Marforio

A colossal first-century reclining river god, identified variously as Oceanus, Neptune or the Tiber, found in the Forum area near the temple of Mars Ultor and moved to the Capitoline in the late 1500s, where it now lies in the courtyard of the Palazzo Nuovo. It became Pasquino's interlocutor: the standard form of a pasquinade was a question posted on one statue and an answer posted on the other, as in Marforio's "Dimmi: che fai Pasquino?" and the reply "Eh, guardo Roma, che non vada a Urbino." A Lafréry engraving of about 1550, companion to the Pasquino print, shows the figure inside its fountain with a bystander leaning in as if to hear the cartello. Popes issued laws against the practice and put Pasquino under surveillance, which mainly had the effect of multiplying the sites where notes appeared.

Statue Name

Marforio

Creation Year

1st century

Current Use

fountain

Category: Culture & History

Tags: pasquinade, talking statue, capitoline, river god

Coordinates: 41.8937214, 12.4832304

Part of Rome's talking statues, where the pasquinades were posted

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