In the Palazzo dei Conservatori, one of the two headquarters of the Capitoline Museums, there is the Hall of the Captains, dedicated to the Principles of the Church (especially of the XVI and XVII century), who fought against the protestants during the religious wars which at that time brought bloodshed to Europe. These principles were nobles of high lineage, belonging to high-ranking families which managed to get to the throne of Peter their members. To pay homage to these characters, and to make stronger the thread that ties the ancient Rome with the Renaissance, especially here in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, the marble statues of the hall represent these powerful men are dressed with a lorica, the classic armor used by the romans in the course of their triumphs. But this amazing room, something that you must see visiting the Capitoline Museums, offers something more, something that I always explain during a tour here: how the memory of the ancient empire was always recreated, in differet ways.

In fact in order to make stronger this link between the greatness of ancient Rome and the period the entire room was painted, five hundred years ago, there are paintings regarding famous episodes about the Eternal City and some of his historical heroes. All the frescoes have to do with episodes, moments, and above all the men that showed, perhaps, the most important virtues for the ancient romans: love of country. In the photo we find the "Judgment of Brutus,". Do not be fooled by the name! At the background, the two men walking under the vault close to a staircase (reminiscent of the "School of Athens" by Raphael), are the first two consuls of the newly formed Republic of Rome (founded in 509 b.C.): Brutus and Collatinus. At the foreground we see a grisly scene: a beheaded dead body, with the typical pallor of the dead, with his head well in the show beside him. The body belongs to the Brutus' son, Tullio, who was a convinced republican. According to the reports he tried in all ways to help the deposed Tarquinius Superbus, the last King of Rome, to come back to his throne. Therefore, in this period of transition between monarchy and republic, the young Tullio negotiated for the first.

But Brutus, whose full name was Lucius Junius Brutus, was not only a consul, but a real hope for all the Romans. He was a man of the Republic, and could not let go unpunished the one who, in the eyes of all, it was a real betrayal. Although sad, but proud in his principles, and without shedding any tear, the consul Brutus condemned to the death his son. An hinge episode of the history of Rome which shows us how the love of homeland and the value of the community hold most of the bonds of the family. An episode that, as was written by Livy, “fate willed that the executor of the sentence was the very one that he had to keep away from such a spectacle”. When the Homeland calls, you should always respond...