The Vatican Museums:
Courtyard of the Pinecone

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Courtyard of the Pinecone

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The Cortile della Pigna is named after the four-metre-high bronze pinecone (pigna), which originally formed the centrepiece of an ancient Roman fountain.

The pinecone, which was cast by one Publius Cincius Salvius (who left his name on the base) in the first or second century CE, was unearthed near the Pantheon. For centuries, the pine cone stood in the centre of the courtyard in front of the old St Peter's Basilica. It was only moved to its present position in 1608. 

Ancient Bronze Pinecone

The pinecone is cited by Dante in the Divine Comedy: 'La faccia sua mi parea lunga e grossa come la pina di San Pietro a Roma' (Inferno, Canto XXXI). 

Sphere Within a Sphere (Sfera con sfera) by Arnaldo Pomodoro

In the centre of the Courtyard, stands a large, bronze sculpture: the Sfera con sfera (Sphere Within a Sphere), which is the work of the Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. 

The striking sculpture takes the form of a fractured orb, inside of which is a second fractured orb. The interiors of both orbs seem to imitate the gears and cogwheels of a complex machine. Sfera con sfera, one of a series of sculptures on a similar theme that Pomodoro started to produce in the early 1960s, symbolises the complexity and fragility of the modern world.  

Colossal Head of Emperor Augustus

A colossal head of Augustus (r. 27 BCE - 14 CE), ancient Rome's first longest-reigning emperor, stands against one wall. 

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