Small and large masterpieces, equally precious and surprising: the mind-boggling collections collected over the centuries by the popes still hold new surprises and reveal hitherto hidden treasures. Since June, visitors to the Vatican Museums leaving the Sistine Chapel have the opportunity to visit by reservation two unusual and fascinating places open to the public for the first time, the 16th-century Spezieria of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and the Hall of Ceramics.
Established within the Benedictine nuns’ monastery and linked to the adjacent basilica, the apothecary of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere provided assistance not only to pontiffs but to all the Roman people and remained in operation until the 1930s. For those who visit the Hall today, time seems to have stood still: cabinets, glass and ceramic vases, spices, ointments, herbal remedies and officinal preparations are presented in the same condition in which they were left by the Benedictine nuns when the entire apothecary collection was transferred by Pius XI to the collection of the Vatican Apostolic Library.
From the Spezieria, a door leads to the Hall of Ceramics, an extraordinary and diverse collection that tells the public about the history and beauty of medieval and modern ceramics. The collection includes the 34 historiated plates from the Carpegna Collection and medieval fine ceramic tableware, as well as the floor tiles designed by Raphael and made by Luca della Robbia the younger for the Vatican Loggias known as Raphael's Loggias and fine archaic majolica floor bricks from the 14th century.
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