The Arsenal of Civitavecchia is a now destroyed naval arsenal which was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII to house the fleet of the Papal Navy. It was built between 1660 and 1663 and designed by the famed baroque architect and sculptor

Gianlorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

. It was located on the site of the ancient Roman port of Centum Cellae in

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...

close to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

itself. The structure was mistakenly destroyed in 1944 in an Allied bombing raid during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, along with most of the surrounding port area. The Arsenal is depicted in the 1668 painting "The Bernini Arsenal at Civitavecchia" by

Viviano Codazzi Viviano Codazzi (c. 1604 – 5 November 1670) was an Italian architectural painter who was active during the Baroque period. He is known for his architectural paintings, capricci, compositions with ruins, and some ''vedute''. He worked in Na ...

and Fillipo Lauri which it has been suggested may have been commissioned by a member of Pope Alexander VII's family, the

House of Chigi The House of Chigi () is an Italian princely family of Sienese origin descended from the counts of Ardenghesca, which possessed castles in the Maremma, southern Tuscany. Later, the family settled in Rome. The earliest authentic mention of them i ...

(or the Pope himself) to celebrate the arsenal's completion. In the painting, the front facade of the arsenal's building bears the Pope's seal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arsenal OF Civitavechia Arsenals Civitavecchia