The flute player who helped bring about Rome's destruction.

May 6, 1527.

This date will always be etched into Rome’s history as one of the city’s most negative moments: the Sack of Rome.

Just 10 years earlier on October 31, 1517, the German monk Martin Luther had attached his famous 95 theses to a church door. This sparked the rise of the Protestant movement that grew rapidly over the following decade. The discontent with the Catholic Church was such that in 1527 a mixed army of about 34,000 troops descended on Rome.

Pope Clement VII (of the Medici family) fled to the safety of the Castel Sant’Angelo. One of the people who hid inside the castle with him was a certain Benvenuto Cellini. To say that he was a real character would be an absolute understatement. Cellini was an artist, sculptor, soldier and much more. He had even played the flute in the Papal court! He was also of a violent nature and was under scrutiny several times throughout his live on suspicion of murder, assault and other charges.

It is thanks to his autobiography that we have a lot of information about the Sack of Rome. However, Cellini’s contribution to events may have actually worsened the situation. There were many unruly elements in the attacking army but one of the few level heads was that of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon. That was until, in the middle of the fighting, Charles III was hit and struck by an object fired from Castel Sant’Angelo by…Benvenuto Cellini!

Without a true leader, the army devastated Rome, killing many Roman citizens and destroying many buildings. Cellini was entrusted with the task of obtaining jewels and other treasures from inside the Vatican to be stitched into the lining of the Papal robes. This was to ensure that none of them would disappear. Ten years later, Cellini was back inside Castel Sant’Angelo but as a prisoner: it was claimed that back in 1527 not all of the jewels made it as far as the papal garments and some strangely disappeared!

There has always been a lot of uncertainty about Benvenuto Cellini’s life so it is hard to be sure about what is true and what is not. Either way, his life was anything but boring.

Written by: Robert Coghlan

Photos by: Robert Coghlan

Some of the defences of Castel Sant'Angelo