TIVOLI, DIOCESE OF. - City and diocese in the province of Rome.
The diocese covers an area of 620 sq. km with a population of 70,000 inhabitants, all Catholic, distributed across 45 parishes served by 68 diocesan priests and 20 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 5 male religious communities, and 34 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 424).
Tibur, an ancient city of Latium, stands on both banks of the Aniene River, at the foot of Monte Ripoli. Initially inhabited by people of Mediterranean stock (Siculi, Sicani, Aborigeni), it was later, according to tradition, occupied by a colony of Greeks from Arcadia. Its principal cult was that of Hercules Victor, worshipped in a grand temple; Vesta also had a special cult there. It was part of the Latin League and fought strenuously against Rome until, subdued in 337 B.C., it became a Roman municipality, enrolled in the Camilia tribe. In the vicinity, the Romans had many villas; Augustus loved to stay there and it was the preferred residence of Maecenas and Horace; the most splendid was that of Emperor Hadrian. P. Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Syria at the time of the census in Palestine when Jesus Christ was born, although a native of Lanuvium, had his tomb near Tivoli, not far from Ponte Lucano. The Plautii Silvani, originally from Tivoli, had extensive properties there and the well-known tomb near Ponte Lucano. An inscription from the 3rd century listing the members of a Tiburtine funerary college of Tenuiores (CIL, XIV, 3649) includes Christian names such as Laurentius, Exuperantius, and others. Between the 3rd and 4th centuries, a bishop named Quirinus is said to have existed; the first certain bishop is Paulus. A sepulchral site, perhaps Christian, with loculi and arcosolia, was discovered near the Acquario Bridge in 1928; nearby, a ring with a carnelian bearing the well-known acrostic IXOYΣ was also found. Traces of Christianity have been identified in some forms of the imperial necropolis on the right bank of the Aniene. The slow development of Christianity in Tivoli, hindered by the persistent cult of Hercules from which it derived great profit, intensified in the 5th century. In the year 467, a Tiburtine named Simplicius, son of Castinus, was elected Bishop of Rome. Under his influence, the Tiburtine bishop Candidus (465-504) founded the church of St. Peter (now La Carità) and built the churches of St. Euphemia and St. Eugenia and the small basilica of St. Symphorosa (v.) at the site of the martyr’s burial, at the 9th mile of the Via Tiburtina. In honor of Simplicius, the wealthy Goth Valia founded in 471 on his property near Tivoli the church of St. Mary in Cornuta, endowing it with the Massa Cornutensis.
TIVOLI, DIOCESE OF - Aerial view of Hadrian’s Villa, built by Emperor Hadrian between 125 and 135 - Tivoli.
and rich sacred furnishings described in a notarial document known as the Carta Cornutiana. At that time, the territory of the Tiburtine diocese, corresponding to that of the ancient Roman municipality, included the upper Aniene Valley, with the sub-Alcantara region. During the Gothic War, in 544, as Tivoli sided with the Emperor of the East, it was garrisoned by an Isaurian force; due to a disagreement between Greeks and Tiburtines, the Goths of Totila were treacherously admitted; the destroyed fortifications were later repaired by Totila himself. During the 6th century, the Basilica Laurentina must have been erected in the old Forum of the city, on the ruins of part of the complex of the Temple of Hercules Victor, the first phase of the present cathedral of St. Lawrence. It was adjoined by a baptistery, supplied with water from the Aniene, and the episcopal residence; the center of Tiburtine life in the Middle Ages. A document attesting the persistent mingling of Christianity and paganism is a sepulchral inscription from the year 613 (CIL, XIV, 396) from the oratory of St. Alexander, attached to the Cathedral, in which the widow Leta, invoking respect for her tomb and that of her children, invokes upon violators the wrath of Pluto and hopes that they meet the same fate as Ananias and Sapphira. Honorius I (625-38) dedicated on the Via Valeria, near Tivoli, a church in memory of St. Severinus, the ascetic who succeeded St. Benedict. Also in the 7th century, the remains of the temple of the goddess Bona, on Monte Affiano, were converted into a church dedicated to the Archangel St. Michael. A second Tiburtine pope was John IX (v.). In 945, the first mention is made of a church and Benedictine abbey dedicated to the martyr Vincent, venerated at the 18th mile of the Via Tiburtina. At Collegasso, in the territory of Montecelio, the remains of a small basilica and a triclinium were found, built over a tomb located in a hypogeum of imperial date. The original construction, with tufa and brick, of the martyr’s memorial dates to the 5th or 6th century; a complete restoration was carried out in the 10th century by the Benedictines with new pictorial decoration featuring a series of clipeate images. Of the small basilica with aisles divided by marble columns, the tiny presbytery, the small abbatial seat, and the remains of the schola cantorum are still visible; an open-air cemetery with inscriptions from the 4th or 5th century was attached to it, and pagan sepulchral epigraphs from the earlier cemetery were also found there. The complex, abandoned by the monks and half-destroyed by the removal of materials, suffered its final damage during the battle of Casal Battista between the Colonna and Orsini families in 1498. In the 10th century, some ruined pagan temples were converted into Christian churches; in Castrovetere, the area of ancient Tibur, where the church of St. Paul had already been erected in its center, the two small temples, one known as the Temple of Vesta, circular in shape, and the other rectangular, known as the Temple of the Sibyl, became respectively the churches of St. Mary and St.
TIVOLI, DIOCESE OF - Madonna and Child, in whose nimbus the word REX is legible. At the sides are St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist. Fresco of the Roman school, 12th century, in the apse of the church of St. Sylvester - Tivoli.
The Temple of Diana, near the ancient Baths, was converted into the church of St Andrew; a nymphaeum of a Roman villa, near Porta Scurra, was dedicated to St Mary of the Tower. In the year 1001, Otto III, favouring the Romans in their continual disputes with Tivoli, besieged the city, which, having surrendered, was placed under the imperial ensign. From that time began the decisive Ghibelline predominance in Tivoli over the Guelph element; the former being supported by the Benedictines of Farfa, who were imperialists settled near the church of St Mary Major, while the latter were backed by the Benedictines of Subiaco, more loyal to the Pope, whose monastery stood near the church of St Clement, amid the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre.
Towards the close of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century, a triptych with the image of the Saviour, preserved in the Cathedral and a notable relic, the palladium of the city, was executed, perhaps by a monk of Farfa.
In 1085, Henry IV and the antipope Clement III, during the siege laid to Rome, stayed in Tivoli until Robert Guiscard arrived to deliver Gregory VII. Tivoli, a most strongly fortified key of the Abruzzi, a safe haven for the enemies of Rome and its rival, was hated by the Romans, who longed for its destruction; but unlike Tusculum (destroyed in 1191), it was saved by the valour of its sons: in 1142 the besiegers from Rome were put to flight, and again defeated at Quintiliano the following year. The driving force behind this resistance was an illustrious bishop of Tivoli, Cardinal Guido (1125–54), who in 1138 consecrated the church of SS Andrew and Saba (now demolished; inscription in the Villa Gregoriana) and the church of St Valerius.
Eugenius III, fleeing from Rome in rebellion with Arnold of Brescia, transferred his court to Tivoli in 1146, having returned from France; he came back in 1153 and died there.
In 1155, Tivoli saw Pope Adrian IV and Frederick Barbarossa encamped at Ponte Lucano because of a new uprising by the Romans; in that circumstance they solemnly celebrated the feast of St Peter in the open air. On that occasion the people of Tivoli offered the powerful sovereign the keys of the city, but the Emperor wished Tivoli to remain faithful to the Pope, saving the imperial rights.
Of the 12th century are the bell tower of the Cathedral, the rebuilding of the churches of St Peter (la Carità) and St John the Evangelist (formerly St Christopher), and the compilation of the illuminated codex containing the regesta of the Church of Tivoli.
Between the close of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century were executed the wooden group of the Deposition, preserved in St Lawrence, and the frescoes in the church of St Sylvester depicting episodes from the life of the Saint, in which the influence of Nordic art is evident.
In 1216–17, under Bishop Giovanni Antonio Colonna, St Dominic founded in Tivoli one of the first hospices of his Order; Alexander IV in 1252 granted the church of St Mary Major, formerly belonging to the Benedictines, to the Franciscans, also dedicating it to St Francis; at that time it was renovated in Romanesque-Gothic style. Part of the adjoining convent was used as the seat of the city government.
In 1224, Cardinal Ugolino, Bishop of Ostia (later Gregory IX), consecrated the underground chapel of the Cathedral, where for a long time the image of the Saviour was preserved.
The Romans besieged Tivoli again in 1253, until Innocent IV intervened and in 1259 a treaty was signed by which Tivoli, while maintaining its autonomy, bound itself to pay the Romans an annual census of 1,000 lire and to accept a count sent from Rome to administer justice; the Commune was governed by a capomilizia and the bishops also exercised political power.
In 1285, Honorius IV granted the church of St Blaise to the Dominicans.
At the end of the 13th century, the Franciscan Jacopo Torriti painted the icon of the Madonna preserved in St Francis.
The first mention of the suggestive ceremony of the Inchinata (q.V. below) dates to 1305. In the same period a local artist executed the much-venerated image of the Virgin in the church of Quintiliano.
During the sojourn of the popes in Avignon, Cola di Rienzo, moving against the Colonna of Palestrina, harangued the people of Tivoli from the loggia of the Palloni, near the Cathedral, urging them to join his enterprise.
Between 1370 and 1381, Tivoli was plagued by hostilities against Count Corrado of Anticoli, who refused to pay them tribute, ending with the victory of the people of Tivoli.
During the disastrous Western Schism, in 1378, Urban VI, gravely ill, found refuge in Tivoli; shortly afterwards the partisans of the antipope Clement VII, encamped at Ponte Lucano, were put to flight by the people of Tivoli together with the Bretons of the condottiere Giovanni Acuto.
In the 15th century, Tivoli took part in the age-old feud between the Orsini and the Colonna and, because of its position, in the struggle between the Angevins and the Aragonese for possession of the Kingdom of Naples.
Pius II with his court stayed in 1461 in the Franciscan convent of St Francis, where he dictated passages of his Commentaries, in which he describes Tivoli, its surroundings and the Villa Adriana, and also decided on the construction of the Rocca Pia, entrusting its execution to the pupils of Filarete, Varrone and Niccolò Fiorentino.
Sixtus IV stayed for some time in that fortress and there issued the constitution Quemadmodum operosa of 29 August 1475, which confirmed the celebration of the Jubilee every 25 years, already decreed by Paul II. The bishop of Tivoli at that time was Angelo Lupi (1471–85), whose tomb is in the Cathedral; he promoted the foundation of the hospital confraternity near the church of St John the Evangelist.
In 1522, Adrian VI, in the new disputes between the people of Tivoli and the Romans, ruled that Tivoli belonged to the Holy See and made it the seat of a governorship.
During his stay in the Rocca Pia, Paul III in 1539 approved the Rule of the nascent Society of Jesus, presented to him by St Ignatius of Loyola. One of the first colleges founded by the Jesuits was that of Tivoli, near the church of St Salvatore, already existing not far from the present Palazzo del Comune (1549).
In the conclave of Julius III (1549), Cardinal Ippolito d’Este the younger was named Governor of Tivoli; thanks to his lavish generosity and refined artistic taste, the old Palazzo del Governo near the church of St Francis and the valley below (Valle Gaudiosa) were transformed by Pirro Ligorio into the marvellous Villa d’Este.
Tivoli, diocese of – Madonna and Child, in whose halo is written the word *bez*. At the sides are St John the Evangelist and St John the Baptist. Fresco of the Roman school, 12th century, in the apse of the church of St Sylvester – Tivoli.
In 1556, during the war between Paul IV and Philip II, the Duke of Alba occupied Tivoli and wintered there with his troops, fortifying the city; after the peace was stipulated the following year, Paul IV passed through Tivoli in October. In 1571, Monsignor Bandini Piccolomini, Archbishop of Siena, founded in Tivoli the Accademia degli Agevoli, which was dissolved at the end of the 17th century. Through the munificence of Cardinal Matteo Contarelli, a church dedicated to St. Sinforosa was erected in 1587, later called the Gesù and served by the Jesuits; it was almost completely destroyed during aerial incursions in the Second World War. In 1638, Urban VIII reduced the territory of the diocese by uniting various castles of the upper Aniene Valley with the Abbey of Subiaco (q.v.), which was created an abbatia nullius. From 1647 to 1662, Cardinal Giulio Roma, a Milanese, was Bishop of Tivoli; among his other acts of munificence was the complete reconstruction of the Cathedral of St. Lawrence and the erection of the Seminary. Tivoli had a second academy in 1716 with the foundation of the Colonia arcadica sibillina, affiliated with the Arcadia of Rome, whose first custos was Canon Giovanni Carlo Crocchianti, historian of the churches of Tivoli; it ceased its activities in 1850. St. Clement Mary Hofbauer spent six months in hermitage at Quintilico, near Tivoli, in 1771, before entering the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. In 1826, an extraordinary flood of the Aniene caused severe damage to the inhabited area of Tivoli, with many victims; Gregory XVI commissioned the architect Clemente Folchi to divert the river, whose overflowing waters were channeled through two tunnels dug into the heart of Monte Catillo and discharged on the opposite side, forming the great waterfall. The marvelous works, inaugurated on October 7, 1835, were completed with the construction of the Gregorian Bridge and the creation of the picturesque Villa Gregoriana.
THE *INCHINATA* OF TIVOLI — This is the name given to the festival held in Tivoli for the Assumption. It no longer has the importance it once did. After heralds on horseback and the pages of the districts had proclaimed the festival, on the evening of August 14 a grand procession was organized; it was led by seven servants of the Confraternity of the Savior carrying large candelabra, followed by the guilds of the various arts, each with its own *talamo* (a small triumphal float adorned with flowers and bearing the statue of the patron saint), the confraternities and the magistracy carrying the icon of Christ, the trumpeters, the nobles, the militias, and the people.
The procession, illuminated by torches, reached the Ponte di Cornuta (now replaced by the Gregorian Bridge), and after invoking peace from the Lord, the image of the blessing Christ was turned toward the waters; prayers were offered that He might protect the city from the fury of the river, and a burning hoop was cast into the whirlpools. On the return journey, the procession stopped at the hospital, where a bouquet of flowers was offered to the prior. The hospital chaplain censed the image of the Savior, repeated the invocation for peace, and, with a bundle of aromatic herbs dipped in rose water, washed its feet three times. The procession then proceeded to Piazza di S. Maria Maggiore, where the *Inchinata* took place. The Virgin moved to meet the Son; three times the two statues bowed beneath very green triumphal arches, and then, followed by the *talami* of the guilds, they entered the church, where they remained all night facing each other: the people believed that they exchanged whispered words of filial and maternal love. The next day, August 15, the image of the Savior was returned to the Cathedral. — See pl. XVII.