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The Sapienza University of Rome that is also termed as the Sapienza – Università di Roma is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy. It is one of the largest European universities and the oldest of Rome’s three state-funded universities. The university was founded in 1303. The meaning of sapienza in Italian language is “wisdom” or “knowledge”. As according to an international ranking of the educational institutes, the Sapienza is placed at among the top 30 European universities. In 2010 QS World University Rankings placed the city in overall at the 190th spot in the overall ranking in the world.

The university was founded when the supremae praeminentia dignitatis was issued on 20 April 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII, as a Studium for ecclesiastical studies beneath his control more than the universities of Bologna and Padua. In 1431 Pope Eugene IV entirely approved the stadium with the bull. In supremae, in which he granted masters and students alike the broadest possible privileges and decreed that the university for having the four faculties of Law, Medicine, Philosophy and Theology. He therefore to meet out there introduced a new tax on wine so to raise funds for the university. That money later on employed as and housed the Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza church. When the sacking of Rome occurred in 1527, the studium was closed and some professors were dispersed. Pope Paul III revised the university immediately after his ascension to the pontificate in 1534.

In the 1650s the university renamed as Sapienza, meaning wisdom, and to the date is yet known by the same title and name.  In 1870, La Sapienza dethroned from the status of the papal university and became the University of the Capital of Italy. In 1935, the new university campus, planned by Marcello Piacentini, was completed. On 27 October 1935 the university became an aggregate of all the institutions of higher learning of university rank in the city of Rome. Since 1935 Sapienza University is under the control of the   Italian Government. At present by far it is the largest university in Rome and is a leading center of research and academic guidance in every field of knowledge and learning. The university has improved its research programmes in the areas of engineering, natural sciences, biomedical sciences and humanities. It has recently has gone into the collaboration with the British and American universities for education and learning.

Villa Doria Pamphili,

The Villa Doria Pamphili is a seventeenth century villa that contains the largest landscaped public park in Rome.  It is situated at the quarter of Monteverde, on the Gianicolo (or the Roman Janiculum), about outside the Porta San Pancrazio in the ancient walls of Rome where the ancient road of the Via Aurelia begin. It started as a villa for the Pamphili family and after them in eighteenth century passed out to the Prince Giovanni Andrea IV Doria and thus was recognized as the Villa Doria Pamphili.

The Villa Vecchia or ‘old villa’ was there already on the place well before the 1630, when it was priocured by Pamfilio Pamfili, who further added into it the neighboring   vineyards to keep up the much and bigger holding that is too popular as the Bel Respiro or ‘beautiful breath’ as it remain there on high ground, above the malarial areas of Rome, and provides the spectacular views that are much desired features of Baroque villa settings. In 644 Cardinal Giambattista Pamphili became elected to the papacy and ssuend the name of Innocent X. and according to his new status he made much advancement to the structure and building. In the modified new design there was structured a casino.

And around the central casino building there is a landscape garden keeping the exterior keeping statues providing a rich allure that typical to be very conservative to the present time as well. In the garden casino is set in a manner that on the hill slope the main entrance on the north side is at a level well above the giardino segreto or ‘secret garden’ having an enclosure from its  south side and a parterre garden with low clipped hedges. The garden on the sloping site was founded in around 1650 by Innocent’s nephew, Camillo Pamphili. Till the 18th   century there many regular features were spontaneously were added as fountains and gateways by Gabriele Valvassori and other architects.

At the defense of the short-lived Roman Republic in 1849–1850, Garibaldi hastily fortified three of the villas on the outskirts of Rome. The Villa Doria Pamphili was much closer to one of the fiercest hand- to-hand combat by the Porta San Pancrazio, as students joined Garibaldi’s to defend Rome from the French troops who finally reinstated Pope Pius IX. After that prince Doria-Pamphili bought the extensive Corsini grounds, and doubled the area of the extensive Villa Doria Pamphili’s and at the devastated villa’s site the monumental commemorative arch, which to the date is known to be the ‘Arch of the Four Winds’, that is primary passage to the Villa’s grounds. The Corsini casina presently is held for organizing temporary art exhibitions. Further the two sections of the extended villa grounds parted equally by a road.

The Biblioteca Casanatense (Casanata Library) situated at Via S. Ignazio is one of the popular libraries in Rome. The library was formed in 1701 by the Dominicans of the Monastery of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.  The library opened to the general public as according to the will of Cardinal Girolamo Casanata. The library has about 25, 000 volumes. And since the year 1872, library is been managed by the Italian government. Presently, the library is under the control of the Ministry of Culture.

This particular library is a prominent service to the theological sciences by Cardinal Girolamo Casanata, as it was founded and promoted by him. During his lifetime he collected about 25,000 volumes that he left out for Dominican convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Along with books he provided an endowment fund of about 80, 000 scudi as per the administration of the trust and as for the holding of the new books. In the year 1655, the convent got about the library of Giambattista Castellani, the chief physician of Gregory XV, along with 12,000 scudi for standing the appropriate edifice. Cardinal Casanata, therefore, the new library was accessible to the public for about six hours daily, apart from the feast days.

More to the library, with, addition to the staff he provided the six Dominicans of different nationalities as  Italian, French, Spanish, German, English and  Polish with condition that each one of them should have a degree  of  Doctor from at least a famous universities of Europe. It was helped out by the resources of the library as to devote them to the defense and propagation of Catholic doctrine. By the means of this library the Cardinal tried to present Rome with another intellectual activity. After the loss of the secular power in 1870, the library was declared as a national property; however, the Dominicans were still in charge of the library until 1884.

In the collection of library there are about 64 Greek codices and about 230 Hebrew texts of about 5 are Samaritan codices. There is also a massive collection of Roman governmental proclamations from the period consisting 1500 to 1870 as well as comedies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Casanatense Library still keeps about 1125 manuscript volumes of opinions, reports, and statements. The present day library collection has about 400 000 volumes, about 6 000 manuscripts, 2 200 incunabula. The library keeps about medieval manuscripts, involving biblical manuscripts.