0:00:05 > 0:00:07Rome.
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Holy City...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Eternal City.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19A city with a sacred mission to rule and minister to the world.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Its stories of faith and violence
0:00:25 > 0:00:31forged by 3,000 years of tyrants, saints and artists.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37From the Roman emperors and the Christian popes
0:00:37 > 0:00:40to the Renaissance and fascism...
0:00:41 > 0:00:45..a holy city driven more by power than piety.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53As a historian, I'm fascinated by this place.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58I'm here to tell the history of the Eternal City
0:00:58 > 0:01:02through its rulers, its art, its shrines...
0:01:07 > 0:01:10In its first 2,000 years,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Rome developed from the seat of power of the pagan empire
0:01:14 > 0:01:17to the capital of one of the great world faiths.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21But at the beginning of its third millennium,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24we find Rome at its lowest ebb.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Abandoned by the papacy, the city resembled a wilderness.
0:01:33 > 0:01:34In this final episode,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38the Renaissance popes embark on an incredible mission
0:01:38 > 0:01:40to transform the city.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44They harness the greatest talents of the age
0:01:44 > 0:01:47to create a majestic new Rome.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Stepping inside some of Rome's most magnificent buildings,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57I witness how religion, art, lust and greed
0:01:57 > 0:02:00vie to create the most splendid city on Earth.
0:02:04 > 0:02:05But the hubris of the popes
0:02:05 > 0:02:09almost destroys the very city they are creating.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13In the centuries that follow,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Protestantism and nationalism threaten Rome and the papacy.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19In order to prosper,
0:02:19 > 0:02:23the Eternal City would need to adapt again and again.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28This is the blood-spattered, dramatic story
0:02:28 > 0:02:31of how Rome emerged from the turbulence of the early popes
0:02:31 > 0:02:34and the catastrophes of the Middle Ages
0:02:34 > 0:02:37into the magnificent city we see today.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05In 1350, Rome was a desperate backwater.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14The kings of France dominated Rome
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and forced the election of a French pope,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20who took up his residence not in Rome,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22but in Avignon.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32Without the Pope, Rome lost its financial and moral power.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Crime thrived on its streets,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41dominated by two aristocratic families,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43the Colonnas and the Orsinis,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46from their fortified palaces.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49They ruled the territories in the city like gangster bosses...
0:03:51 > 0:03:53..Rome's real-life versions
0:03:53 > 0:03:56of Shakespeare's Montagues and Capulets.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00There were now just 30,000 people living in Rome,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03compared to a million in imperial times.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09The city that was once the head of the world
0:04:09 > 0:04:12had become, wrote poet Petrarch,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14"The rubbish heap of history."
0:04:18 > 0:04:22But salvation would come from an unlikely source.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35The church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
0:04:35 > 0:04:38is the final resting place of the woman
0:04:38 > 0:04:40who would rescue Rome's fortunes.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Her name was Caterina Benincasa,
0:04:46 > 0:04:51but she's better known as St Catherine of Siena.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54She spent much of her life in a state of feverish rapture,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57of long periods of deep meditation,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02and it was said that Jesus' wounds bled from her body.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11In 1370, Catherine was 23.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16She was broken-hearted by the fall of Rome.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20She believed the Pope had betrayed Christianity itself
0:05:20 > 0:05:22by abandoning his city.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27It was an article of faith for believers
0:05:27 > 0:05:30that the Pope was the natural heir of St Peter,
0:05:30 > 0:05:32the first Bishop of Rome,
0:05:32 > 0:05:37and to properly exert his authority, he had to rule from the Holy City.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Catherine believed that in order to save her precious Church,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44the Pope had to return.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50Catherine made it her life's mission to bring the Pope back to Rome.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Alone against the might of the papacy and the rulers of Europe,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Catherine fought to save the Church and city.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15She wrote letter after letter imploring the Pope to leave Avignon.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26Some of the earliest editions are here at the Biblioteca Casanatense.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Manuscript keeper Isabella Ceccopieri
0:06:34 > 0:06:36has agreed to translate them for me.
0:06:41 > 0:06:47"Come, come, and resist no more the will of God that calls you,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52"for you, as the vicar of Christ, should rest in your own place
0:06:52 > 0:06:56"and fear not for anything that might happen,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58"since God will be with you."
0:06:58 > 0:07:02I guess the first thing that strikes you in this is that Catherine...
0:07:02 > 0:07:05She's saying, "Get a move on, Pope. Get a move on, Holy Father.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07"Get down there. This is my personal command..."
0:07:07 > 0:07:10- As if they were equals.- As equals. Completely as equals.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13"So, I ask unto you, our father and our shepherd,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16"begging you on behalf of Christ
0:07:16 > 0:07:20"to rescue the lost sheep, the human race,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22"from the hands of the demons."
0:07:22 > 0:07:24And, of course, the demons are those running riot in Rome
0:07:24 > 0:07:26when the Pope is away.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29And so, this is a very powerful appeal.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34She believes more than anything that the Pope's rightful place is in Rome
0:07:34 > 0:07:38and that she wants him with all her will, backed by the Holy Spirit,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40to return there.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Yeah. She's a strong will.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44She's got such a strong will. Very powerful stuff.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51After years of Catherine's letter-writing,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54the Pope showed no sign of returning.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59She resolved to travel to Avignon to confront the Pope directly.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09The fate of Rome rested on the shoulders of this lone woman.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17In 1377,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21the Pope returned in a triumphant procession to the Holy City
0:08:21 > 0:08:24with Catherine of Siena by his side.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38After 70 years of exile,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41the Pope was back in his rightful place.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Centuries later, Catherine would be rewarded
0:08:49 > 0:08:52by being made patron saint of Italy...
0:08:52 > 0:08:53AND Europe.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01But it would be years before Rome recovered
0:09:01 > 0:09:03from the Avignon Exile.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Rome was in need of a strong ruler,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15but the papacy was now bizarrely weakened.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21The Pope may have been back in Rome, but at the end of the 14th century,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25the French king elected a rival pope, an antipope,
0:09:25 > 0:09:26over in Avignon.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Kings and emperors now felt they could appoint their own popes
0:09:33 > 0:09:35to suit themselves.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40The situation got so ridiculous that, at times,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43there were three popes in three different cities
0:09:43 > 0:09:46all claiming to be supreme pontiff.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51This became known as the Western Schism.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01Rome would never reign supreme while the papacy was a laughing stock.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07I've come to the place where the schism ended
0:10:07 > 0:10:08and the resurgence began...
0:10:10 > 0:10:12..where the Romans claimed back their papacy.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32This is the largest private palace in Rome,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and it's still the home of the Colonna family.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38They've lived here for 700 years,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and in the 13th and 14th centuries,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43they were one of the two warring families
0:10:43 > 0:10:46fighting for control of Rome's streets.
0:10:46 > 0:10:52But in 1417, the Colonna family pulled off a major triumph.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01After centuries of dominating Rome
0:11:01 > 0:11:04with their private armies and wealth,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07these swaggering warlords were about to play a decisive role
0:11:07 > 0:11:10in restoring the papacy and the city.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16There was one way to harness their violent power.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19To elect a member of the family as pope.
0:11:22 > 0:11:23And to this day,
0:11:23 > 0:11:28the palace displays a special piece of furniture to mark this triumph.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32This is the throne room.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Every dynasty with a pope in the family
0:11:35 > 0:11:39had one just like this for when future popes came to visit.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41And here's the throne itself.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44But as you can see, it's facing the wrong way round,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48and that's because it was only turned to face the right way
0:11:48 > 0:11:51when there was a pope actually here to sit on it.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00It was the election of the Colonna Pope, Martin V, in 1417
0:12:00 > 0:12:03that brought an end to the Western Schism.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10The competing popes had turned the papacy into a farce,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14and finally, a council persuaded all the popes to resign.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19When they elected Martin V, it was first time in years
0:12:19 > 0:12:23that the Pope had not only been Italian, but a Roman,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26and a scion of the city's most powerful family.
0:12:29 > 0:12:35From now on, the papacy was Roman, and Rome would be the papal city.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40But the papacy was still vulnerable, and the city was a mess.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44The Pope's task now was to restore the authority of both,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48to make Rome the undisputed capital of Christendom.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56From this point on, the popes were united by a shared vision.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Through the 15th and 16th centuries
0:12:59 > 0:13:03they embarked on a project of breathtaking scope
0:13:03 > 0:13:07that would turn Rome into a building site for 200 years.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Pope Nicholas V declared that they would create "great buildings"
0:13:17 > 0:13:19that would demonstrate that
0:13:19 > 0:13:24"the authority of the Roman Church is the greatest and highest."
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Rome, said Pope Sixtus IV, would be "the capital of the world."
0:13:31 > 0:13:35The mission was to create the most magnificent city on Earth,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38so that pilgrims who couldn't read or write
0:13:38 > 0:13:40could see in its churches and palaces
0:13:40 > 0:13:43the glory of God and his popes.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Rome's renaissance had begun.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54Across the skyline, the domes of grandiose churches started to rise.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Popes and cardinals built the most sumptuous palaces
0:14:00 > 0:14:03to display the impressive art they'd commissioned.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09The most elaborate of these would be the papal residence itself,
0:14:09 > 0:14:10the Vatican.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17It was an astonishing endeavour that brought together
0:14:17 > 0:14:19the highest and lowest of human appetites.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25Spirituality and art vied with power, lust and greed.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28It took the patronage of many popes,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31the work of the greatest artists that have ever lived,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33and incalculable sums of money.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41The ambition was boundless, the vision splendid.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43The popes would stop at nothing
0:14:43 > 0:14:46to make Rome the most holy city on Earth...
0:14:47 > 0:14:48..a new Jerusalem.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56But the men leading the mission would be far from saintly.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05The Renaissance popes saw no contradiction
0:15:05 > 0:15:07between their sacred role, cut-throat politics,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10and the pursuit of wealth and pleasure.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16There was one Pope who personifies this merciless magnificence
0:15:16 > 0:15:18like no other.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29This is the Castel Sant'Angelo,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33the fortress, prison and torture chamber of the papacy,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and up there is the family crest of Pope Alexander VI.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43But if you look closely, you'll see that it's been totally vandalised.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47And this is because Alexander VI was a member
0:15:47 > 0:15:51of the most notorious family in the entire history of the papacy...
0:15:51 > 0:15:53the Borgias.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05The Borgia Pope was the nephew of the Spanish Pope Callixtus III,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08who raised him to Cardinal.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13A brilliantly cunning and effective politician,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18as Pope, he was ruthlessly effective in promoting papal power.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23He was determined to make Rome great
0:16:23 > 0:16:25and his family even greater.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32His son, Cesare Borgia, was a bishop at 16 and a cardinal at 18,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35but he probably murdered his own brother,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38whose death enabled him to resign from the Church
0:16:38 > 0:16:41and become papal commander-in-chief,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44conquering new territories for the family.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49He was brilliantly talented, tireless and terrifying.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53His victims were found floating in the Tiber every morning.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57But to Machiavelli, he was the ideal of the Renaissance prince.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Cesare Borgia was the Pope's flamboyant enforcer and henchman.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08No-one was safe in his reign of terror.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Corruption, war and assassination
0:17:13 > 0:17:17were as much part of Rome's renaissance as the exquisite art.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22And the popes and cardinals were often as debauched
0:17:22 > 0:17:24as they were priestly.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30The Borgias shamelessly turned the Vatican
0:17:30 > 0:17:31into a palace of pleasure.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38The Pope himself had many lovers and fathered many children.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39Historian Mary Hollingsworth
0:17:39 > 0:17:43has been studying an account written by a senior courtier
0:17:43 > 0:17:46which provides a rather interesting insight
0:17:46 > 0:17:49into Borgia life at the Vatican.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51The papal master of ceremonies did describe
0:17:51 > 0:17:54a particularly lurid dinner party that Cesare...
0:17:54 > 0:17:57not, I should say, the Borgia Pope, but that Cesare held in the Vatican.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59And at the end of the meal,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03the guests removed all the big silver candelabra onto the ground,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05and then scattered chestnuts all over the floor
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and invited in a bevy of naked ladies,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10who went around on their hands and knees,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12bobbing up and down their heads
0:18:12 > 0:18:14to pick up these chestnuts in their mouths.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17And then, at the end, once all the chestnuts had been collected,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21and, presumably, all the wares, as it were, had been displayed,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24then the male guest who had sex
0:18:24 > 0:18:27with the largest number of these prostitutes
0:18:27 > 0:18:30was ceremonially given a present of a very expensive pair of gloves.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32So, those things seem to be true.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34I mean, there are plenty of later popes
0:18:34 > 0:18:37where things like that happened.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Wasn't one of the great accusations thrown at the Borgia Pope
0:18:40 > 0:18:42was that he had so many mistresses and so many children?
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Was that usual for a for a religious leader like the Pope at this time?
0:18:46 > 0:18:51Well, I suppose he wasn't the first to do it and nor was he the last,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55but he was just slightly more so. So, he was slightly more...
0:18:55 > 0:18:57He had rather more beautiful mistresses and, you know,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59an awfully large bevy of children.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05How seriously did these Renaissance popes take their Christianity?
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Well, I personally think they took it very seriously.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10I mean, just because they're extravagant,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13it's not that that they're not religious. It's not either/or.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15It's a different way of doing things.
0:19:19 > 0:19:20For the Renaissance popes,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24outrageous parties and ostentatious displays of wealth
0:19:24 > 0:19:27were a tribute to the glory of God and Church...
0:19:29 > 0:19:33..and a demonstration to the world of their power and sanctity.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42In the mission to make Rome great once more,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45there was one Pope whose ambitions would exceed all others.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51The successor to the Borgia Pope
0:19:51 > 0:19:55would be the ultimate creator of Renaissance Rome.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59His name was Giuliano della Rovera.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Years before he became Pope,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08he began forming his great vision for the city.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14And in the entrance to the church outside his old home
0:20:14 > 0:20:17is a clue to his master plan for the new Rome.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22He erected a relief of an eagle...
0:20:23 > 0:20:26..the mighty symbol of Ancient Rome.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Giuliano had rescued the great eagle from the ruins,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35and he wanted to do the same to Rome itself.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38His vision was to restore the Eternal City
0:20:38 > 0:20:40to its ancient glories.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43And he himself would be its Julius Caesar.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46So it's no wonder that when elected Pope,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49the name he chose was Julius II.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Deep inside the Vatican Palace,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10the walls of Julius's private apartments ring out
0:21:10 > 0:21:12with the story of his reign.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22This high priest saw himself as a warrior pope...
0:21:23 > 0:21:26..who would don armour to lead his troops into battle...
0:21:28 > 0:21:31..like the emperors of old.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38He became know as Papa Terribile, the fearsome Pope.
0:21:45 > 0:21:51But his most effective foot soldiers would be his army of artists.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55He assembled a team of the greatest artists in history
0:21:55 > 0:21:58to equal, and even out-do, the glory of imperial Rome.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04The artist Raphael
0:22:04 > 0:22:07would be commissioned to decorate his living quarters,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10which many consider Raphael's finest work.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Classical, as well as Christian, scenes
0:22:17 > 0:22:19dominate the Papal Apartments.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22The pagan God Apollo has pride of place,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26surrounded by the finest poets, from Homer to Dante.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32Not all Christians were comfortable with the pagan imagery,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34but this classical/Christian fusion
0:22:34 > 0:22:37was the true spirit of the Renaissance.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Julius was channelling the greatest human achievements throughout history
0:22:45 > 0:22:49to promote the power of the papacy and Christian Rome.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53But it was Julius' partnership with one particular artist
0:22:53 > 0:22:56that would come to define the Renaissance more than any other.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01An artist so revered that even his rival, Raphael, painted him...
0:23:03 > 0:23:04Michelangelo.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Michelangelo was impossible to deal with.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15He was obsessive, paranoid and avaricious.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19Tormented by his artistic rivalries, his religious doubts,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24the demands of his greedy family, and his own homosexuality.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28But Julius's commission would produce a peerless masterpiece,
0:23:28 > 0:23:30the jewel of the Renaissance.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38500 years after its creation,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42it is still regarded as one of the world's finest works.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Even amidst the other splendours of the Sistine Chapel,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01it's the ceiling that takes your breath away.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Painting the ceiling was a physical and creative challenge.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16Michelangelo was tormented by neck and eye pain.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22And Julius was a harsh taskmaster. He beat Michelangelo with a stick,
0:24:22 > 0:24:27but the haughty artist was every bit as volcanic as his patron.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34Julius even used his own epithet to describe him - Il Terribile.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41But from this fiery relationship came perfection.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47In 1512, a heavenly vision was unveiled.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56The creation narrative of Genesis
0:24:56 > 0:24:59has never been so sublimely rendered.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06This is truly the pinnacle of the Renaissance.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11It's just amazing to be here.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16One really feels one's...in the company of genius.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24As you see God giving life to Adam,
0:25:24 > 0:25:29you feel, too, how Michelangelo gave life to the Renaissance.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Rome was reborn.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Michelangelo projects his vision of the human body
0:25:40 > 0:25:43as an expression of God's design.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48While for Julius, this was the declaration of papal Rome
0:25:48 > 0:25:51as all-powerful and divinely blessed.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56But Julius wasn't prepared to stop here.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Seven years earlier,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03Julius had set in motion an even more ambitious project...
0:26:05 > 0:26:08..right next door to the Vatican Palace.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16An endeavour so colossal, it would outlast Julius
0:26:16 > 0:26:20and the final days of the Renaissance itself.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Inside the Church of San Martino ai Monti
0:26:24 > 0:26:28is an image of what was once the most sacred building in Rome...
0:26:31 > 0:26:36..the original St Peter's Basilica, built by Constantine the Great.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41It was already 1,000 years old.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45The very legitimacy and sanctity of the popes themselves
0:26:45 > 0:26:47were based on their connection to the place
0:26:47 > 0:26:50where St Peter had been crucified and buried.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55But in 1505, Pope Julius II decided to destroy it.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00Many of the clergy were outraged.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05To destroy the basilica was sacrilege.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Julius wanted to build a bigger, better St Peter's,
0:27:13 > 0:27:18that would be fittingly magnificent for the capital of Christendom.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20But he was taking a huge gamble.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23He was demolishing Rome's most beloved building
0:27:23 > 0:27:27and the only church that linked the city and the papacy
0:27:27 > 0:27:31to the early days of Christianity, and St Peter himself.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39The rebuilding of St Peter's would last 120 years.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44It would take the commitment of another 20 popes
0:27:44 > 0:27:46to deliver Julius's vision.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51But this would be a period of astonishing activity,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54during which the values of Renaissance Rome
0:27:54 > 0:27:56would be severely tested.
0:28:02 > 0:28:03- Hello.- Hi there.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06'The challenge began with the astronomical cost
0:28:06 > 0:28:08'of building the new St Peter's.'
0:28:10 > 0:28:13The Renaissance had attracted many more pilgrims to Rome,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16and they brought in massive new revenues,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20but they were soon spent and the Church needed much, much more.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26'And so, in the early 16th century,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29'the popes began exploiting a uniquely papal practice
0:28:29 > 0:28:31'to raise more money...'
0:28:31 > 0:28:34- Can I have this, please?- Yes, sure. - How much is it?
0:28:34 > 0:28:35- 20 Euro.- 20 Euro, OK.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37'..the selling of indulgences.'
0:28:41 > 0:28:43The practice had been around since the 6th century.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47It was simple. People would pay to have their sins forgiven.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51And it raised so much money that they had an even brighter idea.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54People would pay for sins they hadn't even committed yet.
0:28:57 > 0:28:58OK? 25, sir.
0:28:58 > 0:29:0125, perfect. There we are.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04'The papacy had turned sin into a business.'
0:29:08 > 0:29:11This abuse, taking place in the heart of God's city,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13outraged many Christians.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20For years, the Renaissance popes
0:29:20 > 0:29:23had thrived through decadence and corruption.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29But the selling of indulgences would prove one step too far.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44I've come to a palace that defines the moment
0:29:44 > 0:29:46Renaissance Rome came tumbling down.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56The Villa Farnesina was known as the Villa of Pleasure,
0:29:56 > 0:30:00and was frequently visited by Julius's successor, Leo X.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10Pope Leo was better at parties than he was at politics.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12"God has given us the papacy," he said,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14"so let us enjoy it!"
0:30:14 > 0:30:16And enjoy it he did.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19He was a member of the Medici banking family,
0:30:19 > 0:30:24but in one year, he squandered the entire savings of the papacy
0:30:24 > 0:30:27on pleasures, on art, and on gambling.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30His reign marks the delicious climax
0:30:30 > 0:30:33of the debauchery of the Renaissance papacy.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42The popes believed they were invincible.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44But they were wrong.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48Their decadent version of Christianity
0:30:48 > 0:30:51did not go unnoticed by Christians outside of Rome...
0:30:54 > 0:30:59..and the Renaissance was about to reach an explosive finale.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04One German monk visiting Rome was particularly outraged.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08His name was Martin Luther.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Everything that the Renaissance popes valued and nurtured for Rome,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16Luther loathed.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20Sexual pleasure, the beauty of the human body,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22the admiration for pagan art.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29And most disturbing of all,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32the selling of the forgiveness of sins.
0:31:35 > 0:31:40The worst perpetrator of these abominations was the Pope himself.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Luther said that far from being God's representative on Earth,
0:31:44 > 0:31:46he was an agent of the devil.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Luther returned to his home town in Germany
0:31:49 > 0:31:52and nailed his protest to the church door,
0:31:52 > 0:31:57thereby launching the movement that became known as Protestantism.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00He defied the Church, and his Protestantism
0:32:00 > 0:32:06would be the greatest challenge to papal supremacy in all its history.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23The papacy had little time for Luther,
0:32:23 > 0:32:26but it would not be long before his protests
0:32:26 > 0:32:29would shake the Church to its foundations
0:32:29 > 0:32:31and bring catastrophe to Rome.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Just upstairs is a long-hidden piece of evidence
0:32:45 > 0:32:48of the horrific conclusion of the Renaissance.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07In the late 1990s, some art restorers working on this room
0:33:07 > 0:33:10uncovered some totally fascinating graffiti...
0:33:12 > 0:33:17..which dates back to the year 1528.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Now, it's very hard to decipher this,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24and with apologies for my hopeless German, it says,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27"Was soll ich die schreiben
0:33:27 > 0:33:33nit lachen die Landsknechten haben den Papst laufen machen."
0:33:36 > 0:33:40The man who wrote this graffiti is congratulating himself
0:33:40 > 0:33:41and his mates.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44He says, "Why shouldn't I laugh?
0:33:44 > 0:33:48"We, the Landsknecht, have set the Pope on the run."
0:33:55 > 0:33:58The Landsknecht were a force of German mercenaries
0:33:58 > 0:34:02sent to Italy by Emperor Charles V
0:34:02 > 0:34:06as a warning to the inept Medici Pope, Clement VII.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13But in May 1527, they mutinied...
0:34:14 > 0:34:15..and stormed the city.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26The Landsknecht were Protestants
0:34:26 > 0:34:28who believed the Pope was the Antichrist.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Infuriated by tales of papal hedonism,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36they ran amok in the satanic city.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49The small papal army didn't stand a chance
0:34:49 > 0:34:51as the Landsknecht went berserk.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04They slaughtered everyone they encountered in the streets.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06They disembowelled priests.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08They turned monasteries into brothels.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14The Eternal City had become Hell on Earth.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23The Pope tried to negotiate with them,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25but no-one could stop the mayhem.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28So, he escaped from the Vatican along the passato,
0:35:28 > 0:35:29this fortified passageway,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32to seek refuge in the Castel Sant'Angelo.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41And here he hid for almost an entire year.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49The Pope's health disintegrated.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Outside of the Castel, Rome was ravaged.
0:35:56 > 0:35:57The city was devastated.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01The population halved
0:36:01 > 0:36:04by hunger, murder and plague.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10But, still, the troops wouldn't leave,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14and in December 1527, they said that if they didn't get their money,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18they'd hang their captains and slice the Pope into pieces.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24By this time, the Pope was starving,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28blind in one eye and ridden with liver disease.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36He escaped from the Castel Sant'Angelo disguised as a servant
0:36:36 > 0:36:40and headed out of Rome to the Papal residence at Orvieto.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48The Pope had lost his splendour and his power.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51The Holy City had lost its ruler, its protector.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58The Sack of Rome was the greatest catastrophe in all its history.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03The follies of the Renaissance popes
0:37:03 > 0:37:06had brought the Eternal City close to destruction.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14On the 11th of February 1528, the Landsknecht were finally paid
0:37:14 > 0:37:15and the horde finally left.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18The Pope returned to Rome.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23The Sack of Rome was seen as God's judgement,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25even by the Pope himself.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Rome was being punished for its sins.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Now, one thing was clear. The Church would have to change.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40The result was the Catholic Reformation.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45Dissidence and excess were now brutally repressed.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47For the moment, at least,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51the orgies and mistresses were out, austerity and chastity were in.
0:37:54 > 0:38:00The new severity was personified by Paul IV, a brutal and pedantic prig
0:38:00 > 0:38:03who regarded the ancient monuments of Rome
0:38:03 > 0:38:05as pagan and, therefore, heretical.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08He said he would have liked to destroy them all.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12But worse, he was disgusted by the naked private parts
0:38:12 > 0:38:14of the Renaissance masterpieces,
0:38:14 > 0:38:18and ordered many of them to be painted over.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22It is his fitting punishment that history remembers him above all
0:38:22 > 0:38:23as the Fig Leaf Pope.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31The curse of the fig leaf is still visible today
0:38:31 > 0:38:34on Michelangelo's later work in the Sistine Chapel.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41The Last Judgment was the final masterpiece of the Renaissance.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46I think it's the finest celebration
0:38:46 > 0:38:49of the grace and dignity of the human body,
0:38:49 > 0:38:54but it also brutally reflects the dystopic mayhem of the Sack of Rome.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Its naked passions appalled the Catholic Reformation
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and some of Michelangelo's beautifully bare figures
0:39:02 > 0:39:06now wear rather strategically placed pieces of cloth.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10And one previously naked woman
0:39:10 > 0:39:14has had her modesty restored with a rather frumpy green dress.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19But the Catholic Reformation attacked more than just art.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23It unleashed the Roman Inquisition on the Eternal City.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34The Inquisition was set up to enforce the doctrines of the Church
0:39:34 > 0:39:38and destroy any heresies or impurities.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Peccadilloes that had been overlooked or indulged during the Renaissance
0:39:42 > 0:39:44were now brutally punished.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48Homosexuals were burnt alive.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55Jews, who had lived peacefully in Rome for 1,700 years,
0:39:55 > 0:39:56were confined to a ghetto.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02But the biggest challenge to Roman supremacy
0:40:02 > 0:40:05was the new rival branch of Christianity.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14As Protestantism spread, the papacy resolved to fight it on every level,
0:40:14 > 0:40:18from the world of art to the battlefield.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23In 1539, the Catholic Church created a new militant wing.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37This is the Church of Saint Ignacio, named after Ignacio Loyola,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41a military man who believed that the winning of Christian souls
0:40:41 > 0:40:44could be conducted like a military campaign.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48So, he founded the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51And a look at this astonishing ceiling
0:40:51 > 0:40:54tells you all you need to know about the passionate energy
0:40:54 > 0:40:56of the Jesuit mission.
0:41:05 > 0:41:11Saint Ignacio commands the centre, empowered by Jesus Christ himself.
0:41:11 > 0:41:17His heart radiates four sacred beams that propel his female missionaries
0:41:17 > 0:41:20to the four corners of the world
0:41:20 > 0:41:22to slay the pagans.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29Indeed, the Jesuit mission was international and universal.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32It was to convert everyone.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37It used both the sword and the prayer book.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46The Jesuits valued education above all else,
0:41:46 > 0:41:50and used their sophisticated analysis of human character
0:41:50 > 0:41:53to win souls, defeat enemies,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56and to defend and spread papal authority.
0:42:01 > 0:42:02By the 17th Century,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05the reach of Rome had spread beyond its walls
0:42:05 > 0:42:07to the four corners of the world.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15The Renaissance may have passed,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18but a new heyday now dawned for the Holy City.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24Rome was the heart of a new Christendom. Not just Catholic,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26but Roman Catholic.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34The battle against Protestantism would embellish Rome itself.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40The popes launched a new and exhilarating war of culture.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44They championed an artistic movement
0:42:44 > 0:42:47to project a new-found intensity of passion
0:42:47 > 0:42:49and ecstasy of revelation.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53This new art was personified by one man.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the master of baroque art.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02Impulsive and emotional,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05when he found his mistress was having an affair with his brother,
0:43:05 > 0:43:07he beat his brother up with a crowbar
0:43:07 > 0:43:11and had her permanently scarred with a razor blade.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17But Bernini was adored by Pope Urban VIII,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21who told him, "You're lucky to have me as Pope,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23"but I'm even luckier to have you."
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Their partnership was responsible
0:43:29 > 0:43:31for much of what we see in Rome today.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Bernini, in many ways, is to the 17th century
0:43:36 > 0:43:39what Michelangelo had been in the 16th century,
0:43:39 > 0:43:41and he certainly was the best interpreter
0:43:41 > 0:43:43of the wishes of the popes.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47Art historian Alexandra Massini has brought me to see
0:43:47 > 0:43:50the sculpture that Bernini considered his masterpiece.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56It's called The Ecstasy Of Saint Teresa.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Tell me about this piece. I mean, this is extraordinary.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Well, this is really a very intense religious experience
0:44:04 > 0:44:07that is described by Saint Teresa
0:44:07 > 0:44:09but, you know, if I read out her own words
0:44:09 > 0:44:12and you see the sculpture that goes along with it,
0:44:12 > 0:44:16I think there's little ambiguity as to what exactly is happening...
0:44:16 > 0:44:18So, let me just read this...
0:44:18 > 0:44:21"I saw that he had a long golden dart in his hand..."
0:44:21 > 0:44:25She's referring to this angel that she sees appearing.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29"I thought that he pierced my heart with this dart several times
0:44:29 > 0:44:33"and in such a manner that it went through my very bowels
0:44:33 > 0:44:36"and when he drew it out, it seemed as if my bowels came with it,
0:44:36 > 0:44:41"and I remained wholly inflamed with a great love of God.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45"The pain thereof was so intense that it forced deep groans from me,
0:44:45 > 0:44:49"but the sweetness which this extreme pain caused in me
0:44:49 > 0:44:53"was so excessive that there was no desiring to be free from it."
0:44:53 > 0:44:57So, I think this is a very graphic and very erotic rendering
0:44:57 > 0:44:59of an absolutely physical experience.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02Now, this was very different from, really, what had gone before,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05because we're coming out of the Counter-Reformation,
0:45:05 > 0:45:10a strict time, a severe time, a time of a sort of moral crackdown,
0:45:10 > 0:45:14and suddenly we have this explosion of sensual...
0:45:14 > 0:45:16sensual extravagance, really.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20The restraints of the Counter-Reformation are long gone
0:45:20 > 0:45:22by this stage, and...
0:45:22 > 0:45:25What you are out to do is really to draw in the viewer
0:45:25 > 0:45:27and that's why you do things
0:45:27 > 0:45:30that are absolutely theatrical and absolutely dramatic,
0:45:30 > 0:45:33and that explains why you have such an erotic piece
0:45:33 > 0:45:36that ends up in a church, where you would at least expect it.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39The viewer thinks... A modern-day viewer would think,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42"OK, this is something absolutely secular. What is it doing inside a church?"
0:45:42 > 0:45:46But it is part, I think, of this emotional sensibility that...
0:45:46 > 0:45:48people expected at the time,
0:45:48 > 0:45:50even inside a church, even from the faithful.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53It is part of the religious picture of the time.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55Was this new sensibility of the Catholic Church,
0:45:55 > 0:45:57represented by the baroque and Bernini,
0:45:57 > 0:46:01really also a way of competing with Protestantism?
0:46:01 > 0:46:02It definitely was, yes.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06I think that whereas the Protestants are really...
0:46:06 > 0:46:09sticking to a literal reading of the Bible,
0:46:09 > 0:46:11here we have something totally different. It is...
0:46:11 > 0:46:15You reach God through the senses, through opening up your heart,
0:46:15 > 0:46:20through experiencing things to the...to your bones, literally,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24and that, I think, is what makes this work of art so powerful.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26Saying, "The Church can give you this."
0:46:26 > 0:46:28Exactly. The Church can give you this.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30- And that's quite something. - Yes. Yes, indeed.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39The Church deployed every available weapon
0:46:39 > 0:46:41to win the battle of Christian souls.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47But to complete Rome's status as the ultimate Holy City,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50there was one major task left undone...
0:46:50 > 0:46:52to finish the new St Peter's.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08By 1610, the exterior was finally complete.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18115 years after Julius II had knocked down the original,
0:47:18 > 0:47:22a vast new structure now dominated Rome's skyline.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28It proclaims the power and confidence of the Catholic Church.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32But the basilica still lacked a centrepiece.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37And it's here that Bernini produced his masterpiece.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55The new basilica had been built above the original tomb of St Peter.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00To honour the shrine which gave Papal Rome its sanctity,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Bernini created this monumental canopy,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05his baldacchino.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24There's something very thrilling and powerful
0:48:24 > 0:48:29about this triumphalist piece of architecture here.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32It's not just declaring the triumph of the Church
0:48:32 > 0:48:35and the majesty of the papacy,
0:48:35 > 0:48:38but it's also pointing out the connection
0:48:38 > 0:48:40between Rome and Jerusalem.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48These gorgeous curving pillars are specially designed
0:48:48 > 0:48:53as replicas of pillars from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
0:48:53 > 0:48:58And so, what Bernini is saying here is that Rome is the new Holy City,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00Rome is the new Jerusalem.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11On the 18th of November 1626,
0:49:11 > 0:49:15the vision of Julius II was finally realised.
0:49:22 > 0:49:2520 popes later, the new St Peter's was finished.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33Today, it remains the largest church in the world.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39I think the gigantic force of this church
0:49:39 > 0:49:42defines Rome as the capital of Christendom.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47An emblem of the success of the Renaissance dream
0:49:47 > 0:49:48and global Catholicism.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55Julius's gamble had paid off.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07By the 18th century,
0:50:07 > 0:50:11the story of the making of the Holy City is almost complete.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17At first glance, Rome looked very much like it does today...
0:50:19 > 0:50:23..filled with tourists eager to see its beautiful monuments.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28But there was one crucial difference between then and now.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31The popes were still the autocratic rulers
0:50:31 > 0:50:35of their own swathe of Italian territories - the Papal States.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38But all of that was about to change.
0:50:45 > 0:50:46In the mid 19th century,
0:50:46 > 0:50:49new ideologies were sweeping across Europe,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53which would permanently alter the shape of the Holy City...
0:50:54 > 0:50:57..republicanism and nationalism.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02They rejected the medieval and sclerotic papal autocracy.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11Having already taken hold of France,
0:51:11 > 0:51:15the idea of a republican nation was gathering momentum
0:51:15 > 0:51:18across the separate states of the Italian peninsula.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24A doctor's son from the northern city of Genoa named Giuseppe Mazzini
0:51:24 > 0:51:29led the campaign to unite the various kingdoms of the peninsula
0:51:29 > 0:51:32into just one country - Italy.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35And Mazzini believed there could only be one capital.
0:51:35 > 0:51:40"Rome," he said, "was the national centre of Italian unity,
0:51:40 > 0:51:44"the dream of my young years, the religion of my soul."
0:51:50 > 0:51:55If Mazzini succeeded, he would end papal rule for ever.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59Not surprisingly, the Pope denounced the new Italian nationalism
0:51:59 > 0:52:02and called on all Catholics to reject it.
0:52:05 > 0:52:06War was looming.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13In 1849, the Republican troops,
0:52:13 > 0:52:17led by the swashbuckling warlord Giuseppe Garibaldi,
0:52:17 > 0:52:18descended on Rome.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27This time, the Pope had a surprising ally
0:52:27 > 0:52:30in his opposition to Italian republicanism.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34France - now ruled by Emperor Napoleon III,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37nephew of the great Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41And when Rome fell to Garibaldi and the Republicans,
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Napoleon sent an army to get it back.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51They bombarded Rome and, as chance would have it,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55a French cannon ball smashed right in to the sumptuous great hall
0:52:55 > 0:52:58of Prince Colonna's Palace.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01Now, this is one of my favourite secrets of Rome,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04because that Napoleonic cannonball
0:53:04 > 0:53:08embedded itself in Prince Colonna's marble staircase...
0:53:08 > 0:53:10and it's still there to this day.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21Thanks to the support of Napoleon III,
0:53:21 > 0:53:23the Pope still ruled Rome.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29But Mazzini's vision of Rome as the capital of Italy lived on.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36In 1870, Napoleon III fell, the French withdrew,
0:53:36 > 0:53:40and the army of the new nation of Italy entered Rome.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46Commanded by Victor Emmanuel,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49king of the newly-formed Kingdom of Italy.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53He made Rome his capital, while its former ruler, the Pope,
0:53:53 > 0:53:56retreated behind the walls of the Vatican,
0:53:56 > 0:53:59where he melodramatically declared himself a prisoner.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08Secularism had taken control of the Holy City.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15A vast monument in honour of King Victor Emmanuel
0:54:15 > 0:54:19was erected to dominate the Rome of the past
0:54:19 > 0:54:21and dwarf its religious buildings.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27Grotesque it may be, but its message was clear.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32Rome had new masters.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34The city no longer belonged to the Pope.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40But the Pope was not going to make this easy.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50Historian Anne Wingenter has been studying this pivotal period
0:54:50 > 0:54:51in Rome's history.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55So, when King Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy,
0:54:55 > 0:54:59arrived and united Rome with the rest of Italy,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01how did that effect the Pope?
0:55:01 > 0:55:03Well, I mean, the Pope essentially refused to recognise
0:55:03 > 0:55:07the Kingdom of Italy, and not just this particular Pope
0:55:07 > 0:55:10when Rome was taken, but the next several popes, and...
0:55:10 > 0:55:13they encourage Catholics, not just in Italy, but around the world,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16not to recognise the Kingdom of Italy.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19And threatening Italians with ex-communication
0:55:19 > 0:55:22if they participate in the political life of the state.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24You know, it's a real problem,
0:55:24 > 0:55:28because there's a priest in every village, you know,
0:55:28 > 0:55:33telling people that, you know, the state is illegitimate.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35And the Pope retreats to the Vatican Palace?
0:55:35 > 0:55:37The popes stay in the Vatican,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40and they don't give the address in St Peter's Square.
0:55:40 > 0:55:45They sort of cut the state off from...the mother Church
0:55:45 > 0:55:49which, if you're a believing Catholic, is...is a problem.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59The papacy and the kingdom would be in a stand-off for 60 years.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Surprisingly, the man who solved the problem
0:56:06 > 0:56:09was the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Mussolini understood the popularity of the Church
0:56:18 > 0:56:21would add to the legitimacy of his fascist regime.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25So in 1929, he signed the Lateran Pact with the Pope,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27that created the Vatican state.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29The border is right here.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Now, I'm standing in the Republic of Italy,
0:56:32 > 0:56:34and when I cross the line...
0:56:35 > 0:56:38..now I'm standing in the Vatican state,
0:56:38 > 0:56:40the Pope's own country.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48The Vatican state became the world's smallest nation.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52At just 0.2 square miles,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55the new papal state was a miniature of its former glories.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03But it meant that the Pope could lead his billion global Catholics
0:57:03 > 0:57:06as an independent priest monarch.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Now, for the first time in Roman history,
0:57:18 > 0:57:24secular and sacred power were separate in one Holy City.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Espiritu Santo...
0:57:28 > 0:57:33In today's Rome, all the strands of old and new come together.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41You can see it right here on this street corner,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45surrounded by tourists and yet, nowadays, strangely overlooked.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48Right up there, you can see Romulus and Remus,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52the founders of Ancient Rome, and above them,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55the fasces, the symbols of fascism.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58And all of this on this majestic thoroughfare
0:57:58 > 0:58:03leading straight to the magnificent basilica of St Peter's.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08All of it, modern and ancient,
0:58:08 > 0:58:12now, together, seem happily, typically, Roman.
0:58:15 > 0:58:16For three millennia,
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Rome has been the definition of power and sanctity.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25Rome, like Christianity's other holy city, Jerusalem,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28is a place where man meets the divine.
0:58:30 > 0:58:32Throughout its history,
0:58:32 > 0:58:35Rome's destiny has been determined inseparably
0:58:35 > 0:58:38by both the cruel necessities of power
0:58:38 > 0:58:41and by the passion of faith.
0:58:58 > 0:59:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd