19. S. COSIMATO, PROTIRON
de Bonis, A(driano)

A white-capped portiere sits resting his head in his hand within the sunken 12th-century protiron leading to the Monastery and Church of San Cosimato in Trastevere. Although de Bonis approached this scene from several angles, this is the most frontal, capturing a view of the fountain within and lightening the impact of this ponderous structure. The monastic complex of San Cosimato was founded in Trastevere shortly before the first millennium. Once the principal entrance to the church and monastery of San Cosimato, the protiron no longer functions as the main gateway to the complex, which has been adapted for use as a hospital and is now entered from the Via Morosini, just off the Viale Trastevere. The gateway now stands forlorn and neglected at the edge of the busy market on Piazza San Cosimato. The columns and their Composite capitals with volutes formed by ram’s horns are ancient spolia. The gateway leads to a courtyard that opens in front of the church. At the center of this courtyard is a fountain erected in 1731.

20. THE COURTYARD OF S. COSIMATO
de Bonis, A(driano)

The monastery gatehouse leads to a courtyard that opens in front of the church of San Cosimato. At the center of this courtyard is a fountain (also visible in #19) that incorporates marble spolia, notably the granite tub that forms the lower basin, on which a bearded man is seated. Strong shadows create patterns in the courtyard in the form of steps leading to the plain church facade discreetly occupying the back corner of the photograph.

21. THE VATICAN PALACE COMPLEX
de Bonis, A(driano)

De Bonis has chosen an unusual vantage point from which to view the Vatican Palace complex: a position just outside the north arm of the Piazza S. Pietro, where the powerful arc of Bernini’s colonnade is almost tangent to the medieval walls of the Borgo. The convergence of these two features – one curvilinear, the other orthogonal – leads the eye back to the cubic mass of the easternmost palace wing, built by Sixtus V. The arched opening through the walls of Leo IV led to the Porta Angelica. The walls carry a passageway, known as the passetto di Borgo, connecting the Vatican palaces to the papal fortress of Castel S. Angelo. In this wonderfully complex photograph, Bernini’s massive rounded colonnade pushes in from the left in exaggerated perspective, while the papal palace with its ordered Renaissance windows is caught at a right angle, bisecting the scene. The pattern of the arch penetrating the Borgo is repeated by the shadow of the colonnade in the afternoon sun. The circular motifs are again evident in the patterns of cobblestone and grass in the foreground.

22. THE SACRISTY OF ST. PETER'S
de Bonis, A(driano)

The Sacristy of St. Peter’s is in full sun, while the narthex and the equestrian statue of Charlemagne are bathed in an indirect glow. The Sacristy was erected in 1776–84 following the designs of Carlo Marchionni, while Agostino Cornacchini’s statue, a pendant to Bernini’s Constantine at the other end of the narthex, was unveiled in 1725. The deep foreground, framing columns and silhouetted balustrade invite the viewer to walk into the composition.

23. ST. PETER'S, THE ARCO DELLE CAMPANE
de Bonis, A(driano) 

The sheer mass of St. Peter’s Basilica is dramatically illustrated by the plinth to the left and the thickness of the Arco delle Campane, which passes through Maderno’s great facade. The pronounced verticality of the archway is compensated for by a landing at the level of the narthex. The photographer has emphasized the twin stairways leading up to the narthex, silhouetting their landings, as well as the balustrade above. Through the tunneled passageway we catch a glimpse of the distant Borgo and the plinth of the statue of St. Paul in the Piazza.

24. MARIA IN COSMEDIN
de Bonis, A(driano)

This photograph records the spirited 18th-century facade of S. Maria in Cosmedin, which was erected in 1717 following the designs of Giuseppe Sardi. The facade was removed in an ill-advised restoration campaign of 1894–99 intended to reveal the early-Christian fabric of the church. The 12th-century Romanesque bell tower of the church provides a vertical accent. At the center is Carlo Bizzaccheri’s Tritons Fountain, part of the reorganization of the piazza carried out under Pope Clement XI early in the 18th century. Anchoring the composition on the right is the colonnade of the Round Temple by the Tiber. Standing in relative darkness and throwing its shadow into Foro Boario, the Round Temple provided de Bonis the perfect frame and reference for photographing the facade of S. Maria in Cosmedin and its campanile. Notice how he carefully silhouettes the Triton Fountain against the central portico, which recalls the more massive protiron of San Clemente. Also clearly included in the photograph, in typical de Bonis style, are the steps to the Temple.

25. PIAZZA BOCCA DELLA VERITA, WATERING TROUGH
de Bonis, A(driano)  

In the foreground of this image we see a watering trough that formerly stood at the north end of the piazza in front of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. It was part of the reorganization of the piazza undertaken by Pope Clement XI in 1717. In the age of horse-drawn vehicles, there were many such troughs scattered around the city. This is one of the few that survives, though moved to the south in an island formed by the Lungotevere Aventino and the Via di S. Maria in Cosmedin. To the left is the peripteral colonnade of the Round Temple by the Tiber, dating, in its original form, to the late second or early 1st century B.C. In the Middle Ages, the temple was converted to a church (S. Stefano delle Carrozze, subsequently S. Maria del Sole), thus ensuring its survival. The facade of S. Salvatore a Ponte Rotto and the tower of the Alberteschi, on the opposite bank of the Tiber in Trastevere (both demolished in the construction of the Lungotevere), are visible in the distance. Because it stands to the side of the main fountain, the large basin of which is supported by two back-to-back tritons, this horse-watering trough is rarely seen in images in the Foro Boario. However, the photographer clearly made this work-a-day watering trough the focus of the image. By consistently drifting away from the central Roman themes, these photographers produced a refreshing body of work.

26. THE THEATRE OF MARCELLUS
Chauffourier, Gustavio Eugenio (attributed)  

The Theatre of Marcellus was dedicated by Augustus in 13 or 11 B.C. to commemorate his nephew and son-in-law (his intended successor), who had died in 23 B.C. In the Middle Ages, the ruins of the theatre served as a residence and fortress for the Roman families of the Pierleoni, Savelli, and Orsini. The lower arches, buried in 12 feet of accumulated debris, were used as shops until the monument was cleared between 1926 and 1932. In this image of the ancient monument people inhabit every space, working, selling goods, drying laundry and even growing plants in a make-shift greenhouse. Light percolates down the cobbled street and a small doorway at the end tempts us to step up and in. As in the hallways of a slowly sinking ship, the arches were truncated as the ground level rose to fill them during the Middle Ages.

27. PALAZZO VENEZIA
 de Bonis, A(driano)

The name of the Palazzo Venezia comes from its use as a residence by the Venetian ambassador. It was begun in 1440 by the Venetian cardinal Pietro Barbo, who, in 1451, became the titular cardinal of San Marco, which he proceeded to incorporate into his palace. When he was elected to the papacy as Paul II in 1464, the palace was further enlarged. The corner tower, battlements and cross-mullioned windows are all characteristic of Roman palaces of the 15th  century. One of the two coats of arms displayed over the main portal is that of Pope Pius IX (1846–78). The high, raking light casts shadows on the facade, which help to define the architectural detail and create adventurous patterns and shapes. The importance of foreground to de Bonis’s approach to the architecture is richly apparent in the lower third of the photograph.

The shadows that dominate the foreground also remind us how much the urban context of the Palazzo Venezia has changed as a result of demolition work and accommodations made to open up a wider space below the monument to King Victor Emanuel. The shadows were cast by the walled garden, or Palazzetto, that was attached to the main palace block at its southeastern corner, just out of sight beyond the left-hand border of the photograph. The presence of the Palazzetto conditioned the photographer’s angle of vision: he couldn’t back up further and so set up his camera as close as he could to its walls. Following its demolition in 1909–10, the Palazzetto was reconstructed on a site farther to the west in 1911–13.