Statua di Sisto V

A bronze statue of Pope Sixtus V stands in Piazza San Pio V in Grottammare, the town where Felice Peretti was born. Made by Aldo Sergiacomi, it was placed in the square in 1984. A companion bronze of Pope Pius V was added opposite it in 2006.

Why it matters

The paired statues recall the relationship between two popes whose careers were linked: Michele Ghisleri, later Pius V, supported Peretti's rise and named him cardinal. The arrangement in Grottammare draws on the placement of their tombs in the Sistine Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

What to notice

Sergiacomi's Sixtus V faces the statue of Pius V by Ubaldo Ferretti across the square. The two figures turn the piazza into a sculptural account of patronage and advancement in the sixteenth-century church. Another image of Sixtus V appears in a niche on the façade of the Teatro dell'Arancio, a work dating to 1794.

Context and history

Born Felice Peretti to a family that had fled the Duke of Urbino's territories, Sixtus V became pope in 1585. His pontificate reshaped Rome through public works, including the completion of St Peter's dome, the raising of obelisks and the founding of the Vatican Library. The Comune's biography notes that his support for Grottammare was more limited than for Montalto, where he had lived and which he made a city.