PICTURES FROM ITALY (Est. 2001)
  • Private Tours
    • Private Tours of Rome
    • Private Tours of Florence
    • Private Tours of Venice
  • Contact
  • Rome
  • Vatican
  • Florence
  • Venice
  • Tuscany
  • Gallery
  • Year in Art
Private Tours of the Vatican Museums

Wind-Rose & Sundial

15/7/2019

 
Private Tours of the Vatican Museums
Wind rose marker, St Peter's Square, Vatican City, Rome
Wind-rose marker

The ancient obelisk in St Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) stands at the centre of a large wind-rose, which was added in 1817.  

The wind-rose (rosa dei venti) takes the form of 16 marble markers, which use the compass points to show the different wind directions. The eight winds are the: Tramontana (north), Greco (north-east), Levante (east), Scirocco (south-east), Ostro (south), Libeccio (south-west), Ponente (west), Maestro (north-west). 

The obelisk also acts as the gnomon of a large sundial. 

Wind rose, St Peter' Square, Vatican City, Rome
Obelisk/Gnomon

Comments are closed.
    Blogging about the Vatican 

    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England.

    Since 200I I have been living in Italy, where I run
    ​ private tours of Florence, Rome &
    Venice.

    Search Pictures From Italy:

    Picture

    Picture

    Blog Posts

    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019


Follow Pictures From Italy on Facebook

Private Tours of Rome, Florence & Venice

Copyright © David Lown 2001-2019. All Rights Reserved. 
  • Private Tours
    • Private Tours of Rome
    • Private Tours of Florence
    • Private Tours of Venice
  • Contact
  • Rome
  • Vatican
  • Florence
  • Venice
  • Tuscany
  • Gallery
  • Year in Art