The Marble Foot (Pie’ di Marmo) is an enormous sculpture of the left foot of the goddess Isis. It can be seen in the Via di Santo Stefano del Cacco in Rome. Since the foot has a length of about 1,20 m (4 feet), the statue is thought to have been about 9 m (26 feet) tall.
Marble Foot Rome
Opening hours and admission
The Pie’ di Marmo can be seen from outside.
History and description
The gigantic marble foot was part of a sculpture that used to adorn the Iseo Campense, a temple dedicate to the Egyptian Gods Isis and Serapis. It is the left foot and it is clad in a Greek sandal called crepida. After Alexander the Great had conquered Egypt, the cult of these Gods had become very popular in the Roman world.
In the middle ages the foot was placed at the point where the Via del Pie’ de Marmo meets the Piazza del Collegio Romano. It was placed in its present position in 1878, in occasion of the funeral of King Victor Emanuel II. If it had stayed in its original position the funeral procession would not have been able to pass on its way to the Pantheon.
In the same street there used to be an archway consisting of three arches giving access to the Iseo Campense, but this was destroyed between 1585 and 1597.
The street name and the name of the Santo Stefano al Cacco Church also refer to the temple and more precisely, to a statue of an Egyptian monkey (macaco) in the area. This statue was moved to the Capitoline Hill in 1562 and later, in 1838, to the Egyptian section of the Vatican Museums. Other remains from the temple are a number of obelisks, an allegorical statue of the river Nile and another one of the river Tiber. The first one is now on display in the Vatican‘s Chiaramonti Museum, the second one in the Louvre.
Address and public transport
The monument can be seen in the Via di Santo Stefano del Cacco. The nearest bus stop is Plebiscito (30, 46, 62, 64, 70, 81, 87, 130F, 190F, 492, 628, 916, 916F, N5, N6, N7, N15, N20).