The Minerva elephant

In Piazza della Minerva, in front of a church with a simple façade, a marble elephant holds up an Egyptian obelisk. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed it and his collaborator Ercole Ferrata carved it; it was unveiled in 1667, commissioned by Pope Alexander VII. The red granite obelisk was cut in Egypt in the 6th century BC and turned up in 1665 in the garden of the Dominican convent next door, where a sanctuary of Isis had stood in Roman times.

1A message to read slowly

The inscription on the pedestal spells out the idea: just as the elephant, the strongest of animals, carries the Egyptian wisdom carved on the obelisk, it takes a robust mind to carry solid wisdom. Romans found it more chubby than wise and nicknamed it «porcino», the little pig, which over time became «pulcino», the little chick.

According to tradition, the Dominicans insisted on a block of stone under the belly because they doubted the elephant could bear the weight, and Bernini took his revenge by turning the animal's backside towards their convent.

The physical details are real: the block is there, hidden under the blanket, and the hindquarters face the former convent, with the tail flicked to one side. What is not proven is the intention; the mocking version circulated in satirical verses attributed to Lodovico Sergardi.

2Galileo, next door

In that same convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, on 22 June 1633, Galileo Galilei knelt and read out his abjuration before the tribunal of the Inquisition. The famous phrase «Eppur si muove», «and yet it moves», appears in no document from that day.

3What to look for

• The tasselled blanket that disguises the supporting block.
• The rump and tail, pointing towards the former convent.
• The Tiber flood plaques on the church façade, marking how high the water rose.