Statues don’t talk, evidently, and they never have, except when some clever priest of Antiquity used a hollow in the stone to deliver whatever message he was interested in.

But that’s not the case we’ll discuss today with the statue parlanti, or talking statues, because these expressed themselves in writing. They are a series of figures scattered throughout Rome that people began using in the 16th century to post what were called pasquinates, or epigrams. There are six, and, curiously, most of them are from the classical era.

Pasquinate is a term used in Italian to refer to a satirical poem, generally a protest or a form of mockery, which soon became so widespread that the English adopted it as pasquinade as an anonymous writing, satirical in nature and political in content, that is posted in a public place, including in its definition the physical support (in other words, the paper).

Talking statues Rome
The statue of Pasquino in 1582. Credit: Nicolas Beatrizet / Wikimedia Commons

Pasquinades—and their foreign versions—became common in the 16th and 17th centuries. It’s not that they stopped existing afterward; rather, with the widespread use of the printing press and the emergence of the press, they tended to be published and disseminated differently—on a larger scale, handed out or tossed in the air, although examples of the old-fashioned method remained, with notes left in certain places under cover of darkness, such as on the aforementioned Roman statues.

In any case, the origin of the name is clear; it comes from one of those Roman sculptures, more specifically, the one named Pasquino. It’s a Hellenistic piece that was likely part of a larger set, usually dated to the 3rd century BCE.

No one knows why it began being called Pasquino, so there are many theories about it: some point to its resemblance to a teacher who worked in the square where it is located and whose students began leaving verses on the statue, while others believe it was named after a very gossip-prone barber (or a tailor, in another version); some think of the character of the same name in Boccaccio’s Decameron, and others suggest a popular gladiator who might have been depicted in stone.

Talking statues Rome
The two bodies forming Pasquino’s sculpture. Credit: Sailko / Wikimedia Commons

Experts believe the figure represents a Greek warrior, perhaps from The Iliad: maybe the Spartan king Menelaus holding the body of Patroclus, or maybe Ajax doing the same with Achilles. Some even suggest it’s Hercules himself fighting the centaurs.

Whoever it was, after the fall of Rome, the statue, which was uncovered during the foundation excavations of Piazza Navona, was so deteriorated that no one took an interest in it (although Bernini considered it the most beautiful in Rome, and Michelangelo said it was worthy of standing in the Vatican alongside the Laocoön), and it was left in the southwestern corner, in a small square now known as Piazza Pasquino.

And it was in this new location that, beginning in 1501 but especially after the famous Sack of Rome (1527), people began to use it as a kind of notice board (in this sense, they say it “speaks” because it is the voice of the people), hanging satirical works that became increasingly frequent in that period, directed at rulers, cardinals, and popes.

Talking statues Rome
Madama Lucrezia. Credit: Lalupa / Wikimedia Commons

According to tradition, the first such posting was an invective against Urban VIII because he had several bronze statues melted down to make cannons for the papal armies. In fact, the prelates always felt uncomfortable with that improvised platform that disparaged them.

This practice also generated legends. One of them tells that when Adrian VI wanted to throw the sculpture into the Tiber, he was persuaded not to, as it would increase the rumors. Another says a reward was offered to the authors of the epigrams, and one who innocently came forward had his hands cut off as a “prize”.

It seems more likely that, fed up with these taunts, the authorities placed guards near Pasquino; but the people were undeterred and simply began to use other statues.

Talking statues Rome
Marforio. Credit: José Luis Bernardes Ribeiro / Wikimedia Commons

As mentioned earlier, there are five others that acquired this same peculiar use, all with their own amusing names. For example, Madama Lucrezia, a colossal Roman bust (three meters high) located in the square of the same name, between the Palazzetto Venezia and the Church of San Marco, whose distinctive tunic suggests it represents the Egyptian goddess Isis or one of her priestesses (the cult of Isis was quite widespread in Rome).

The name was given because Lucrezia d’Alagno, the lover of King Alfonso II of Naples, settled in the Eternal City after his death; specifically, she lived in the very place where the work is displayed.

Another curious name would be that of Marforio, a reclining figure that some identify with Neptune and others with the Tiber River (it bears a certain aesthetic resemblance to the so-called Nile Group).

Talking statues Rome
The Abbé Luigi. Credit: Lalupa / Wikimedia Commons

It is a Roman marble statue from the 1st century AD, which was named after being unearthed from the Forum of Mars (a part of the Forum of Augustus). Pope Innocent X ordered it placed in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori (one of the Capitoline Museums, located in the Piazza del Campidoglio).

Another classic statue is that of Abate Luigi, from late Roman times, which over the centuries has repeatedly changed location until 1924 when it seems to have reached its final (and original) location: attached to the side wall of the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle, in Piazza Vidoni. It represents a high magistrate, but popular humor identified it with the sacristan of a nearby church. A later inscription was added to the base, bearing satirical testimony and, translated, reads:

I was once a citizen of ancient Rome. / Now they call me Abate Luigi. / I won eternal fame in urban satire / Along with Marforio and Pasquino. / I suffered insults, misfortunes, and burial / But here I find new life and at last, security.

Talking statues Rome
Il Facchino. Credit: Lalupa / Wikimedia Commons

Those verses could also apply to Il Babuino, which, like Marforio, is an ancient reclining figure but in this case a silenus (by extension a satyr, although strictly speaking a particular one: the adoptive father of Dionysus, the god of wine). The people nicknamed it Babuino due to its animal-like appearance, similar to a primate, something intensified by the type of stone used for its body, volcanic tuff (the head is a later addition).

Curiously, a confused cardinal would sometimes remove his hat when passing by, thinking it was Saint Jerome. Since Pope Pius V ordered it in 1571, it adorns the fountain of the same name, which in 1957, after various misadventures, was returned to its original location next to the church of Sant’Atanasio dei Greci.

Not all statue parlanti are as ancient as those mentioned. The one known as Il Facchino also embellishes a fountain (Fontana di Facchino) located on a wall of the Banco di Roma, but it is Renaissance, dating to 1590, as is clearly seen from the type of clothing the figure wears.

Talking statues Rome
Scior Carrera (Omm de Preja). Credit: Wikimedia Commons

This one shows a man carrying a barrel, probably identifying him as a water carrier, although it was popularly said to represent Luther due to the cap he wears, typical of the period; it was also said to resemble Abbondo Rizzio, a porter who died while carrying a barrel (facchino means porter).

Over the centuries, all these statues periodically appeared covered in papers with epigrams as biting as they were hurtful for their targets. However, Rome was not the only place where this curious phenomenon occurred, as we could also mention Milan, where, under the arcades of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, there is a Roman bas-relief (from the 3rd century AD, though the head was added in the Middle Ages) representing a toga-clad man, officially called Scior Carrera but better known by the nickname Omm de Preja (Man of Stone).

Like the others, it was used to display pasquinades, but at much later dates, during the Austrian occupation. The form may have changed, but not the essence: they were all statue parlanti, or as they are also called, congrega degli arguti (congregation of the witty). Just so.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on October 25, 2018: Las estatuas parlantes de Roma

SOURCES

José Antonio Rios González, Roma, andar y ver

Aura Satz, Jon Wood, Articulate Objects: Voice, Sculpture and Performance

Gabriella Serio, Curiosità e segreti di Roma

Wikipedia, Estatuas parlantes de Roma

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