Festa della Chinea: Tradition and the 'Exotic' in Roman Festival Design

Nicholas Temple

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The Festa della Chinea, which roughly translates as ‘Festival of the Wandering Nag’, was a historic festival held in Rome bi-annually until the late eighteenth century (1788), in which the viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples was required to pay his homage to the pope. This entailed, among other things, the offering of a white horse (‘nag’) that formed part of a procession through the streets of Rome. The destination of the procession was the Basilica of St Peters, where the horse was traditionally allowed to roam within the basilica before finally being guided to the cathedral of the pontiff for a formal blessing. The peculiarity of this festival has never really been properly explained. By the early eighteenth century it gave rise to the most elaborate ephemeral constructions in the city, culminating in a huge firework display in the Piazza Farnese, the location of the embassy of the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples and Sicily from the late seventeenth century. In this chapter, I will examine the Festa della Chinea in the context of the tradition of festivals in Rome, tracing changes in the symbolic and ceremonial meanings of these extravagant events with specific focus on equine and water symbolism. As one of the oldest festivals in Rome, which was held annually over a period of about 600 years, the Festa della Chinea provides a rich source of material about how such events were celebrated and understood, both by the organisers and the spectators.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationArchitecture, Festival and the City
EditorsJemma Browne, Christian Frost, Ray Lucas
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter3
Pages49-62
Number of pages14
Edition1ST
ISBN (Electronic)9781138362345, 9780429432125
ISBN (Print)1138362344, 9781138362345, 9781138362338
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Oct 2018

Publication series

NameCritiques: Critical Studies in Architectural Humanities Book 14
PublisherRoutledge

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