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The Janiculum walls (Italian: Mura gianicolensi) are a stretch of defensive walls erected in 1643 by Pope Urban VIII as a completion of the Leonine wall (defending the Vatican Hill) and for a better protection of the area of Rome rising on the right bank of the Tiber. == History == The need for a fortification, preventing the access in Rome through its south-west side, derived from a conflict between two noble Roman families, the Barberini (the house of the Pontiff) and the Farnese, due to economic interests and to the policy of expansion of the former against the latter. The ''casus belli'', cleverly arranged by Urban VIII himself, was the failure to pay to Barberinis the economic rents of the Duchy of Castro and Ronciglione (now in the Province of Viterbo), governed by Odoardo I Farnese, the Duke of Parma and Piacenza and supported by Venice, the France of Richelieu and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In the summer of 1641 the Pope himself, leading an army of 15.000 men with artilleries, marched against the Duchy, occupying its territory and the town of Castro: in effect, the economics interests concealed political matters, as well as a kind of feud between rival families, and Urban was waiting for nothing but a pretext to set off the spark. The “War of Castro”, because of the involved powers, could however pose a threat also for the Holy See, the Barberini House and its properties in Rome. The town, though adequately protected, was nevertheless perilously exposed on the side of Janiculum (what's more, too close to the Vatican): on this side, the former wall erected by Emperor Aurelian was no more in condition to guarantee an effective protection. The work was commissioned to Marcantonio De Rossi, a quite unknown architect, who get the charge probably thanks to his friendship with the powerful Olimpia Maidalchini. The surveys began in 1641, the building at the end of the following year and in 1643 the work was completed. The new wall, rising on the west side of Janiculum, had serious consequences on the former defensive structures; in particular, the whole stretch of the Aurelian walls on that side of the river was demolished, as it rose within the new perimeter. For the same reason, the bastion of the Leonine wall, built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger close to Porta Santo Spirito, as well as the Porta itself, were by now almost useless; Porta Settimiana became useless as well, while Porta Portuensis, closed off the new wall, was demolished together with the Aurelian stretch and replaced with the new Porta Portese northward. The only structure that maintained its function was Porta San Pancrazio, where the new wall almost coincided to the ancient Aurelian structure.〔To be more precise, the new gate was a few meters away from the former one.〕 Finally, in the new wall only a gate was built from scratch. Completed in 1644, Porta Portese shows the coat of arms of Pope Innocent X, the successor of Urban VIII, who had died in the meanwhile. From here, with a backward lengthening of the former street, starts the Via Portuensis, that until then sprouted from Porta Portuensis, just south. Despite the fears of Urban, the wall had to face no serious threat for two centuries, until in 1849 it became one of the main scenes of the fights between the French army of the General Oudinot (helping the Pope, who was about to loose the temporal power over the city) and the militias of the 2nd Roman Republic. The first tangle, on April 29, 1849, took place at the crossing between ancient and new Via Aurelia; the next day the French troops advanced towards Porta Angelica and Porta Cavalleggeri but, along the whole way up to Porta San Pancrazio, the defenders, sheltered behind the wallsm seriously impeded the Frenchmen: the bayonet fitting and then the standoff of the troops led by Garibaldi in the area of the Basilica of San Pancrazio forced the assailants to beat a retreat. The second fight, in the same area of Villa Pamphilj and Porta San Pancrazio, began during the night between 2 and 3 June. After a battle lasted the whole day, with continuous turn-arounds and a very high death toll on both sides, the Frenchmen gained the upper hand, but the walls held up and the defenders didn't cede. However, the walls of Urban had been built to resist the 17th-century artillery and, two centuries after, the firepower was quite different: indeed, after making eight breaches in the walls to the left of Porta San Pancrazio and destroying the Porta itself, during the night between 21 and 22 June the Frenchmen overlooked the walls. The desperate standoff in the whole area kept them stuck until 30 June, when the armistice was signed. On 3 July they entered Rome. The signs of the later reconstruction of the wall are still visible, especially in the stretch that flanks Viale delle Mura Gianicolensi, before the crossing with Via Fratelli Bonnet (but also beyond): Pope Pius IX, as soon as he had strengthened his own position, quickly reconstructed the stretch of wall that had been damaged, as shown by some plates. The same area on the left of Porta San Pancrazio was the scene of another fight, on September 20, 1870, between the troops of General Nino Bixio and the papal defenders; but the Bersaglieri entered Porta Pia at the same time, and the papal troops gave up before the artilleries could destroy the wall again. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Janiculum walls」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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