This convent is for ever memorable in the history of Italian
literature as the place where Tasso died. The adjoining church, called
Girolmini, or Brothers of S. Jerome, built for the use of the monks,
was erected in 1429 A.D., during the reign of Eugene IV. Tasso,
summoned to the Capitol to be crowned there as king of bards, died in
1595, a short time after his arrival in Rome. He was buried in the
church without much ceremony, and his remains lay undisturbed in a
simple tomb on the left of the entrance until the year 1857, when they
were transferred to a chapel in the church expressly built for their
reception at the public expense. A fine statue of the poet by Fabris
is shown. In the convent garden is a tree called Tasso's Oak, under
which the author of "Jerusalem Delivered" used to sit in pious
meditation. The view of Rome and of the Sabine and Alban Hills, with
Soracte in the distance, is magnificent. The fresco of the Virgin and
Child over the door of the church, and three paintings under the
portico illustrating the life of S. Jerome, are the work of
Domenichino. In the convent is a Virgin and Child by Leonardo da
Vinci; and in the same building are preserved several relics of Tasso,
in the room where he died--his crucifix, his inkstand, and the leaden
coffin in which his bones reposed for two hundred and sixty-two
years--namely, till the time of his second burial. Two other
distinguished men were buried in S. Onofrio--Guidi, the poet, and
Cardinal Mezzofanti, the famous linguist.
_At the bottom of the ascent, turn to the right, down the Via Lungara.
Some little distance down on the right is the_