In this view, botanical growth threatens one of the most iconic ruins of ancient Rome and even invades, so to speak, Piranesi’s terminology. The central structure, topped with thick vegetation, is identified in his annotations as remains of the House of Caligula at the “radici del Palatino” (B), or, quite literally, the “roots” of the Palatine Hill. The term “radici,” which commonly denotes the area known as the “foot” of a hill in English, sets the tone for this verdant scene. We are placed at ground level, beneath and below the surviving columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, and at the base not only of the Palatine but also beneath the mighty Capitoline. The ruins look like they are emerging from the ground and the large mounds in the bottom center of the image could just as easily be stone or earth. Ruins merge with nature in this image in an ecological entanglement. By contrast, in other images Piranesi performs what Barbara Maria Stafford has termed “surgical dissections” (1991, 56-66), actually revealing in those images hidden underground layers or internal building materials of the scenes or structures depicted.  

The triple columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux are amongst the most recognizable remains from central Rome. This is the Forum Romanum, the epicenter of the Roman political world with the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol above its religious heart. Yet, the impression is of circling roots and intertwining tendrils amongst fragmentary columns and mossy boulders, apparently far from and juxtaposing this stately and urban reality with nature’s pervasive presence. (PC)