Pilgrims, trains and popes, the paths of the Jubilee

(by Marzia Apice) The long history of pilgrimage of the faithful towards Rome, alongside the evolution of the landscape changing times and the locomotive, not only a means of transport transport but a symbol of progress and modernity, are at the centre of the exhibition "On the paths of the Jubilee. Pilgrims, trains, popes", set up at Villa Farnesina from 3 July to 25 October. Designed on the occasion of the Jubilee and promoted by the National Academy dei Lincei, by the FS Italiane Group and by the FS Foundation Italian, with the support of the Special Superintendency Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Rome, in collaboration with the Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, ANAS (Group FS Italiane), the Archaeological Association ETS and with the patronage of the Association of Friends of the Accademia dei Lincei, the exhibition is a real journey into the territories of faith through the journey of the people of Christianity, between devotion and atonement, from the early Christian era to the revolution industrialist who, with his conquests, changed the concept same mobility. The idea is in fact to document how spirituality, science and technology have intertwined over the course of of the centuries, with a specific focus on the invention of the steam engine, which facilitated trade and communications changing society, economy, politics, but even the exercise of faith. The protagonists of the first section of the exhibition are some unpublished finds from the Roman era from the most recent excavations of the gardens of Agrippina in via della Conciliazione (theatre of Nero), Piazza Pia (portico of Caligula) and materials coming from the gardens of Palazzo Corsini, in addition to those relating to the Schola Saxonum - Monumental complex of Santo Spirit in Sassia, which document the landscapes of the Roman age and medieval in the area of northern Trastevere and the Vatican, where the first St. Peter's Basilica was built. Through the works of writers, painters and musicians, the the second section instead reconstructs the fundamental importance of the locomotive during the nineteenth century as a symbol of the progress. In the last room there is a production in Cinematic Virtual Reality, accessible via viewers, of Pope Pius' train IX (1846-1878), preserved at the Centrale Montemartini in Rome. The pontiff, who gave great impetus to the development of road and railway infrastructure, received the train as a gift - composed of 3 carriages all decorated - in 1858. The journey The inauguration was carried out by Pius IX on 3 July 1859 from the station of Porta Maggiore, then the terminus of the railway lines pontifical, at the Cecchina station on the Rome-Velletri; then in 1863 there was the inauguration of the railway bridge of San Paolo, later called Ponte dell'Industria (recently subject to redevelopment work by Anas), built to make way for the Civitavecchia railway line to connect to the new central railway station in Rome Terms. "This exhibition, born from the collaboration between institutions of great prestige, it is a magnificent example of how history and innovation can dialogue", Roberto underlined Antonelli, President of the Accademia dei Lincei.
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