Free R. A. Scotti by Basilica: The Splendor, the Scandal: Building St. Peter's

ultimate chest-pounding. Modest men don’t attempt the Colosseum or the Basilica of St. Peter, and if Bramante’s Basilica had been built, it would have been the marvel of the High Renaissance. No wonder Michelangelo’s tomb seemed diminished by comparison.
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    Returning to Rome after eight months in the quarries of Carrara, the sculptor found a noisy, boisterous construction yard in St. Peter’s Square. Oxen dragged broken arches and columns from the Palatine to recycle in the new church. Although much of the interior would be sheathed in the marble of the classical city, travertine was becoming the building stone of papal Rome.
    So much of the honey-toned limestone was needed for its churches, fountains, and palaces that the Holy See leased an entire quarry in nearby Tivoli. Transporting the stone the twenty-mile distance to the work yard was a logistical enterprise, requiring a complete transportation system. Landing docks and convoys moved the stone by barge from Tivoli down the narrow Anio tributary that flows into the Tiber. Then mule trains and oxcarts carried the stone overland from the river to the Vatican.
    Michelangelo was excited by the pope’s new plans and proud to be the cause of the hectic, busy scene. “ Venner ad esser a cagione di me ,” he boasted—“It is happening on account of me.” The new St. Peter’s would be a magnificent home for his extravagant tomb, and he added happily to the chaos, dumping his own marble boulders in the piazza. The first load was probably “34 carrate, including two pieces that are 15 carrate .” Michelangelo had signed a contract on November 12 to have the stone sent to Rome. With one carrata equaling about 1,875 pounds, 34 carrate was more than 30 tons.
    â€œSo great was the quantity of marble that spread out on the square, it aroused wonder among all and joy in the Pope, and Julius showered such boundless favors on Michelangelo that after he started work, many and many a time the pope went right to his house in order to find him, discussing with him the tomb and other matters just as if they were brothers.”
    Michelangelo’s studio was located behind the church of Santa Caterina della Cavellerotte, * close by the elevated stone passageway leading to Castel Sant’Angelo. The passetto was the popes’ escape route in times of turmoil, and Julius ordered a bridge slung from it so that he could visit Michelangelo’s atelier at any time.
    In the first months of 1506, the pope visited often. Michelangelo didn’t like to be interrupted when he was working, and even more, he didn’t like someone looking over his shoulder. Julius barged in anyway at unexpected hours, unannounced and uninvited. Then in early spring, he promoted Bramante to magister operae, and soon after, his visits to Michelangelo stopped.
    Michelangelo didn’t complain. He worked without interruption through the forty days of Lent, too engrossed in sculpting the tomb to be anything but relieved that the pope wasn’t banging down his door. Work in the construction yard quickened. At daybreak on domenica in albis, ** the first Sunday after Easter, the pope was planning to lay the foundation stone of the new St. Peter’s.
    In the beginning of April, Michelangelo received the bill of lading for an additional shipment of marble, probably another 56 tons, that had arrived at Ripa, a port on the Tiber. Just before leaving Carrara, on December 10, he had signed a second contract for “the extraction of the last 60 carrate, comprising four large stones—two of eight carrate and two of five carrate —with the remainder each weighing two carrate or less.”
    When he brought the bill to the papal palace for payment, he was told that the pope was too busy to see him—be patient, and try again tomorrow. He returned to the Vatican the next day, and the next. Each time, he was turned away, the bill unpaid, the door