POPE BONIFACE VIII Has the head of the "Roman" church always been "Roman" ? Benedetto Caetani, alias Boniface the eight was the last Pope to conceive the idea of the hierarchical church as a dominator of the world and unifier of the two powers, spiritual and temporal. His political approach to this question was disastrous and the fruit of his despotic and psychopathic "mania of grandeur".It was, in fact, resolved with the removal of the Papacy from Rome and with a schism. Boniface, after the abdication of Pope Celestino V, who "for cowardice made the great refusal" (Dante), but who, in reality, had been "advised" to this by Boniface himself, only to have him prudently jailed later on. Boniface immediately saw to the emission of a series of "bulls" (documents containing authoritative leading principles), for which it became clear that the sphere of ecclesiastical power had to spread until it absorbed the temporal power of the Princes. It was a completely medieval idea, pushed to the extreme, in a time when the Middle Ages were coming to an end and the great nations were being born. It was a conception that was refused everywhere but that continued to afflict Italy, so impeding possible unification of the country. Boniface estranged himself, in particular, from Philip IV "le bel", King of France to whose will he had to yield after the initial impositions (they were, above all, impositions of the fiscal kind). With a propagandistic move he then announced for the year 1300 the so-called "Jubilee", an event that was certainly an advantage from the economical point of view and with which he hoped to restore his shattered prestige. So there followed a charge against the power of the king. Philip in turn replied and, after a long series of offence, a conspiracy against the Pope was reached. Imprisoned and then freed, he was beaten in spirit and in body. He died in 1303. Philip did not wish to risk any longer and, in 1305, imposed, for the throne of the Pope, the archbishop of Bordeaux (Clement V). Clement never went to Rome and, in 1309, he moved into residence in Avignon, where, like him, the six following (french) Popes were installed until 1377. What has Giotto to do with this ? He was called to Rome, to work in preparation of the Jubilee both in St. Peter and other churches. Practically nothing remains of his work, but it would be interesting to know his opinion about this fight between Papacy and Sovereigns. In fact, almost certainly, on an intellectual level or even one of simple debate, he was involved in "complaints". In the years he was in Padua, awaiting what would have been his masterpiece, there was also the greatest supporter of the "gratuity" thesis : Marsilio from Padua. He sustained that the State is a product of the natural tendencies of men to join in society and that, therefore, the Sovereign, whose power comes from the people, had the right to govern over the clergy as well in as much as they were part of the population. The Pope, therefore, was obliged to support the Emperor. It is superfluous to say that Marsilio was soon obliged to leave Italy.