St. FRANCIS XAVIER AT THE GARBATELLA

S. FRANCESCO SAVERIO ALLA GARBATELLA

Piazza Damiano Sauli

1931/33 Alberto Calza Bini (1881/1957)

First parish church in Rome ever visited by John Paul II Wojtyla (1978/2005) in 1978, shortly after his election

On the occasion of his visit John Paul II recalled his time as a student in Rome immediately after the Second World War, during which he spent almost every Sunday in the Garbatella neighborhood for his pastoral service

LEFT TRANSEPT

Fresco “Sacred Heart” by Gisberto Ceracchini (1889/1982)

SERRISTORI PALACE

PALAZZO SERRISTORI

Via della Conciliazione 41-43a

1555, Averardo Serristori ambassador of Tuscany during the reign of Pius IV Medici (1559/65) on the site of an earlier building that had belonged to Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI Borgia (1492/1503)

It was the Embassy for the Medici family and later the Tuscan embassy in Rome until 1830 when it became papal barracks

On 22 October 1867 here took place the terrorist attack of Giuseppe Monti and Gaetano Tognetti that killed many Zouaves (soldiers of the pope) and destroyed a corner of the building. It should have been an act to support the campaign for the liberation of Rome resulted in the defeat at Villa Glori of 76 volunteers and the death of the Cairoli brothers

The two bombers were beheaded at the order of Pius IX the following year

Their story inspired the 1977 film by Luigi Magni In Nome del Papa Re (In the name of the Pope King) with Nino Manfredi

Since 1870 the building was still being used as a barracks by the Italian troops and in 1902 it was dedicated to Luciano Manara

After the First World War it was used by the municipality to accommodate the evicted

In 1929 it was granted to the Holy See, which had it restored by Alberto Calza Bini (1881/1957) to adapt it as school building

Now it is the ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL PIUS IX

PALACE OF THE ROMAN INSTITUTE OF REAL ESTATE

PALAZZO DELL'ISTITUTO ROMANO DI BENI STABILI

Piazza Colonna

1915/22 Dario Carbone (about 1857/1934) in a monumental and celebratory Eclectic style in the area previously occupied by the demolished Palazzo Boncompagni Piombino of the end of the sixteenth century

The Boncompagni were allowed to rebuild their own building in the area of the Villa Ludovisi, the Palazzo Boncompagni, later Palazzo Margherita, now U.S. Embassy

It was completed and modified in 1940 by Alberto Calza Bini (1881/1957)

Better known as GALLERIA COLONNA and, since 2003, as GALLERIA ALBERTO SORDI in honor of the Roman actor who died in the same year

It is surprising for the contrast between the ornate monumental exterior and the vast comfortable interior space of the gallery

“I told myself to respect a principle (of great value to the public): if the people of Rome used to enjoy as public land the existing dirt area, well, it was necessary that the architect would leave just as much area as public passage in the building to be constructed” (Dario Carbone)

On the central pediment sculptures:

“Groups of Industry” by Giuseppe Guastalla (1867/1952)

“Groups of Commerce” by Ercole Drei (1886/1973)

Interior decorated by Ulisse Stacchini (1871/1947)