Collegio Clementino
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The Collegio Clementino, sited between the Strada del'Orso and the banks of the Tiber in Rome, was founded by Pope Clement VIII in 1595, to host Slavonian refugees, but it was a stylish venue from the outset. Giacomo della Porta was commissioned to erect a suitable palazzo to house them, one of the aged architect's last projects. On February 25, 1601, a tragicomedy was performed in the Collegio's theater attended by no less than six cardinals [1]. Urban VIII shifted the Slavs to Loreto and refounded the Collegio Clementino as an elite school for young noblemen of every nation and the richest families in Rome. The musical tradition of the Collegio Clementina remained strong: Alessandro Scarlatti wrote oratorios for Carnival seasons and came up from Naples to oversee their production [2].
Instruction "in all the sciences and the gentlemanly arts" according to a description of 1761, was entrusted to brothers of the order of the Somaschi, a religious order of teaching brothers established during the Counter-Reformation, which had been authorized by Pope Pius VI in 1568; they proved themselves expert in establishing seminaries. In the 17th and 18th century the Collegio Clementina produced many cardinals from the best families (Domenico Silvio Passionei among others) and the mathematician Giulio Carlo de' Toschi di Fagnano. There, Carlo Spinola and Domenico Quarteironi, renowned in mathematics, perspective and hydrostatics, taught the brilliant young polymath and inventor, Raimondo de Sangro, prince of Sansavero [3].
[edit] External links
- Collegio Clementino: described in a 1761 engraving by Giuseppe Vasi
- La Storia dei Somaschi: (in Italian)
