hotels. The word is sometimes used to describe a lavishly ornate building used for public entertainment or exhibitions. The word palace comes from Old French palais, from Latin Palātium, the original palaces on the Palatine Hill were the seat of the imperial power while the capitol on the Capitoline Hill was the religious nucleus of Rome. Long after the city grew to the seven hills the Palatine remained a residential area. Emperor Caesar Augustus lived there in a purposely modest house only set apart from his neighbours by the two trees planted to flank the front door as a sign of triumph granted by the Senate. His descendants, especially Nero, with his Golden House, enlarged the house, the word Palātium came to mean the residence of the emperor rather than the neighbourhood on top of the hill. Palace meaning government can be recognized in a remark of Paul the Deacon, AD790 and describing events of the 660s, When Grimuald set out for Beneventum, he entrusted his palace to Lupus. At the same time, Charlemagne was consciously reviving the Roman expression in his palace at Aachen, in the 9th century, the palace indicated the housing of the government too, and the constantly travelling Charlemagne built fourteen. In the Holy Roman Empire the powerful independent Electors came to be housed in palaces and this has been used as evidence that power was widely distributed in the Empire, as in more centralized monarchies, only the monarchs residence would be a palace. In modern times, the term has been applied by archaeologists and historians to large structures that housed combined ruler, court, in informal usage, a palace can be extended to a grand residence of any kind. The earliest known palaces were the residences of the Egyptian Pharaohs at Thebes, featuring an outer wall enclosing labyrinthine buildings. Other ancient palaces include the Assyrian palaces at Nimrud and Nineveh, the Minoan palace at Knossos, the Brazilian new capital, Brasília, hosts modern palaces, most designed by the citys architect Oscar Niemeyer. The Alvorada Palace is the residence of the Brazils president. The Planalto Palace is the official workplace, the Jaburu Palace is the official residence of Brazils vice-president. In Canada, Government House is a given to the official residences of the Canadian monarchy. The use of the term Government House is a custom from the British Empire
41.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
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Victor Emmanuel III was the King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. In addition, he claimed the thrones of Ethiopia and Albania as Emperor of Ethiopia and King of the Albanians, during his long reign, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two World Wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian Fascism, Victor Emmanuel abdicated his throne in 1946 in favour of his son Umberto II, hoping to strengthen support for the monarchy against an ultimately successful referendum to abolish it. He then went in exile to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died and was buried the following year. He was called by the Italians Il Re soldato for having led his country during both the wars, and, after Italys victory in the First World War Il Re vittorioso. He was also nicknamed Sciaboletta due to his height of 1.53 m, Victor Emmanuel was born in Naples, Italy. He was the child of Umberto I, King of Italy. Margherita was the daughter of the Duke of Genoa, from birth until his accession, Victor Emmanuel was known by the title of the Prince of Naples. On 24 October 1896, Prince Victor Emmanuel married Princess Elena of Montenegro, on 29 July 1900, at the age of 30, Victor Emmanuel acceded to the throne upon his fathers assassination. The only advice that his father Umberto ever gave his heir was Remember, to be a king, all you need to know is how to sign your name, read a newspaper, and mount a horse. His early years showed evidence that, by the standards of the Savoy monarchy, indeed, even though his father was killed by an anarchist, the new King showed a commitment to constitutional freedoms. Though parliamentary rule had been established in Italy, the Statuto Albertino, or constitution. For instance, he had the right to appoint the Prime Minister even if the individual in question did not command majority support in the Chamber of Deputies, when World War I began, Italy at first remained neutral, despite being part of the Triple Alliance. However, in 1915, Italy signed several secret treaties committing her to enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente, most of the politicians opposed war, however, and the Italian Chamber of Deputies forced Prime Minister Antonio Salandra to resign. At this juncture, Victor Emmanuel declined Salandras resignation and personally made the decision for Italy to enter the war and he was well within his rights to do so under the Statuto. Popular demonstrations in favor of the war were staged in Rome, with 200,000 gathering on 16 May 1915 and it was at this time, the period of World War I, that the King enjoyed the genuine affection of the majority of his people. Still, during the war he received about 400 threatening letters from people of social background. The economic depression which followed World War I gave rise to much extremism among Italys sorely tried working classes and this caused the country as a whole to become politically unstable
42.
Villa Ada
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Villa Ada is a park in Rome, Italy, with a surface of 450 acres it is the second largest in the city after Villa Doria Pamphili. It is located in the part of the city. Its highest prominence is Monte Antenne with an altitude of 67 m, the wooded expanse was owned by the Italian royal House of Savoy in the latter half of the nineteenth century, it contained the royal residence. In 1878 the area came under the control of Count Tellfner of Switzerland, the royal family regained control of the land in 1904 but did not change the name. They retained control of the area until 1946, as of 2009 the area contains both public and private areas. The public area is controlled by the Council of Rome, the area is controlled by the Egyptian Embassy. The private portion is under constant patrol by police or army personnel, the public portion of the park is much larger than the private area. It contains a lake and many trees, including stone pines, holm oaks, laurels. Entrance to the park is free, one may rent canoes, bicycles, or riding horses. There is a swimming pool. Since 1994, during the summer the park hosts the festival and the Roma incontra il mondo festival, against racism, war. List of parks and gardens in Rome
43.
Italian institutional referendum, 1946
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An institutional referendum was held in Italy on 2 June 1946, a key event of Italian contemporary history. Until 1946, Italy was a kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy, kings of Italy since the Risorgimento and previously rulers of Savoy. However, Benito Mussolini, enjoying the support of the monarch, imposed fascism after the 28 October 1922 March on Rome. In 1946, Italy became a republic after the results of a popular referendum, monarchists had suspicions of fraud, but were never able to prove these. A Constituent Assembly was elected at the same time, the Italian referendum was intended only to determine whether the head of state should come from a family dynasty or be elected by popular vote. Democracy was not a new concept in Italian politics, the Kingdom of Piedmont had become a constitutional monarchy with the liberalizing reforms of King Charles Alberts famous Albertine Statute in 1848. Suffrage, initially limited to citizens, was gradually expanded, in 1911. In this period, the provisions of the Statute were often not observed, instead, the elected Chamber and the Head of Government took major roles. At the beginning of the 20th century, many thought that, by comparison to other countries. Essential issues that needed to be resolved included the relationship of the Kingdom with the Roman Catholic Church and this crisis led to the advent of Fascism, which destroyed freedoms and civil rights and established a dictatorship, breaking the continuity of the still fragile new parliamentary tradition. The support of the class and especially the monarchy was crucial for the seizure of power by Benito Mussolini. After Mussolinis March on Rome, King Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign a decree to declare a state of siege, however, Germany, worried by the new governments intention to negotiate a separate peace with the Allies, invaded and occupied Northern Italy. In the Gran Sasso raid, or Operation Oak, German paratroopers rescued Mussolini from the hotel in which he had been imprisoned by the new government. The Italian Social Republic had its seat of government in the town of Salò, southern Italy, meanwhile, remained nominally under the control of the new legitimist government of Badoglio, continuing to operate as the Kingdom of Italy. Rome descended into chaos, as fighting erupted between Mussolini loyalists and supporters of the new government, as well as leftist opponents of fascism who emerged from hiding, the King and the Badoglio government left Rome to seek the protection of the Allied forces that occupied the South. With half of the Italian peninsula occupied by the Germans and the rest by the Allies, the pre-Fascist-era parties had been formally disbanded, and so far as they still existed their activity was clandestine and limited, with no form of contact with most of the population. Consequently, the relationships between these parties, and the balance of power, was left to be decided at a later, quieter time. Almost all of the Resistance was anti-monarchist, at the end of the war, Italy was a severely damaged country, with innumerable victims, a destroyed economy, and a desperate general condition
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Sandro Pertini
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Alessandro Sandro Pertini, OMCA was an Italian journalist and socialist politician, who served as the seventh President of the Italian Republic, from 1978 to 1985. Born in Stella as the son of a landowner, Alberto, he studied at a Salesian college in Varazze. His philosophy teacher was Adelchi Baratono, a reformist socialist who contributed to his approach to socialism, Pertini obtained a Law degree from the University of Genoa. Aged 19 when Italy entered World War I on the side of the Entente, Pertini opposed the war, but nonetheless enlisted in the army where he served as a lieutenant and was decorated for bravery. After the armistice in 1918, he joined the Unitary Socialist Party, PSU, while in the city, Pertini also came into contact with people such as Gaetano Salvemini, the brothers Carlo and Nello Rosselli, and Ernesto Rossi. Pertini was physically beaten by Fascist squads on several occasions, after the assassination of PSU leader Giacomo Matteotti by Fascists, Pertini became even more committed to the struggle against the totalitarian regime. In 1926, he was sentenced to internment, but managed to go into hiding, later, together with Carlo Rosselli and Ferruccio Parri, he organized and accompanied the escape to France of Filippo Turati, who was the most prominent figure of the PSU. Pertini remained in the country until 1926 working as a mason, on his return to Italy, he was arrested in Pisa and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. In 1935 he was interned on Santo Stefano Island, Ventotene, Pontine Islands, an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, there he saved the famous diaries of Antonio Gramsci. Although he had begun suffering from illness, Pertini never demanded pardon. He was released a month after Benito Mussolinis arrest, and joined the Italian resistance movement against the Nazi German occupiers, arrested by the Germans, he was sentenced to death but freed by a partisan raid. Pertini then travelled north to organize partisan war as a member of PSU. In the postwar era he was a prominent member of the board of the Italian Socialist Party. In spite of his intransigent attitude toward the Italian Communist Party and he criticized all forms of colonialism, as well as corruption in the Italian state and within the socialist party, where he kept an independent political position. He was elected president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1968, and in 1978, the 82-year-old Pertini was elected President of the Italian Republic, during the Brigate Rosse terrorism period of the Anni di piombo, Pertini openly denounced the violence. He also opposed organized crime in Italy, South African apartheid, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and other dictatorial regimes, in 1985, he stepped down from the presidency, becoming automatically senator for life. Pertini died in February 1990 at the age of 93 and was mourned across the nation, Pertini attended the 1982 World Cup Final in Madrid for a match between Italy and West Germany just two days after the fourth anniversary of his inauguration. After Italy scored their goal, he wagged his finger to either the German delegation or King Juan Carlos I
