Books and Blogs: Explaining the Mirabilia Urbis Romae

Complaining about the tourists in Rome is my new favorite hobby. After four months in an American study abroad program in the Eternal City, I flatter myself on how well I “blend” with the natives. I can maneuver the metro system, elbow my way through a crowd, and snicker at the German socks-with-sandals combo, like a born and bred Roman.

But underneath the snark, I am acutely aware that I have more in common with the Japanese tour groups than third generation Monti residents. We, the international tourists, are part of a centuries old tradition of cultural pilgrimage, a glorious subset of Roman history.

When we discuss tourism history, the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, or The Marvels of Rome, shines out from the “dark ages” of the Medieval era. This travel guide book, circulated from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, was divided into “A list of principal objects of interest labelled under various heads; secondly, a collection of legends associated with Roman monuments; and thirdly, a sort of perambulation of the ancient city, beginning at the Vatican, and ending in the Trastevere.”

The text was popular with the educated classes, who flocked to Rome in droves. Written in contemporary Latin, the text helped pilgrims make sense of the bevy of monuments that jostled for the limited space inside the city walls. Remaining manuscripts of the Mirabilia testify to the international popularity of pilgrimage to Rome. The preface reveals that the Mirabilia was known to English writers, appeared in contemporary German manuscripts, and studied among Italian nobility. The guide book remained popular throughout three centuries, numerous cycles of the Black Death, and multiple wars.

How did the popular Roman pilgrimage manifest itself in actuality? I looked to Christopher Hibbert’s Rome to gain an understanding of the immensity of the crowds of pilgrims. He writes: “Kings, dukes, marquesses, counts, and knights, people of all ranks of Christendom, daily arrived in such huge crowds in Rome...The number of pilgrims were far too great for the authorities to cope with adequately.” However, the crowds continued to flock to Rome, armed with the knowledge of the Mirabilia. Mirroring the ideal universality of their Catholic faith, the Mirabilia seemed to unite the upper crust of Europe.

Despite the distance of centuries, the world of Mirabilia reverberates with my Roman experience in 2017. During Holy Week, I had the privilege to attend both the Stations of the Cross and Easter Sunday Mass with Pope Francis. I met people from all over the world. Side by side, we said the Lord’s Prayer in our mother tongues, jostled each other for better seats, and complained of our need for water in the hot afternoons. I cannot imagine that the scenes from Roman pilgrimages in 1450 could have been much different...unless you count the smartphones.

During Holy Week 2017, the smartphones were more ubiquitous than Rosary beads. As we, the international tourists, prayed and toured the Eternal City, we all documented our experiences to share on social media. Despite some grumbles from well-meaning English speaking tourists, I could not help but applaud this mass utilization of social media. Social media is my generation’s answer to the Mirabilia. Just as the Medieval pilgrims used the text as an introduction to Rome, we turn to social media to prepare and share our excursions. Social media is of a different mode and accessibility than contemporary copies of the Mirabilia, but it recognizes the a similar human impulse to document travels for oneself and one’s posterity.

Thus, Molly and I decided to salute the Mirabilia Urbis Romae with its twenty-first century descendant: Instagram! We did not recreate exact scenes from the Mirabilia, but we hoped to capture the spirit of the original text. As the editor writes: the Mirabilia rekindled a “new spirit of curiosity and reverence...in regards to the ancient works of art and architecture, which had for many centuries been so ruthlessly destroyed.” Our goal is to spread this same sense of respect and wonder among our fellow travelers. Please enjoy our photographs of the city, our reflections on Roman history, and the grandeur of the Eternal City.

Anonymous. Mirabilia Urbis Romae. The Classics Us, 2013.

Hibbert, Christopher. Rome: The Biography of a City. London: Penguin, 2001.