Pigna (rione of Rome)

Pigna is the name of rione IX of Rome, located in Municipio I of the city. The name means "pine cone" in Italian, and the symbol for the rione is the colossal bronze pine cone, the Pigna.

History

The giant bronze pine cone (Pigna) once decorated a fountain in Ancient Rome next to a vast Temple of Isis. There water flowed copiously from the top of the pinecone.

The Pigna was moved first to the Old Basilica of Saint Peter, where Dante saw it and employed it in the Divina Commedia as a simile for the giant proportions of the face of Nimrod. In the 15th century it was moved to its current location, the upper end of Bramante's Cortile del Belvedere, which is now usually called in its honour the Cortile della Pigna, linking the Vatican and the Palazzo del Belvedere. There it stands today under Pirro Ligorio's vast niche at the far end, flanked by a pair of Roman bronze peacocks brought from Hadrian's mausoleum, the Castel Sant'Angelo.

Sites and attractions

This rione is centrally located in the Campus Martius area of ancient Rome. It is roughly square-shaped, extending from the Pantheon on its northwest corner to the Piazza Venezia on the southeast. This relatively small area contains numerous churches and palazzi. Public libraries in Pigna include Rispoli.

Lazio

Lazio (pronounced [ˈlattsjo], Latin: Latium) is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.889 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the second most populated region of Italy (being approximately the same in population as Campania), and has the second largest economy of the nation. Its capital is Rome, capital and largest city of Italy.

Geography

Lazio comprises a land area of 17,236 km² (6,655 sq mi) and it has borders with Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche to the north, Abruzzo and Molise to the east, Campania to the south, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. The region is mainly flat and hilly, with small mountainous areas in the most eastern and southern districts.

The coast of Lazio is mainly composed of sandy beaches, punctuated by the headlands of Circeo (541 m) and Gaeta (171 m). The Pontine Islands, which are part of Lazio, lie opposite the southern coast. Behind the coastal strip, to the north, lies the Maremma Laziale (the continuation of Tuscan Maremma), a coastal plain interrupted at Civitavecchia by the Tolfa Mountains (616 m). The central section of the region is occupied by the Roman Campagna, a vast alluvial plain surrounding the city of Rome, with an area of approximately 2,100 km² (811 sq mi). The southern districts are characterized by the flatlands of Agro Pontino, a once swampy and malarial area, that was reclaimed over the centuries.

Lazio (disambiguation)

Lazio is a region of Italy in which Rome is located.

Lazio may also refer to:

See also

List of minor planets: 20001–21000