It all started with the renovation of the residence of Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, the very same, who was the founder of the outstanding Renaissance chapel (Carafa Chapel) in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva and who in 1501 desired to pave the driveway of his palazzo (present-day Palazzo Braschi). During the works, a badly damaged torso of a man without arms and legs was discovered, along with something that looked like the body of another figure. The cardinal, who was a great admirer of antique art, of which collections at that time, were a testimony to erudition and high social status, placed the sculpture at the enterance to his palace, additionally adorning it with his coat of arms and an inscription commemorating the founder. There were unending speculations as to what it represents and the time it comes from. Today we know that it is a copy of a Hellenic statue, representing a scene which took place at Troy, depicting the King of Sparta Menelaus, carrying the body of the dead Patroclus, killed by the Trojan prince Hector. From where then, does the statue’s name come? Here, the answer in not so simple. Some claim, that next to the location of its discovery, there lived a certain Pasquino, known for his biting tongue, a teacher, tailor or shoemaker, and the it was his name that was given to the statue, which initially was part of the decoration of the Stadium of Domitian, found nearby.

Quite quickly on the day of the procession of St. Mark, on the way where the statue was found, pieces of paper with mocking poems were placed. However, the occasional expression of opinion soon stopped being enough for city inhabitants. Why wait a whole year? Both the educated as well as the representatives of the simple Roman populace, wanting to express their displeasure, hung, in time without any special occasion, cards with their snide remarks. In this way, the pedestal soon became a kind of an advertising column with mocking epigrams. The brunt of the satire was first of all directed at popes and wealthy Roman families. And so, for example, Pasquino commented the election of the Borghese pope, Paul V: “After the Carafas, de Medics and Farneses, now the Borghese family is consumed by a desire for wealth”, while during the pontificate of Innocent X and the construction of the costly Quattro Fiumi fountain, it screamed: “Bread, is what we need, not fountains”. It also ridiculed the Barberini family, associating their surname with barbarians and accusing them of destroying the city when at the behest of Urban VIII the bronze decorations of the Pantheon were taken off.

Depending on self-distance and sense of humor the popes either paid no attention to Pasquino or fought him. There was of course no shortage of real persecutors. And so Sixtus V, who rather swiftly dealt with all signs of insubordination wanted to throw the statue into the Tiber, after poems ridiculing his sister were discovered, a simple woman, on whom – as Pasquino claimed – you cannot count to do the laundry since she has become a lady of the court. This slander hurt the pope so much that he ordered its author to have his hand cut off and tongue punctured.

Pasquino became the first, but not the only speaking statue (statua parlante) in Rome. Quickly the power of his words was noticed and other, spread around the city ancient sculptures, started expressing their critical and satirical opinions. Interestingly enough, Romans chose the appropriate adversary for each of them. Pasquino would mock something, and the statue of Marforio found on Capitol Hill (presently at the courtyard of Capitoline Museums), would answer in an equally mocking way.

It would seem that in the present, in face of a veritable sea of all kinds of satire, which can be used without fear of punishment, Pasquino had run its course. However, that is not true: looking at the crippled statue, which today stands at the small Piazza di Pasquino, we will still notice larger or smaller amounts of satirical epigrams or simply clearly stated opinions of Romans about contemporary politicians and more.

Pasquino, Piazza di Pasquino, Roman copy of a Hellenic group from III century B.C.