Why a cannon ball on a marble staircase? We find ourselves in front of one of the witnesses of the turbulent Roman Republic, a period of a few months when, in 1849, Rome was liberated by the pope to proclaim a Republic dominated by a Constitution inspired by revolutionary ideals. The Eternal City basically became a model, a place where the ideas of the French Revolution tried to create a new political vision. Something that was destroyed by cannon balls like this one.

This is one staircase at the entrance of the Colonna Palace, the precious house in the center town of the Colonna family that was a protagonist, for centuries, the history of Rome. Historically the Colonna clan was not very close to the instances of the popes (although initially it was and although, moreover, there were many prelates, including cardinals and even a pontiff, coming from this family), so much so that for a long time, in the course of the many political diatribes that they saw each other the popes to the emperors, or rulers of other countries or kingdoms, the Colonna were often allied with the latter. And it is precisely for this policy that this place, that today hosts the an amazing art collection (that a local tour guide like suggests you to visit), was targeted by the bombing that hit Rome when the city became a battlefield. The artillery fire, as you can imagine, hit particularly targets close to the popes or to the republicans (or simply falling in various points of the city to error or incompetence).

We are in the year 1848 and the whole of Europe was flooded by the revolutionary movements which wanted to propose in the place of the ancient monarchies (restored after the famous Restoration) of the republics more or less members of parliament could be guided by the principles of the French Revolution. In a few words, the pope, Pius IX, initially very close to these principles (at least apparently), did not support the armed struggles which, in Italy as in other countries, bloodied Europe for chasing this dream. So Rome rebelled, and all the greatest players in the republican Italian history, like Mazzini, decided to hunt the pope in order to establish a true Roman Republic. Again, imagine, the pope was no longer the leader of Rome.

Later the Pius IX responded and, with the help of the French people, he recovered his seat defeating with cannons and weapons  the rebels, having the throne and Rome back. The French army, led by the the general Oudinot, fought mainly in the area of the Gianicolo, trying to defeating men (a lot of locals) who were led by people like Garibaldi. So, probably, this cannon ball on this marble staircase comes from the Gianicolo and from the main fights which took place in Rome. The political dream of the republicans, who wanted to make Rome a bulwark of liberty against the dogmatism of the Catholic Church, that they drew as an ancient regime full of obscurantism, came to an end after a few months of the proclamation, which took place on the 9th of February of the 1849. Already on the July 4th of the same year the Republic was finally dissolved, and the pope came back to have a full absolutist power. And here's what we can say a single, solitary, cannon ball...