Villa Celimontana & the Obelisk That Kept a Man's Hands
Why is it significant?
Follow the gravel path under the umbrella pines until you reach a slender obelisk standing in the middle of a lawn, surrounded by benches and the shouts of children. It looks almost modest by Roman standards. Which is exactly why almost nobody stops to ask where it came from.
Key Facts
| Place | Villa Celimontana & the Obelisk That Kept a Man's Hands |
|---|---|
| Address | Via della Navicella 12, 00184 Roma RM, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.88340, 12.49530 |
| Part of Walk | Rome in Layers: The Quiet Celian Hill, San Clemente & the Lateran |
| Generated | Generated |
Follow the gravel path under the umbrella pines until you reach a slender obelisk standing in the middle of a lawn, surrounded by benches and the shouts of children. It looks almost modest by Roman standards. Which is exactly why almost nobody stops to ask where it came from.
In 1553 a nobleman called Ciriaco Mattei bought a vineyard on this hill and turned it into one of the great gardens of Renaissance Rome, filled with fountains, ancient statues and fragments of carved marble. Every collector of the age wanted one thing above all: an Egyptian obelisk. In 1582 the city council gave him one, a small obelisk that had stood near the church of Aracoeli on the Capitoline Hill.
Only the upper part is the genuine ancient Egyptian original, carved with the name of the pharaoh Ramesses the Second. It almost certainly reached Rome to decorate the great temple of Isis on the Campus Martius. The rest of the shaft was added to make it tall enough for a nobleman's pride. So you are looking at three thousand years of history stacked on a Renaissance afterthought.
And then there is the story the gardeners like to tell. When the obelisk was moved to its present position in the early nineteenth century, the stone slipped as it was lowered onto its base, and it crushed the hands of one of the workmen. They could not lift it again. The story goes that his hands are still down there, under the obelisk, to this day.
The villa later passed through several owners, and in 1925 the state bought it. A few years later it became a public park. On summer nights, a jazz festival fills these lawns with music, and the Italian Geographical Society works in the villa's palazzina. Leave by the gate on Piazza della Navicella and cross into Via di Santo Stefano Rotondo. Look for a low round building behind a garden wall.