Going along the left-hand side of the Pantheon, we reach the Piazza della Minerva decorated admirably by another monument by Bernini. The little obelisk of red granite, 5.47 metres tall, was constructed in the 6th century B.C. by the Pharaoh Apries, and was rediscovered in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
Immediately after the discovery, Pope Alexander VII Chigi decided to erect it in the square in front of the church, and entrusted the design of the monument to Bernini, who thought up the elephant as a base. For the creation of the monument, Bernini allegedly drew inspiration from a novel published in the late 1500s by Francesco Colonna, mindful of the symbolism of Egyptian hieroglyphics. In fact, the stele should represent the divine wisdom that descends from the strong mind depicted by the elephant, as is also stated in the inscription on the base, with the warning from Alexander VII: a strong mind is necessary to support solid wisdom. The monument is known today as the Pulcino della Minerva (Minerva's Chick), which derives from the 18th-century name of Porcin della Minerva (Minerva's Piglet), which stressed the elephant's resemblance to a piglet.
From the Piazza della Minerva we can go towards
Piazza Montecitorio where, in front of the
palazzo which is the seat of the Parliament, we
see the red granite obelisk originally erected in
the 6th century B.C. at Heliopolis by Pharaoh
Psammetichus II, and transported to Rome by
Augustus in 10 B.C.
