Rome

RAMON LLULL IN ROME

Ramon Llull travelled to Rome several times. The first in 1287, when Pope Honorius IV had just died; he then leaves the city without waiting for the election of the new pope, which did not take place until February of the following year in the person of Nicholas IV. He returns to Rome in 1290 to suggest the new pope Nicholas the creation of language schools and the proclamation of a first crusade of persuasion and a second one of reconquest to arms of the Holy Land. In 1291 or 1292 he writes in Rome Tractatus de modo convertendi infidels, addressed to Pope Nicholas.

In 1294 Llull goes to Rome from Barcelona via Naples, to meet with the next pote Celestine V, who resigns in December the same year. He is also in Rome in 1296, writing Llibre del articles (Book of the articles) and Llibre d’ànima racional (Book of the rational soul), already during the papacy of Boniface VIII. He probably returns to the Eternal City between 1297 and 1299 (years during which he resides mainly in Paris) to get the support of Pope Boniface for his projects; during this roman stay he writes Proverbis de Ramon (Ramon’s Proverbs).

ROME, THEN AND NOW

Rome is the capital of Italy and Lazio. It is located along the river Tiber, about 22 kilometres from the sea. It was founded, according to legend, in 753BC, a date confirmed by archaeological finds. Rome staged an unprecedented expansion, becoming the capital of an empire that came to dominate the Mediterranean for centuries. When Catholic religion was adopted by the emperors, the Church established in Rome the Papacy. So that, after the fall of the Western Empire, Rome changed from political capital to religious capital of the Catholic world, capital that moved to Avignon between 1309 to 1377.

Rome is probably the European city with more monuments per square kilometre; its old city centre was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1980), adding ten years later the properties of the Vatican. From the Roman period have survived the Capitol, the Coliseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, several thermae and triumphal arches, and many other remains that are witness of the glory of ancient Rome. Among the sites of paleochristian origin, stand out the Basilicas of St. Peter in the Vatican, San Giovanni in Laterano, San Paolo Fuori le Mura, Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Sabina, and the catacombs. Of the medieval Rome are the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere (1130-1143) and Santa Maria sopra Minerva (regarded as the only Gothic church in Rome).