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Rome.

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Holy City...

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Eternal City.

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A city with a sacred mission to rule and minister to the world.

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Its stories of faith and violence

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forged by 3,000 years of tyrants, saints and artists.

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From the Roman emperors and the Christian popes

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to the Renaissance and fascism...

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..a holy city driven more by power than piety.

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As a historian, I'm fascinated by this place.

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I'm here to tell the history of the Eternal City

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through its rulers, its art, its shrines...

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In its first 2,000 years,

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Rome developed from the seat of power of the pagan empire

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to the capital of one of the great world faiths.

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But at the beginning of its third millennium,

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we find Rome at its lowest ebb.

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Abandoned by the papacy, the city resembled a wilderness.

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In this final episode,

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the Renaissance popes embark on an incredible mission

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to transform the city.

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They harness the greatest talents of the age

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to create a majestic new Rome.

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Stepping inside some of Rome's most magnificent buildings,

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I witness how religion, art, lust and greed

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vie to create the most splendid city on Earth.

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But the hubris of the popes

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almost destroys the very city they are creating.

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In the centuries that follow,

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Protestantism and nationalism threaten Rome and the papacy.

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In order to prosper,

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the Eternal City would need to adapt again and again.

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This is the blood-spattered, dramatic story

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of how Rome emerged from the turbulence of the early popes

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and the catastrophes of the Middle Ages

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into the magnificent city we see today.

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In 1350, Rome was a desperate backwater.

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The kings of France dominated Rome

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and forced the election of a French pope,

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who took up his residence not in Rome,

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but in Avignon.

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Without the Pope, Rome lost its financial and moral power.

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Crime thrived on its streets,

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dominated by two aristocratic families,

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the Colonnas and the Orsinis,

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from their fortified palaces.

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They ruled the territories in the city like gangster bosses...

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..Rome's real-life versions

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of Shakespeare's Montagues and Capulets.

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There were now just 30,000 people living in Rome,

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compared to a million in imperial times.

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The city that was once the head of the world

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had become, wrote poet Petrarch,

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"The rubbish heap of history."

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But salvation would come from an unlikely source.

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The church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva

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is the final resting place of the woman

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who would rescue Rome's fortunes.

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Her name was Caterina Benincasa,

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but she's better known as St Catherine of Siena.

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She spent much of her life in a state of feverish rapture,

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of long periods of deep meditation,

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and it was said that Jesus' wounds bled from her body.

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In 1370, Catherine was 23.

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She was broken-hearted by the fall of Rome.

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She believed the Pope had betrayed Christianity itself

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by abandoning his city.

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It was an article of faith for believers

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that the Pope was the natural heir of St Peter,

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the first Bishop of Rome,

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and to properly exert his authority, he had to rule from the Holy City.

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Catherine believed that in order to save her precious Church,

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the Pope had to return.

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Catherine made it her life's mission to bring the Pope back to Rome.

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Alone against the might of the papacy and the rulers of Europe,

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Catherine fought to save the Church and city.

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She wrote letter after letter imploring the Pope to leave Avignon.

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Some of the earliest editions are here at the Biblioteca Casanatense.

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Manuscript keeper Isabella Ceccopieri

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has agreed to translate them for me.

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"Come, come, and resist no more the will of God that calls you,

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"for you, as the vicar of Christ, should rest in your own place

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"and fear not for anything that might happen,

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"since God will be with you."

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I guess the first thing that strikes you in this is that Catherine...

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She's saying, "Get a move on, Pope. Get a move on, Holy Father.

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"Get down there. This is my personal command..."

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- As if they were equals. 
- As equals. Completely as equals.

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"So, I ask unto you, our father and our shepherd,

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"begging you on behalf of Christ

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"to rescue the lost sheep, the human race,

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"from the hands of the demons."

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And, of course, the demons are those running riot in Rome

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when the Pope is away.

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And so, this is a very powerful appeal.

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She believes more than anything that the Pope's rightful place is in Rome

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and that she wants him with all her will, backed by the Holy Spirit,

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to return there.

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Yeah. She's a strong will.

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She's got such a strong will. Very powerful stuff.

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After years of Catherine's letter-writing,

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the Pope showed no sign of returning.

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She resolved to travel to Avignon to confront the Pope directly.

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The fate of Rome rested on the shoulders of this lone woman.

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In 1377,

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the Pope returned in a triumphant procession to the Holy City

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with Catherine of Siena by his side.

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After 70 years of exile,

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the Pope was back in his rightful place.

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Centuries later, Catherine would be rewarded

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by being made patron saint of Italy...

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AND Europe.

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But it would be years before Rome recovered

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from the Avignon Exile.

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Rome was in need of a strong ruler,

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but the papacy was now bizarrely weakened.

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The Pope may have been back in Rome, but at the end of the 14th century,

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the French king elected a rival pope, an antipope,

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over in Avignon.

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Kings and emperors now felt they could appoint their own popes

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to suit themselves.

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The situation got so ridiculous that, at times,

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there were three popes in three different cities

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all claiming to be supreme pontiff.

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This became known as the Western Schism.

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Rome would never reign supreme while the papacy was a laughing stock.

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I've come to the place where the schism ended

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and the resurgence began...

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..where the Romans claimed back their papacy.

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This is the largest private palace in Rome,

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and it's still the home of the Colonna family.

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They've lived here for 700 years,

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and in the 13th and 14th centuries,

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they were one of the two warring families

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fighting for control of Rome's streets.

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But in 1417, the Colonna family pulled off a major triumph.

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After centuries of dominating Rome

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with their private armies and wealth,

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these swaggering warlords were about to play a decisive role

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in restoring the papacy and the city.

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There was one way to harness their violent power.

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To elect a member of the family as pope.

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And to this day,

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the palace displays a special piece of furniture to mark this triumph.

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This is the throne room.

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Every dynasty with a pope in the family

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had one just like this for when future popes came to visit.

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And here's the throne itself.

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But as you can see, it's facing the wrong way round,

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and that's because it was only turned to face the right way

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when there was a pope actually here to sit on it.

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It was the election of the Colonna Pope, Martin V, in 1417

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that brought an end to the Western Schism.

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The competing popes had turned the papacy into a farce,

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and finally, a council persuaded all the popes to resign.

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When they elected Martin V, it was first time in years

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that the Pope had not only been Italian, but a Roman,

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and a scion of the city's most powerful family.

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From now on, the papacy was Roman, and Rome would be the papal city.

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But the papacy was still vulnerable, and the city was a mess.

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The Pope's task now was to restore the authority of both,

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to make Rome the undisputed capital of Christendom.

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From this point on, the popes were united by a shared vision.

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Through the 15th and 16th centuries

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they embarked on a project of breathtaking scope

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that would turn Rome into a building site for 200 years.

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Pope Nicholas V declared that they would create "great buildings"

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that would demonstrate that

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"the authority of the Roman Church is the greatest and highest."

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Rome, said Pope Sixtus IV, would be "the capital of the world."

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The mission was to create the most magnificent city on Earth,

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so that pilgrims who couldn't read or write

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could see in its churches and palaces

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the glory of God and his popes.

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Rome's renaissance had begun.

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Across the skyline, the domes of grandiose churches started to rise.

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Popes and cardinals built the most sumptuous palaces

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to display the impressive art they'd commissioned.

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The most elaborate of these would be the papal residence itself,

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the Vatican.

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It was an astonishing endeavour that brought together

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the highest and lowest of human appetites.

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Spirituality and art vied with power, lust and greed.

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It took the patronage of many popes,

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the work of the greatest artists that have ever lived,

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and incalculable sums of money.

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The ambition was boundless, the vision splendid.

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The popes would stop at nothing

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to make Rome the most holy city on Earth...

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..a new Jerusalem.

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But the men leading the mission would be far from saintly.

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The Renaissance popes saw no contradiction

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between their sacred role, cut-throat politics,

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and the pursuit of wealth and pleasure.

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There was one Pope who personifies this merciless magnificence

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like no other.

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This is the Castel Sant'Angelo,

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the fortress, prison and torture chamber of the papacy,

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and up there is the family crest of Pope Alexander VI.

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But if you look closely, you'll see that it's been totally vandalised.

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And this is because Alexander VI was a member

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of the most notorious family in the entire history of the papacy...

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the Borgias.

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The Borgia Pope was the nephew of the Spanish Pope Callixtus III,

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who raised him to Cardinal.

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A brilliantly cunning and effective politician,

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as Pope, he was ruthlessly effective in promoting papal power.

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He was determined to make Rome great

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and his family even greater.

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His son, Cesare Borgia, was a bishop at 16 and a cardinal at 18,

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but he probably murdered his own brother,

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whose death enabled him to resign from the Church

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and become papal commander-in-chief,

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conquering new territories for the family.

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He was brilliantly talented, tireless and terrifying.

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His victims were found floating in the Tiber every morning.

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But to Machiavelli, he was the ideal of the Renaissance prince.

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Cesare Borgia was the Pope's flamboyant enforcer and henchman.

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No-one was safe in his reign of terror.

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Corruption, war and assassination

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were as much part of Rome's renaissance as the exquisite art.

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And the popes and cardinals were often as debauched

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as they were priestly.

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The Borgias shamelessly turned the Vatican

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into a palace of pleasure.

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The Pope himself had many lovers and fathered many children.

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Historian Mary Hollingsworth

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has been studying an account written by a senior courtier

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which provides a rather interesting insight

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into Borgia life at the Vatican.

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The papal master of ceremonies did describe

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a particularly lurid dinner party that Cesare...

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not, I should say, the Borgia Pope, but that Cesare held in the Vatican.

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And at the end of the meal,

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the guests removed all the big silver candelabra onto the ground,

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and then scattered chestnuts all over the floor

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and invited in a bevy of naked ladies,

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who went around on their hands and knees,

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bobbing up and down their heads

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to pick up these chestnuts in their mouths.

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And then, at the end, once all the chestnuts had been collected,

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and, presumably, all the wares, as it were, had been displayed,

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then the male guest who had sex

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with the largest number of these prostitutes

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was ceremonially given a present of a very expensive pair of gloves.

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So, those things seem to be true.

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I mean, there are plenty of later popes

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where things like that happened.

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Wasn't one of the great accusations thrown at the Borgia Pope

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was that he had so many mistresses and so many children?

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Was that usual for a for a religious leader like the Pope at this time?

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Well, I suppose he wasn't the first to do it and nor was he the last,

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but he was just slightly more so. So, he was slightly more...

254
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,840
He had rather more beautiful mistresses and, you know,

255
00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:59,920
an awfully large bevy of children.

256
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:05,360
How seriously did these Renaissance popes take their Christianity?

257
00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:08,480
Well, I personally think they took it very seriously.

258
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,480
I mean, just because they're extravagant,

259
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,480
it's not that that they're not religious. It's not either/or.

260
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:15,440
It's a different way of doing things.

261
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:20,680
For the Renaissance popes,

262
00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:24,440
outrageous parties and ostentatious displays of wealth

263
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,880
were a tribute to the glory of God and Church...

264
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:33,400
..and a demonstration to the world of their power and sanctity.

265
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,040
In the mission to make Rome great once more,

266
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,840
there was one Pope whose ambitions would exceed all others.

267
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:51,280
The successor to the Borgia Pope

268
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,000
would be the ultimate creator of Renaissance Rome.

269
00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,120
His name was Giuliano della Rovera.

270
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:05,440
Years before he became Pope,

271
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,400
he began forming his great vision for the city.

272
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,080
And in the entrance to the church outside his old home

273
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,480
is a clue to his master plan for the new Rome.

274
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,520
He erected a relief of an eagle...

275
00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,560
..the mighty symbol of Ancient Rome.

276
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,800
Giuliano had rescued the great eagle from the ruins,

277
00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,560
and he wanted to do the same to Rome itself.

278
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,760
His vision was to restore the Eternal City

279
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:40,640
to its ancient glories.

280
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:43,960
And he himself would be its Julius Caesar.

281
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,680
So it's no wonder that when elected Pope,

282
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,560
the name he chose was Julius II.

283
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:06,880
Deep inside the Vatican Palace,

284
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:10,600
the walls of Julius's private apartments ring out

285
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,480
with the story of his reign.

286
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,280
This high priest saw himself as a warrior pope...

287
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,840
..who would don armour to lead his troops into battle...

288
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,040
..like the emperors of old.

289
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:38,840
He became know as Papa Terribile, the fearsome Pope.

290
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:51,080
But his most effective foot soldiers would be his army of artists.

291
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:55,120
He assembled a team of the greatest artists in history

292
00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:58,920
to equal, and even out-do, the glory of imperial Rome.

293
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,280
The artist Raphael

294
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,120
would be commissioned to decorate his living quarters,

295
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:10,440
which many consider Raphael's finest work.

296
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,240
Classical, as well as Christian, scenes

297
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,680
dominate the Papal Apartments.

298
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,760
The pagan God Apollo has pride of place,

299
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,840
surrounded by the finest poets, from Homer to Dante.

300
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,280
Not all Christians were comfortable with the pagan imagery,

301
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:34,680
but this classical/Christian fusion

302
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,160
was the true spirit of the Renaissance.

303
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:45,200
Julius was channelling the greatest human achievements throughout history

304
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:49,680
to promote the power of the papacy and Christian Rome.

305
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,000
But it was Julius' partnership with one particular artist

306
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,560
that would come to define the Renaissance more than any other.

307
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,800
An artist so revered that even his rival, Raphael, painted him...

308
00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:04,880
Michelangelo.

309
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,600
Michelangelo was impossible to deal with.

310
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:15,440
He was obsessive, paranoid and avaricious.

311
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,680
Tormented by his artistic rivalries, his religious doubts,

312
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:24,080
the demands of his greedy family, and his own homosexuality.

313
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:28,160
But Julius's commission would produce a peerless masterpiece,

314
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,600
the jewel of the Renaissance.

315
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,520
500 years after its creation,

316
00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,400
it is still regarded as one of the world's finest works.

317
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,840
Even amidst the other splendours of the Sistine Chapel,

318
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:01,800
it's the ceiling that takes your breath away.

319
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:12,240
Painting the ceiling was a physical and creative challenge.

320
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:16,200
Michelangelo was tormented by neck and eye pain.

321
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:22,600
And Julius was a harsh taskmaster. He beat Michelangelo with a stick,

322
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:27,000
but the haughty artist was every bit as volcanic as his patron.

323
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:34,680
Julius even used his own epithet to describe him - Il Terribile.

324
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,920
But from this fiery relationship came perfection.

325
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,880
In 1512, a heavenly vision was unveiled.

326
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:56,680
The creation narrative of Genesis

327
00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,240
has never been so sublimely rendered.

328
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,760
This is truly the pinnacle of the Renaissance.

329
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,080
It's just amazing to be here.

330
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,880
One really feels one's...in the company of genius.

331
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:24,560
As you see God giving life to Adam,

332
00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:29,920
you feel, too, how Michelangelo gave life to the Renaissance.

333
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,400
Rome was reborn.

334
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,640
Michelangelo projects his vision of the human body

335
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,040
as an expression of God's design.

336
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:48,360
While for Julius, this was the declaration of papal Rome

337
00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:51,240
as all-powerful and divinely blessed.

338
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,280
But Julius wasn't prepared to stop here.

339
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:00,760
Seven years earlier,

340
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,800
Julius had set in motion an even more ambitious project...

341
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,520
..right next door to the Vatican Palace.

342
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,600
An endeavour so colossal, it would outlast Julius

343
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,040
and the final days of the Renaissance itself.

344
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,880
Inside the Church of San Martino ai Monti

345
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:28,560
is an image of what was once the most sacred building in Rome...

346
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:36,520
..the original St Peter's Basilica, built by Constantine the Great.

347
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,520
It was already 1,000 years old.

348
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,400
The very legitimacy and sanctity of the popes themselves

349
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,680
were based on their connection to the place

350
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,880
where St Peter had been crucified and buried.

351
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:55,520
But in 1505, Pope Julius II decided to destroy it.

352
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,440
Many of the clergy were outraged.

353
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,560
To destroy the basilica was sacrilege.

354
00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,560
Julius wanted to build a bigger, better St Peter's,

355
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:18,080
that would be fittingly magnificent for the capital of Christendom.

356
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,280
But he was taking a huge gamble.

357
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,520
He was demolishing Rome's most beloved building

358
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,560
and the only church that linked the city and the papacy

359
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:31,560
to the early days of Christianity, and St Peter himself.

360
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,680
The rebuilding of St Peter's would last 120 years.

361
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,360
It would take the commitment of another 20 popes

362
00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:46,120
to deliver Julius's vision.

363
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,440
But this would be a period of astonishing activity,

364
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,400
during which the values of Renaissance Rome

365
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,200
would be severely tested.

366
00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:03,720
- Hello. 
- Hi there.

367
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,800
'The challenge began with the astronomical cost

368
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,800
'of building the new St Peter's.'

369
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,720
The Renaissance had attracted many more pilgrims to Rome,

370
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,160
and they brought in massive new revenues,

371
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:20,040
but they were soon spent and the Church needed much, much more.

372
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,600
'And so, in the early 16th century,

373
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,680
'the popes began exploiting a uniquely papal practice

374
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,000
'to raise more money...'

375
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,160
- Can I have this, please? 
- Yes, sure. 
- How much is it?

376
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:35,720
- 20 Euro. 
- 20 Euro, OK.

377
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:37,800
'..the selling of indulgences.'

378
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,680
The practice had been around since the 6th century.

379
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,520
It was simple. People would pay to have their sins forgiven.

380
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,400
And it raised so much money that they had an even brighter idea.

381
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,440
People would pay for sins they hadn't even committed yet.

382
00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:58,560
OK? 25, sir.

383
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,120
25, perfect. There we are.

384
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,800
'The papacy had turned sin into a business.'

385
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,880
This abuse, taking place in the heart of God's city,

386
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:13,960
outraged many Christians.

387
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,120
For years, the Renaissance popes

388
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,040
had thrived through decadence and corruption.

389
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:29,000
But the selling of indulgences would prove one step too far.

390
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,600
I've come to a palace that defines the moment

391
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:46,840
Renaissance Rome came tumbling down.

392
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:56,120
The Villa Farnesina was known as the Villa of Pleasure,

393
00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,000
and was frequently visited by Julius's successor, Leo X.

394
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:10,120
Pope Leo was better at parties than he was at politics.

395
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,880
"God has given us the papacy," he said,

396
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:14,720
"so let us enjoy it!"

397
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,800
And enjoy it he did.

398
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,880
He was a member of the Medici banking family,

399
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:24,320
but in one year, he squandered the entire savings of the papacy

400
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,880
on pleasures, on art, and on gambling.

401
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,840
His reign marks the delicious climax

402
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,880
of the debauchery of the Renaissance papacy.

403
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,880
The popes believed they were invincible.

404
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:44,160
But they were wrong.

405
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:48,720
Their decadent version of Christianity

406
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,960
did not go unnoticed by Christians outside of Rome...

407
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:59,000
..and the Renaissance was about to reach an explosive finale.

408
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,680
One German monk visiting Rome was particularly outraged.

409
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,280
His name was Martin Luther.

410
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,160
Everything that the Renaissance popes valued and nurtured for Rome,

411
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:16,360
Luther loathed.

412
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,160
Sexual pleasure, the beauty of the human body,

413
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,120
the admiration for pagan art.

414
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,360
And most disturbing of all,

415
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,640
the selling of the forgiveness of sins.

416
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:40,680
The worst perpetrator of these abominations was the Pope himself.

417
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:44,320
Luther said that far from being God's representative on Earth,

418
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:46,880
he was an agent of the devil.

419
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,280
Luther returned to his home town in Germany

420
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,440
and nailed his protest to the church door,

421
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:57,360
thereby launching the movement that became known as Protestantism.

422
00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:00,760
He defied the Church, and his Protestantism

423
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:06,160
would be the greatest challenge to papal supremacy in all its history.

424
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,560
The papacy had little time for Luther,

425
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,360
but it would not be long before his protests

426
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,040
would shake the Church to its foundations

427
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,080
and bring catastrophe to Rome.

428
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,360
Just upstairs is a long-hidden piece of evidence

429
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,600
of the horrific conclusion of the Renaissance.

430
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:07,120
In the late 1990s, some art restorers working on this room

431
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,560
uncovered some totally fascinating graffiti...

432
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:17,560
..which dates back to the year 1528.

433
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,360
Now, it's very hard to decipher this,

434
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:24,200
and with apologies for my hopeless German, it says,

435
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,000
"Was soll ich die schreiben

436
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:33,080
nit lachen die Landsknechten haben den Papst laufen machen."

437
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,240
The man who wrote this graffiti is congratulating himself

438
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:41,640
and his mates.

439
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,720
He says, "Why shouldn't I laugh?

440
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,720
"We, the Landsknecht, have set the Pope on the run."

441
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,880
The Landsknecht were a force of German mercenaries

442
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:02,120
sent to Italy by Emperor Charles V

443
00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:06,120
as a warning to the inept Medici Pope, Clement VII.

444
00:34:10,240 --> 00:34:13,120
But in May 1527, they mutinied...

445
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:15,960
..and stormed the city.

446
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,080
The Landsknecht were Protestants

447
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,560
who believed the Pope was the Antichrist.

448
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,400
Infuriated by tales of papal hedonism,

449
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,200
they ran amok in the satanic city.

450
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,120
The small papal army didn't stand a chance

451
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:51,680
as the Landsknecht went berserk.

452
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,200
They slaughtered everyone they encountered in the streets.

453
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,160
They disembowelled priests.

454
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,840
They turned monasteries into brothels.

455
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,440
The Eternal City had become Hell on Earth.

456
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,040
The Pope tried to negotiate with them,

457
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,040
but no-one could stop the mayhem.

458
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,000
So, he escaped from the Vatican along the passato,

459
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,600
this fortified passageway,

460
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,720
to seek refuge in the Castel Sant'Angelo.

461
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,240
And here he hid for almost an entire year.

462
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:49,400
The Pope's health disintegrated.

463
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,840
Outside of the Castel, Rome was ravaged.

464
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:57,920
The city was devastated.

465
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,640
The population halved

466
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,280
by hunger, murder and plague.

467
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,000
But, still, the troops wouldn't leave,

468
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:14,400
and in December 1527, they said that if they didn't get their money,

469
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:18,560
they'd hang their captains and slice the Pope into pieces.

470
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,360
By this time, the Pope was starving,

471
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:28,040
blind in one eye and ridden with liver disease.

472
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,600
He escaped from the Castel Sant'Angelo disguised as a servant

473
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:40,320
and headed out of Rome to the Papal residence at Orvieto.

474
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,040
The Pope had lost his splendour and his power.

475
00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:51,520
The Holy City had lost its ruler, its protector.

476
00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:58,240
The Sack of Rome was the greatest catastrophe in all its history.

477
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:03,040
The follies of the Renaissance popes

478
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,280
had brought the Eternal City close to destruction.

479
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:14,360
On the 11th of February 1528, the Landsknecht were finally paid

480
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:15,960
and the horde finally left.

481
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:18,760
The Pope returned to Rome.

482
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:23,080
The Sack of Rome was seen as God's judgement,

483
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:25,120
even by the Pope himself.

484
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,920
Rome was being punished for its sins.

485
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:31,480
Now, one thing was clear. The Church would have to change.

486
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,000
The result was the Catholic Reformation.

487
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,920
Dissidence and excess were now brutally repressed.

488
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:47,640
For the moment, at least,

489
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,840
the orgies and mistresses were out, austerity and chastity were in.

490
00:37:54,000 --> 00:38:00,000
The new severity was personified by Paul IV, a brutal and pedantic prig

491
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,080
who regarded the ancient monuments of Rome

492
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:05,160
as pagan and, therefore, heretical.

493
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,200
He said he would have liked to destroy them all.

494
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:12,240
But worse, he was disgusted by the naked private parts

495
00:38:12,240 --> 00:38:14,840
of the Renaissance masterpieces,

496
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:18,120
and ordered many of them to be painted over.

497
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,320
It is his fitting punishment that history remembers him above all

498
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:23,960
as the Fig Leaf Pope.

499
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,040
The curse of the fig leaf is still visible today

500
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:34,760
on Michelangelo's later work in the Sistine Chapel.

501
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:41,200
The Last Judgment was the final masterpiece of the Renaissance.

502
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:46,600
I think it's the finest celebration

503
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,480
of the grace and dignity of the human body,

504
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:54,720
but it also brutally reflects the dystopic mayhem of the Sack of Rome.

505
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:59,640
Its naked passions appalled the Catholic Reformation

506
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,800
and some of Michelangelo's beautifully bare figures

507
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:06,080
now wear rather strategically placed pieces of cloth.

508
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:10,360
And one previously naked woman

509
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:14,480
has had her modesty restored with a rather frumpy green dress.

510
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:19,480
But the Catholic Reformation attacked more than just art.

511
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,920
It unleashed the Roman Inquisition on the Eternal City.

512
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:34,960
The Inquisition was set up to enforce the doctrines of the Church

513
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,320
and destroy any heresies or impurities.

514
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:42,440
Peccadilloes that had been overlooked or indulged during the Renaissance

515
00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:44,200
were now brutally punished.

516
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,640
Homosexuals were burnt alive.

517
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:55,000
Jews, who had lived peacefully in Rome for 1,700 years,

518
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:56,920
were confined to a ghetto.

519
00:39:59,240 --> 00:40:02,360
But the biggest challenge to Roman supremacy

520
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:05,160
was the new rival branch of Christianity.

521
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:14,840
As Protestantism spread, the papacy resolved to fight it on every level,

522
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:18,280
from the world of art to the battlefield.

523
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:23,520
In 1539, the Catholic Church created a new militant wing.

524
00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:37,920
This is the Church of Saint Ignacio, named after Ignacio Loyola,

525
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:41,360
a military man who believed that the winning of Christian souls

526
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,400
could be conducted like a military campaign.

527
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,920
So, he founded the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.

528
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,360
And a look at this astonishing ceiling

529
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,920
tells you all you need to know about the passionate energy

530
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:56,400
of the Jesuit mission.

531
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:11,440
Saint Ignacio commands the centre, empowered by Jesus Christ himself.

532
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:17,080
His heart radiates four sacred beams that propel his female missionaries

533
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:20,160
to the four corners of the world

534
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:22,040
to slay the pagans.

535
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:29,960
Indeed, the Jesuit mission was international and universal.

536
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,320
It was to convert everyone.

537
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,880
It used both the sword and the prayer book.

538
00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,560
The Jesuits valued education above all else,

539
00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:50,280
and used their sophisticated analysis of human character

540
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,160
to win souls, defeat enemies,

541
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:56,160
and to defend and spread papal authority.

542
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:02,640
By the 17th Century,

543
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:05,480
the reach of Rome had spread beyond its walls

544
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:07,600
to the four corners of the world.

545
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:15,520
The Renaissance may have passed,

546
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:18,720
but a new heyday now dawned for the Holy City.

547
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:24,800
Rome was the heart of a new Christendom. Not just Catholic,

548
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:26,360
but Roman Catholic.

549
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:34,760
The battle against Protestantism would embellish Rome itself.

550
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,400
The popes launched a new and exhilarating war of culture.

551
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:44,840
They championed an artistic movement

552
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,720
to project a new-found intensity of passion

553
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:49,600
and ecstasy of revelation.

554
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,520
This new art was personified by one man.

555
00:42:56,120 --> 00:43:00,720
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the master of baroque art.

556
00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:02,680
Impulsive and emotional,

557
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,520
when he found his mistress was having an affair with his brother,

558
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:07,800
he beat his brother up with a crowbar

559
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:11,400
and had her permanently scarred with a razor blade.

560
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:17,360
But Bernini was adored by Pope Urban VIII,

561
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:21,000
who told him, "You're lucky to have me as Pope,

562
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,720
"but I'm even luckier to have you."

563
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,040
Their partnership was responsible

564
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:31,200
for much of what we see in Rome today.

565
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:36,000
Bernini, in many ways, is to the 17th century

566
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,120
what Michelangelo had been in the 16th century,

567
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,320
and he certainly was the best interpreter

568
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:43,800
of the wishes of the popes.

569
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,160
Art historian Alexandra Massini has brought me to see

570
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,480
the sculpture that Bernini considered his masterpiece.

571
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,640
It's called The Ecstasy Of Saint Teresa.

572
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:01,440
Tell me about this piece. I mean, this is extraordinary.

573
00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,960
Well, this is really a very intense religious experience

574
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:07,240
that is described by Saint Teresa

575
00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:09,920
but, you know, if I read out her own words

576
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,400
and you see the sculpture that goes along with it,

577
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:16,200
I think there's little ambiguity as to what exactly is happening...

578
00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:18,160
So, let me just read this...

579
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:21,480
"I saw that he had a long golden dart in his hand..."

580
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:25,640
She's referring to this angel that she sees appearing.

581
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:29,680
"I thought that he pierced my heart with this dart several times

582
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:33,240
"and in such a manner that it went through my very bowels

583
00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:36,880
"and when he drew it out, it seemed as if my bowels came with it,

584
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:41,120
"and I remained wholly inflamed with a great love of God.

585
00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:45,920
"The pain thereof was so intense that it forced deep groans from me,

586
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:49,520
"but the sweetness which this extreme pain caused in me

587
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:53,240
"was so excessive that there was no desiring to be free from it."

588
00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:57,280
So, I think this is a very graphic and very erotic rendering

589
00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,640
of an absolutely physical experience.

590
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:02,840
Now, this was very different from, really, what had gone before,

591
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,960
because we're coming out of the Counter-Reformation,

592
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:10,280
a strict time, a severe time, a time of a sort of moral crackdown,

593
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:14,520
and suddenly we have this explosion of sensual...

594
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:16,880
sensual extravagance, really.

595
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:20,280
The restraints of the Counter-Reformation are long gone

596
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:22,000
by this stage, and...

597
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:25,680
What you are out to do is really to draw in the viewer

598
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:27,880
and that's why you do things

599
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:30,920
that are absolutely theatrical and absolutely dramatic,

600
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:33,560
and that explains why you have such an erotic piece

601
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,720
that ends up in a church, where you would at least expect it.

602
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:39,160
The viewer thinks... A modern-day viewer would think,

603
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:42,760
"OK, this is something absolutely secular. What is it doing inside a church?"

604
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:46,560
But it is part, I think, of this emotional sensibility that...

605
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,760
people expected at the time,

606
00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:50,960
even inside a church, even from the faithful.

607
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,640
It is part of the religious picture of the time.

608
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:55,920
Was this new sensibility of the Catholic Church,

609
00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:57,880
represented by the baroque and Bernini,

610
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:01,080
really also a way of competing with Protestantism?

611
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:02,760
It definitely was, yes.

612
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:06,000
I think that whereas the Protestants are really...

613
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:09,480
sticking to a literal reading of the Bible,

614
00:46:09,480 --> 00:46:11,960
here we have something totally different. It is...

615
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:15,760
You reach God through the senses, through opening up your heart,

616
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:20,080
through experiencing things to the...to your bones, literally,

617
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:24,080
and that, I think, is what makes this work of art so powerful.

618
00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:26,280
Saying, "The Church can give you this."

619
00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:28,400
Exactly. The Church can give you this.

620
00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:30,800
- And that's quite something. 
- Yes. Yes, indeed.

621
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:39,240
The Church deployed every available weapon

622
00:46:39,240 --> 00:46:41,600
to win the battle of Christian souls.

623
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:47,080
But to complete Rome's status as the ultimate Holy City,

624
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:50,920
there was one major task left undone...

625
00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:52,920
to finish the new St Peter's.

626
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:08,920
By 1610, the exterior was finally complete.

627
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:18,880
115 years after Julius II had knocked down the original,

628
00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:22,920
a vast new structure now dominated Rome's skyline.

629
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:28,480
It proclaims the power and confidence of the Catholic Church.

630
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:32,680
But the basilica still lacked a centrepiece.

631
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:37,680
And it's here that Bernini produced his masterpiece.

632
00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:55,560
The new basilica had been built above the original tomb of St Peter.

633
00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:00,440
To honour the shrine which gave Papal Rome its sanctity,

634
00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:03,880
Bernini created this monumental canopy,

635
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:05,600
his baldacchino.

636
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:24,920
There's something very thrilling and powerful

637
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:29,080
about this triumphalist piece of architecture here.

638
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:32,440
It's not just declaring the triumph of the Church

639
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:35,040
and the majesty of the papacy,

640
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:38,080
but it's also pointing out the connection

641
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:40,240
between Rome and Jerusalem.

642
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:48,800
These gorgeous curving pillars are specially designed

643
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:53,560
as replicas of pillars from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

644
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:58,040
And so, what Bernini is saying here is that Rome is the new Holy City,

645
00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:00,000
Rome is the new Jerusalem.

646
00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:11,920
On the 18th of November 1626,

647
00:49:11,920 --> 00:49:15,800
the vision of Julius II was finally realised.

648
00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:25,640
20 popes later, the new St Peter's was finished.

649
00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:33,480
Today, it remains the largest church in the world.

650
00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:39,120
I think the gigantic force of this church

651
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:42,240
defines Rome as the capital of Christendom.

652
00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:47,080
An emblem of the success of the Renaissance dream

653
00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:48,800
and global Catholicism.

654
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:55,720
Julius's gamble had paid off.

655
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:07,400
By the 18th century,

656
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:11,280
the story of the making of the Holy City is almost complete.

657
00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:17,760
At first glance, Rome looked very much like it does today...

658
00:50:19,640 --> 00:50:23,080
..filled with tourists eager to see its beautiful monuments.

659
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:28,480
But there was one crucial difference between then and now.

660
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:31,120
The popes were still the autocratic rulers

661
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:35,480
of their own swathe of Italian territories - the Papal States.

662
00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:38,000
But all of that was about to change.

663
00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:46,920
In the mid 19th century,

664
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:49,920
new ideologies were sweeping across Europe,

665
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:53,200
which would permanently alter the shape of the Holy City...

666
00:50:54,920 --> 00:50:57,360
..republicanism and nationalism.

667
00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:02,880
They rejected the medieval and sclerotic papal autocracy.

668
00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:11,440
Having already taken hold of France,

669
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:15,160
the idea of a republican nation was gathering momentum

670
00:51:15,160 --> 00:51:18,560
across the separate states of the Italian peninsula.

671
00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:24,760
A doctor's son from the northern city of Genoa named Giuseppe Mazzini

672
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:29,200
led the campaign to unite the various kingdoms of the peninsula

673
00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:32,760
into just one country - Italy.

674
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:35,960
And Mazzini believed there could only be one capital.

675
00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:40,400
"Rome," he said, "was the national centre of Italian unity,

676
00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:44,600
"the dream of my young years, the religion of my soul."

677
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:55,560
If Mazzini succeeded, he would end papal rule for ever.

678
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:59,640
Not surprisingly, the Pope denounced the new Italian nationalism

679
00:51:59,640 --> 00:52:02,000
and called on all Catholics to reject it.

680
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:06,840
War was looming.

681
00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:13,440
In 1849, the Republican troops,

682
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:17,080
led by the swashbuckling warlord Giuseppe Garibaldi,

683
00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:18,640
descended on Rome.

684
00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:27,000
This time, the Pope had a surprising ally

685
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:30,760
in his opposition to Italian republicanism.

686
00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:34,640
France - now ruled by Emperor Napoleon III,

687
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:37,880
nephew of the great Napoleon Bonaparte.

688
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:41,520
And when Rome fell to Garibaldi and the Republicans,

689
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:44,240
Napoleon sent an army to get it back.

690
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:51,320
They bombarded Rome and, as chance would have it,

691
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:55,920
a French cannon ball smashed right in to the sumptuous great hall

692
00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:58,040
of Prince Colonna's Palace.

693
00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:01,880
Now, this is one of my favourite secrets of Rome,

694
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,560
because that Napoleonic cannonball

695
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:08,760
embedded itself in Prince Colonna's marble staircase...

696
00:53:08,760 --> 00:53:10,680
and it's still there to this day.

697
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:21,240
Thanks to the support of Napoleon III,

698
00:53:21,240 --> 00:53:23,480
the Pope still ruled Rome.

699
00:53:25,640 --> 00:53:29,280
But Mazzini's vision of Rome as the capital of Italy lived on.

700
00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:36,680
In 1870, Napoleon III fell, the French withdrew,

701
00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:40,920
and the army of the new nation of Italy entered Rome.

702
00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:46,520
Commanded by Victor Emmanuel,

703
00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:49,680
king of the newly-formed Kingdom of Italy.

704
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:53,680
He made Rome his capital, while its former ruler, the Pope,

705
00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:56,080
retreated behind the walls of the Vatican,

706
00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:59,360
where he melodramatically declared himself a prisoner.

707
00:54:04,720 --> 00:54:08,480
Secularism had taken control of the Holy City.

708
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:15,720
A vast monument in honour of King Victor Emmanuel

709
00:54:15,720 --> 00:54:19,080
was erected to dominate the Rome of the past

710
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:21,600
and dwarf its religious buildings.

711
00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:27,160
Grotesque it may be, but its message was clear.

712
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:32,040
Rome had new masters.

713
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:34,640
The city no longer belonged to the Pope.

714
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:40,720
But the Pope was not going to make this easy.

715
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:50,200
Historian Anne Wingenter has been studying this pivotal period

716
00:54:50,200 --> 00:54:51,360
in Rome's history.

717
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:55,760
So, when King Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy,

718
00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:59,040
arrived and united Rome with the rest of Italy,

719
00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:01,120
how did that effect the Pope?

720
00:55:01,120 --> 00:55:03,960
Well, I mean, the Pope essentially refused to recognise

721
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:07,160
the Kingdom of Italy, and not just this particular Pope

722
00:55:07,160 --> 00:55:10,000
when Rome was taken, but the next several popes, and...

723
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:13,920
they encourage Catholics, not just in Italy, but around the world,

724
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:16,800
not to recognise the Kingdom of Italy.

725
00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:19,320
And threatening Italians with ex-communication

726
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:22,840
if they participate in the political life of the state.

727
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:24,560
You know, it's a real problem,

728
00:55:24,560 --> 00:55:28,000
because there's a priest in every village, you know,

729
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:33,000
telling people that, you know, the state is illegitimate.

730
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,720
And the Pope retreats to the Vatican Palace?

731
00:55:35,720 --> 00:55:37,240
The popes stay in the Vatican,

732
00:55:37,240 --> 00:55:40,200
and they don't give the address in St Peter's Square.

733
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:45,240
They sort of cut the state off from...the mother Church

734
00:55:45,240 --> 00:55:49,000
which, if you're a believing Catholic, is...is a problem.

735
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:59,560
The papacy and the kingdom would be in a stand-off for 60 years.

736
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:06,080
Surprisingly, the man who solved the problem

737
00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:09,000
was the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

738
00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:18,040
Mussolini understood the popularity of the Church

739
00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:21,280
would add to the legitimacy of his fascist regime.

740
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:25,200
So in 1929, he signed the Lateran Pact with the Pope,

741
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:27,760
that created the Vatican state.

742
00:56:27,760 --> 00:56:29,800
The border is right here.

743
00:56:29,800 --> 00:56:32,680
Now, I'm standing in the Republic of Italy,

744
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:34,000
and when I cross the line...

745
00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:38,360
..now I'm standing in the Vatican state,

746
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:40,520
the Pope's own country.

747
00:56:44,560 --> 00:56:48,120
The Vatican state became the world's smallest nation.

748
00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:52,080
At just 0.2 square miles,

749
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:55,960
the new papal state was a miniature of its former glories.

750
00:56:59,440 --> 00:57:03,760
But it meant that the Pope could lead his billion global Catholics

751
00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:06,040
as an independent priest monarch.

752
00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:18,840
Now, for the first time in Roman history,

753
00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:24,720
secular and sacred power were separate in one Holy City.

754
00:57:24,720 --> 00:57:27,320
Espiritu Santo...

755
00:57:28,520 --> 00:57:33,000
In today's Rome, all the strands of old and new come together.

756
00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:41,120
You can see it right here on this street corner,

757
00:57:41,120 --> 00:57:45,840
surrounded by tourists and yet, nowadays, strangely overlooked.

758
00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:48,600
Right up there, you can see Romulus and Remus,

759
00:57:48,600 --> 00:57:52,000
the founders of Ancient Rome, and above them,

760
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:55,360
the fasces, the symbols of fascism.

761
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:58,840
And all of this on this majestic thoroughfare

762
00:57:58,840 --> 00:58:03,120
leading straight to the magnificent basilica of St Peter's.

763
00:58:05,920 --> 00:58:08,800
All of it, modern and ancient,

764
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:12,800
now, together, seem happily, typically, Roman.

765
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:16,800
For three millennia,

766
00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:20,160
Rome has been the definition of power and sanctity.

767
00:58:21,520 --> 00:58:25,360
Rome, like Christianity's other holy city, Jerusalem,

768
00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:28,680
is a place where man meets the divine.

769
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:32,120
Throughout its history,

770
00:58:32,120 --> 00:58:35,360
Rome's destiny has been determined inseparably

771
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:38,920
by both the cruel necessities of power

772
00:58:38,920 --> 00:58:41,080
and by the passion of faith.

773
00:58:58,960 --> 00:59:04,360
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