HOLY SHROUD OF THE PIEDMONTESE PEOPLE

SS. SUDARIO DEI PIEMONTESI
Via del Sudario 47

 1604/05 Carlo di Castellamonte for Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy

1660/67 and 1682/92 expanded by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91)

Church of the people from Savoy, Piedmont and Nice in Rome gathered in a fraternity recognized in 1597 with headquarters in the now destroyed church of S. Lodovico, which was originally on the site of the church of S. Andrea della Valle
The Brotherhood then took the name of Arciconfraternita del SS. Sudario (Confraternity of the Holy Shroud)

During the Napoleonic period it was deconsecrated and turned into stable until 1814

In 1871 it was rearranged by Giacomo Monaldi (1819/1905) and it became the local church of the House of Savoy

COUNTER FAÇADE
Organ of the eighteenth century

VAULT
“Glory of the Blessed Ludovica, Amedeo, Umberto, Bonifacio and Margherita of Savoy House” by the Sienese Cesare Maccari (1840/1919)

ON THE RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. FRANCIS DE SALES
“S. Francis de Sales” about 1665 maybe by Carlo Cesi (1626/86)
St. Francis de Sales was canonized in this church in 1665

MAIN ALTAR
“Deposition of Christ in the shroud with saints and blessed of the Savoy family” 1682 by Antonio Gherardi (1638/1702)

“Painted according to a compositional scheme drawn up by the sixteenth-century Venetian painting, whose characters formed a source of reflection and conceptual training for the artist from Rieti, the work presents a celebration of the relic that gives the name to the church, and a parade of the most significant religious figures of the house of Savoy” (Stefano Petrocchi)

On the pediment sculpture group “Eternal Father” with a copy of the Holy Shroud by Pietro Mentinovese pupil of Gian Lorenzo Bernini
The Holy Shroud was in possession of the Savoy family since 1452. The copy shown here was donated to Alexander VII Chigi (1655/67)
Frescoes on the walls “Sermon of St. Anselm of Canterbury” and “Meeting of St. Francis de Sales and Blessed John Juvenal Ancina” 1871/73 by Cesare Maccari

ON THE LEFT - ALTAR OF BLESSED AMADEUS OF SAVOY
“Blessed Amadeus IX of Savoy” about 1680 by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609/81)

SACRISTY
“Crucifixion” and “Nativity” by Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703)

MOST HOLY ANNUNCIATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY OF THE DEEP BLUE NUNS

SS. ANNUNZIATA DELLE TURCHINE
Via Sforza 5 - Sconsacrata

1670/76 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91)

It was built for the nuns of the Order of SS. Annunziata delle Turchine (Most Holy Annunciation of the Virgin Mary of the Deep Blue Nuns) so called for the color of their attire
It has been a military tailoring and now it is home to the National Presidency of the Association of Italian Paratroopers

MONASTERY
Maybe by G.B. Contini (1641/1723)

St. MARY IN CAMPITELLI

S. MARIA IN CAMPITELLI

Piazza Campitelli 9

The first mention of the church in the sources dates back to 1192

The name derives from the name of the neighboring tenth region of Augustus, the Capitolium

Restored and re-consecrated in 1216 by Honorius III Savelli (1216/27)

Rebuilt in the years 1619/48 on the current location with a different orientation: the façade of the first church overlooked Piazza Lovatelli

It was rebuilt again by the will of Alexander VII Chigi (1655/67) as a vow after the plague of 1656

Begun in 1662, opened incomplete in 1667. It is the masterpiece of Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) who designed the FAÇADE as well

It was consecrated only in 1728

“Carlo Rainaldi after his father's death in 1655, developed an independent and grandiose style as it combines stylistic elements of the late sixteenth century and Baroque ones. The receding surface of the façade confined by the pillars shows influences from Pietro da Cortona (Sts. Luke and Martina), while the theme of the double aedicula on the two levels is common in northern Italy. In addition, the abundant use of columns, typical of the Roman style, with the projecting pediments adds volume to the structure punctuated by dramatic luministic variations. Inside, the visitor's gaze, driven by the progression of the free-standing columns and by the rhythm of the arches decorated in gold, goes up to the domed sanctuary at the back of the church” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“One of the most interesting and significant of the seventeenth century in Rome. In this façade Rainaldi, elaborating the style of the churches of the sixteenth century (e.g. the church of S. Susanna by Carlo Maderno), articulates the plain structure, assimilating it to the most original and complex linguistic research of the period. He uses, in fact, a double Corinthian order that he inserts, alternatively, both inside and outside of the building mass, as if to replicate a sophisticated operation of excavation: a solution, in fact, aimed at determining the presence of composition on three levels. This complexity is also to be found in the design of the interior space, visible in the assembly of three independent architectural units, detectable in the layout” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

COUNTER FAÇADE

“Monument to Francesco Nardi” of the early nineteenth century

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. MICHAEL

Above the altar “St. Michael banishes the devil” by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

The painting was designed for the church of St. Eustace and it was moved here in 1738

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ANNA

Designed by Carlo Rainaldi with stucco decorations by Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century), Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736), Francesco Cavallini (active 1672/1703) and Francesco Baratta (about 1590/about 1663)

Above the altar “St. Anna, Joachim and Mary” 1685 by the Neapolitan Luca Giordano (1634/1705)

“After attending the studio of Jusepe de Ribera, only thirteen years old, in 1645, he went to Rome, where, after having exercised copying from the great masters, especially the careful study of the works of Raphael, Michelangelo, the Carraccis and Polidoro da Caravaggio, he collaborated with Pietro da Cortona. He visited Bologna, Parma and Venice (...). In Florence (1684/86) he decorated the ceiling of the hall of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi; in Spain (1692/1702), where he was called by Charles II, he painted at the Escorial, at the Royal Palace of Madrid, in the Cathedral of Toledo. In 1702 he returned to Naples passing for Genoa (he worked in Palazzo Balbi, later Palazzo Reale). The last among its great projects is the fresco paintings in the Chapel of the Treasury in S. Martino in Naples (1704). We also want to mention the destroyed the frescoes of the church in the Abbey of Monte Cassino (1667 and 1691). (...) In his works there was a range of interpretation and a pictorial gusto that marks the transition from the Baroque to the Rococo style. He was also known by the nickname of Luca Fapresto (Luca hurry up!), from his father's exhortations to work” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

Vault “Glory of St. Anna” maybe by Giovanni Coli (1636/81) and Filippo Gherardi (1643/1704) or, less likely, by Michelangelo Ricciolini (1654/1715)

On the left there is a cast of the Altar of Apollo whose original, now in the church of S. Galla, was used as an altar in the destroyed church of S. Maria in Portico

3^rd RIGHT - MUTI CHAPEL

Above the altar “Virgin Mary with Sts. John the Baptist and Nicholas” by an unknown artist of the early nineteenth century

In the FOUR SPACES IN CORRESPONDENCE OF THE TWO ARCHES OF THE DOME: discs with reliefs representing the four plants to which the Virgin Mary is compared in the verses of Ecclesiastes: olive, vine, cedar of Lebanon and rose

CHAPEL OF St. ZITA or CHAPEL OF THE DEAD JESUS

Above the altar “St. Zita” by an unknown nineteenth-century artist

Tombs of the Vaselli family including ROMOLO VASELLI:

From being a carter he became one of the biggest landowners and builder in Italy, thanks to fascism from which he obtained as a result also the title of Count in exchange for substantial funding

He was president for only three months of the football A.S. Rome, from which he resigned after his three sons toasted publicly after the victory of S.S. Lazio, the team they used to support, in the Rome derby

The son Mario Vaselli was vice president and chief financier of S.S. Lazio in the years 1954/60, during which the team managed to get its first title ever, the Coppa Italia in 1958

The Vasellis were owners of all the land on which later arose the neighborhood of Tor Bella Monaca. All in all it has been calculated they owned the property of about 30,000 apartments in Rome, Ostia and Anzio

ON THE RIGHT IN THE AREA OF THE DOME

“Tomb of Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca” 1863 by the American Ferdinando Petrich (1798/1872) in Purist style

Bartolomeo Pacca was the mastermind in 1820 of the first protection legislation ever enacted against the indiscriminate export of works of art

At the end of the nave on the right SMALL CHAPEL OF THE RELICS

MAIN ALTAR

“Baroque Machinery” 1667 by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) maybe designed by the Maltese Melchiorre Caffà (1636/67) or by Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95) and executed by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86) and Giovanni Paul Schor (1615/74) 

Ercole Ferrata maybe executed faithfully the sculptural model that Melchiorre Caffà had designed in 1667

In the middle picture in foil and enamel “S. Maria in Portico in Campitelli” of the eleventh century known as Salus Populi Romani (Health of the Roman People), or even Romanae Portus Securitatis (Safety of the Port of Rome)

It was originally located in the Portico d'Ottavia and it was worshiped during the plague in the later destroyed church of S. Maria in Portico, hence the official name of the new church of S. MARIA IN PORTICO IN CAMPITELLI (St. Mary at the Portico in Campitelli)

APSIDAL BASIN

“Alexander VII offers the model of the new church to the Virgin Mary” 1925 by G.B. Conti

ON THE LEFT IN THE AREA OF THE DOME

Above the altar “Birth of St. John the Baptist” 1698 by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709) formerly in the Altieri Chapel

Underneath “Tomb of Cardinal Massimo Massimi” with bas-relief of Guido Veroi

3^rd LEFT - CAPIZUCCHI CHAPEL

Designed by Mattia De Rossi (1637/95)

Above the altar “Conversion of St. Paul” about 1685 by Ludovico Gimignani (1643/97)

Vault “Glory of St. Paul” by Michelangelo Ricciolini (1654/1715)

At the sides “Pyramidal tombs of Cardinal Raimondo Capizucchi and of his mother Ortensia Marescotti” by Mattia De Rossi

2^nd LEFT - ALTIERI CHAPEL

Designed by G.B. Contini (1641/1723)

Above the altar “Glory of the Blessed Giovanni Leonardi” 1861 by the Roman Marcello Sozzi pupil of Tommaso Minardi, replacing the altar piece by Baciccio which was moved to the area of the dome

The body of the Blessed Giovanni Leonardi, the patron saint of pharmacists, is exposed under the canvas

In the vault fresco “Glory of St. John the Baptist” about 1698 by Ludovico Gimignani

Statues of “Angels” by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)

On top of the frame “Angels” by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736) and Antonio Lavaggi (active in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century)

1^st LEFT - PALUZZI ALBERTONI ALTIERI CHAPEL

About 1698 Sebastiano Cipriani (about 1660/1740)

Marble altarpiece “Holy Family and Ludovica Albertoni” by Lorenzo Ottoni

Vault “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” and “Angels” 1702 by Giuseppe Passeri (1654/1714)

On the left “Tomb of Angelo Altieri” by Giuseppe Mazzuoli with drapery by Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century)

On the right “Tomb of Vittoria Altieri Parabiacchi” by Antonio Lavaggi

ROOM TO THE LEFT OF THE ENTRANCE

“Tomb of Cardinal Giuseppe Bofondi” by Francesco Fabj-Altini (1830/1906)

SACRISTY

Designed by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91)

It was called Sala Baldini (Baldini Hall) by the name of the parish priest who helped and protected many Jewish people during World War II

HALL OF THE TREASURY

“Reliquary” of the thirteenth century to house a relic of the wood of the Cross

“Pseudo altarpiece of Gregory Nazianzen” by the aurifex Gregorio executed with the technique of micro-mosaic

CONVENT OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

To the right of the church

Formerly belonging to the Order of Regular Clerks of the Mother of God, now divided into apartments

External decorations and windows 1724 by Filippo Raguzzini (1680/1771) and Carlo De Dominicis (1696/1758)

St. MARY OF SUFFRAGE

S. MARIA DEL SUFFRAGIO

Via Giulia 59

1662/80 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for the Confraternity of Suffrage

“There is a plan dating back to 1662 that demonstrates the existence of an original design for the church with an elliptical layout, which was never executed. (...) The Roman architect experimented then some of the most innovative ideas of the Roman architectural culture of the mid-seventeenth century, but they were rejected by the confraternity in favor of a more traditional scheme. (...) The simplicity of the interior is also reflected on the outside, in one of the simplest façades of Rainaldi's repertoire” (Federica Maria Papi)

Restored in 1868 by Tito Armellini

VAULT

“Coronation of the Virgin”, “Coats of arms of the Archconfraternity of the Banner and of Pius IX” above the arches of the central nave “Heroines of the Old Testament prefiguring the Virgin Mary” 1868 by Cesare Mariani (1826/1901)

LUNETTE IN THE COUNTER FAÇADE

“Two Saints” 1868 by Cesare Mariani

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE NATIVITY

Above the altar “Adoration of the Magi”

On the right “Dream of St. Joseph” and on the left “Adoration of the Shepherds” by G.B. Natali (1630/96)

On the right “Funerary memory of the painter Pietro Neri” d. 1678 and on the left “Tomb of the engraver Gaspare Moroni” d. 1678 maybe by Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619/91)

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF MARIA CONSOLATRIX AFFLICTORUM (Virgin Mary consoling the afflicted)

Designed by Carlo Rainaldi

“Holy image” of the eighteenth century brought from Mexico by the Jesuit Father Ximines

On the right “Jacob's Dream” by Giacinto Calandrucci (1646/1707) a pupil of Carlo Maratta

On the left “Sacrifice of Isaac” by Girolamo Troppa (1630/after 1710)

3^rd RIGHT - MARCACCIONI CHAPEL

1674 G.B. Contini

Altarpiece “Madonna and Child” sixteenth century painting on board

On the right “Adoration of the Magi” and on the left “Birth of Mary” by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727), a pupil of Niccolò Berrettoni (a pupil of Carlo Maratta) who had begun the pictorial decoration

MAIN ALTAR

1674 Carlo Rainaldi

Above the altar “Our Lady of Suffrage with souls of the Purgatory” first public commission of Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634/1721)

Lunette frescoes and vault about 1675 “Assumption in Glory” and “The Lord among the angels” by G.B. Beinaschi (1638/88) follower of Lanfranco's Baroque opposed to Maratta's Classicism. Apparently Maratta visited this church and when he saw these paintings he went out without saying a word

“Beinaschi shows a distinct similarity to paintings by Lanfranco. Even if he could not have been for obvious chronological reasons (Lanfranco died, in fact, in the year 1647) a direct student, he was in fact among his most loyal follower. Lanfranco's influence persisted and was even enriched with new ideas during Beinaschi's stay in Naples. (...) He was able to recall the teachings of the art of Lanfranco without being restricted to being a slavish and late imitator, but rather with a certain expressive propriety, sometimes even intelligently expanding on the Correggio's components of Lanfranco's art” (Oreste Ferrari - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE CRUCIFIX

“Wooden crucifix” first half of the eighteenth century

On the sides “Gravestones of the Mazzetti family”

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOSEPH CALASANZ

Altarpiece “St. Joseph Calasanz with the Child” first half of the eighteenth century by an artist of the Roman School

On the sides “Miracle of St. Joseph Calasanz” and “Death of St. Joseph Calasanz” by Sebastiano Ceccarini (1703/83)

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE Sts. HYACINTH AND CATHERINE OF SIENA

1685 formerly of the Oliva and later of the Armellini family

Above the altar “Virgin Mary and Child with Sts. Catherine of Siena and Hyacinth” by Daniele Seiter (1649/1705)

ORATORY

“Our Lady of the Rosary among the angels and Sts. Joseph and Dominic” by Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634/1721)

Two paintings formerly in the presbytery and moved here in 1868: “Resurrection of Lazarus” and “Daniel in the lions' den” by G.B. Beinaschi

St. LAWRENCE IN LUCINA

S. LORENZO IN LUCINA

Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina 16

Ancient Titulus Lucinae mentioned by the sources on the year 366 AD, perhaps built on the house of the Christian matron Lucina

It was transformed into a Christian basilica in the fifth century by Sixtus III (432/440)

The basilica was rebuilt by Paschal II (1099/1118)

It was consecrated in 1196 by Celestine III Orsini (1191/98)

1281/87 construction of the PALAZZO CARDINALIZIO (Palace of the Cardinal) known as PALAZZO FIANO ALMAGIÀ to the left of the church

The palace passed in 1624 to the Peretti family, then the Ottoboni Dukes of Fiano and finally in 1898 to the Almagià family

Radical restoration of the church 1650/52 by Cosimo Fanzago (1591/1678) continued up to 1675, after it was assigned in 1606 to the Regular Minor Clerics of St. Francis Caracciolo

Further radical restoration in the years 1856/58 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

FAÇADE and PORCH

Twelfth century, with six granite columns plus another embedded in the left side proving that the porch was originally open on that side

At both sides of the entrance “Marble Lions” maybe dating back to mid thirteenth century

On the right “Funerary monument of Clelia Severini” by Pietro Tenerani 1825 (1789/1869)

It was the first work in Rome by Tenerani, a student of Bertel Thorvaldsen, and it was placed here (in the place for which it was executed) only in 1955, after a long stay in the villa of the family, which had inspired the ode Sopra un bassorilievo antico sepolcrale (On an ancient burial bas-relief) to the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi

“Epigraph of Anacleto II Pierleoni antipope” 1130

“Epigraph to commemorate the rededication of the church in 1196”

NAVE

“Saints” between the windows and ceiling “Ascension of Christ with Sts. Lawrence, Damasus, Lucina and Francis Caracciolo” 1856/60 by Roberto Bompiani (1821/1908)

“Ten rounds monochrome in tempera with stories of St. Francis Caracciolo” 1807 by Francesco Manno (1752/1831)

FLOOR 1734

COUNTER FAÇADE

On the left “Funerary monument of Cardinal Silvio Passerini from Cortona” titular cardinal of the church from 1517 to 1520

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. LAWRENCE

Urn with grill where St. Lawrence was cooked

Tradition has it that he told his tormentors: “This side I am done, turn me around and eat me”

Above the altar “St. Lucina showing St. Lawrence the plan of the church” 1716 by Sigismondo Rosa

On the left “Presentation of the poor to the prefect of Rome” and on the right “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” nineteenth-century paintings by G. Creti

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ANTHONY

1651 Cosimo Fanzago (1591/1678), continued in the years 1652/55 by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91)

Above the altar “Sacred Heart of Jesus” 1918 by Mario Aironi, which replaced a painting by Massimo Stanzione now disappeared

Oval on the pediment of the altar “Holy Family” by Domenico Rainaldi, cousin of Carlo Rainaldi

On the sides miracles of St. Anthony: on the left “Healing of the foot” and on the right “Mare worshipping the Holy Host” by the painter from Antwerp Jan Miel (1599/1663)

ON THE 2^nd PILLAR

“Monument to Nicolas Poussin (1594/1665)” 1829/32 by Louis Vaudoyer for François -René de Chateaubriand. The bust is by Paul Lemoyne (1794/1873) and the bas-relief with “Discovery of the Tomb of Sappho” is by Louis Desprez (1799/1870)

3^rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS CARACCIOLO

On the altar “St. Francis Caracciolo adoration of the Eucharist” 1750 by Ludovico Stern (1709/77) son of Ignazio Stern (1679/1748)

The plaque on the left reminds that the artists Ludovico, Veronica and Raffaele Stern were buried in this church, and that the altar piece of this altar was placed here in 1974 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Raffaele Stern, (son of Giovanni Stern, in turn, son of Ludovico Stern), the architect of Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800/23)

Pendentives “Stories of St. Francis Caracciolo” by Teodoro Matteini (1754/1831)

Under the altar relics of the sixth Pope St. Alexander I (105/115)

4^th CHAPEL FONSECA or CHAPEL OF THE ANNUNCIATION

1660/64 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)

Above the altar “Annunciation” by Ludovico Gimignani (1643/97) son of Giacinto Gimignani. It is a copy of an original by Guido Reni kept in the Chapel of the Annunciation in the Quirinal Palace

“Bronze Angels” that replaced in 1691 the originals angels in white stucco

On the right “Prophet Elisha purifies the waters of the river of Jericho” 1664 by Giacinto Gimignani (1606/81)

On the left eighteenth-century copy of “Our Lady Salus Populi Romani (Health of the People of Rome)”, which replaced the disappeared painting “King Ahab and the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel” by Guglielmo Courtois aka Borgognone

First bust on the left “Luigi de Witten” d. 1868, Interior Minister of Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)

Second bust on the left “Gabriele Fonseca” 1675 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gabriele Fonseca was a Portuguese doctor at the service of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55)

The busts on the right are maybe by artists of the Bernini school

“Towards the end of his life Bernini had a tendency to replace the diagonals, predominant during his middle period, with horizontal and vertical lines, to let them play with serpentine curves or to break suddenly in angular folds and to deepen fissures and grooves. The bust of Fonseca clearly shows how strongly these compositional gimmicks accentuate the emotional tension expressed in the head. Fonseca's fervent devotion and his spiritual abandonment are evoked by the mystery of the Annunciation, painted on the altar; an intangible link therefore between Fonseca and the altar covers the space in which the viewer moves” (Rudolf Wittwoker)

RIGHT TRANSEPT

“Bust of Cardinal Giovanni Antonio De Via” by Agostino Corsini (1688/1772) the only remaining part, along with the plaque, of a disappeared monument by Ferdinando Fuga

LAST CHAPEL AT THE RIGHT END - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

“Wooden crucifix” of the sixteenth century

On the right “Umberto II of Savoy Memorial (1904/83)”, the last king of Italy, who reigned for only a little over a month, from May 9 to June 12, 1946

MAIN ALTAR

Baroque machinery 1669 by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91)

Above the altar very famous and iconic painting “Crucifixion” 1637/38 by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

In the choir “Madonna between Sts. John of Nepomuk and Michael” by Onofrio Avellino (about 1674/1741), a pupil of Francesco Solimena

To the right of the main altar “Candelabra for the Easter candle” about 1225/50 by Vassalletto III

Behind a small door “Papal Chair of Paschal II (1099/1118)”

TRIUMPHAL ARCH

Frescoes by Roberto Bompiani (1821/1908)

LAST CHAPEL AT THE LEFT END - CHAPEL OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Eighteenth century painting “Immaculate Conception”

5^th LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS AND S. GIACINTA MARESCOTTI

Above the altar “St. Francis appears to S. Giacinta Marescotti at the time of death” 1736 masterpiece by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

“He showed aptitude for painting since he was a youth and was therefore entrusted to the teaching of Bonaventura Lamberti, a painter of Carpi, good follower of the Carraccis, who from 1698 until 1703 directed the steps within a cultural context that was based on the study of ancient sculpture, Raphael and seventeenth-century Bolognese painting, welcoming the modern experiences of Maratta, Luti and Chiari. (...) The death of Giacinta Marescotti is characterized by a strong and passionate naturalism, definitely something quite new for those years in Rome”(Evelina Borea - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

“The Roman Marco Benefial was an unconventional artist, who advocated a return to the sources of the seventeenth-century Classicism against the graceful affectations of the followers of Trevisani and the mannerist painting with no contacts with reality of the more predictable pupils of Maratta. Benefial led his controversy at the very heart of the Academy and ended up being ousted. However, beside the ecclesiastical style of the Arcadia, often sweetish and conventional, popular at the time, these paintings stand out for their freshness and truth in the narrative of suffering, free from rhetoric ennobling or languid sentimentality” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

On the cyma “Virgin Mary of the Grace” by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80)

On the pillars “Saints” maybe 1807 by Francesco Manno (1752/1831)

Paintings on the vault and on the lunettes “Eternal God, angels and stories of the Virgin Mary”

Pendentives “Evangelists”

Walls on the right “The donning of St. Francis” and on the left “Temptation of St. Francis” all works painted in the years 1623/24 by the French Simon Vouet (1590/1649)

“This whole series of paintings by Vouet has absolutely extraordinary importance for the history of Roman art of the early seventeenth century, because it is one of the most ambitious attempts to meditate the lesson from Caravaggio, resulting in a highly personal synthesis” (Francesca Bertozzi)

4^th CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

On the altar “The Holy Family” by Alessandro Turchi aka Orbetto (1578/1649)

“Bust of Cardinal Carlo Cremonesi (1866/1943)” by Giuseppe Tonnini (1875/1954) who had carved the winged lions on the steps of the Victor Emmanuel Monument and the Monument to St. Francis of Assisi at the Basilica of St. John Lateran

BETWEEN 4^th AND 3^rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

“Marble pulpit” 1651 by Cosimo Fanzago (1591/1678)

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOHN OF NEPOMUK

“Statue of St. John of Nepomuk” 1737 by Gaetano Altobelli

On the right “St. John of Nepomuk dead on the banks of the Vltava” and on the left “St. John of Nepomuk taken before King Wenceslas” by an unknown eighteenth-century artist

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. CHARLES BORROMEO

Altarpiece “St. Charles Borromeo carrying in procession the Holy Nail Cross” about 1613 by Carlo Saraceni (1579/1620)

“The dynamism of the composition is perfect, a crescendo that leads to the precious relic enhanced by the open arms of the cleric. The crucifix lit on the top right is made with masterful and almost alive strokes, while the saint, heir of Ambrose, makes a gesture loaded with eloquence, looking at the faithful outside the painting. (...) The cross supporting the old reliquary is lifted like a banner (the thrust desired by the painter is expressed by his repentance in the position of the hands).The canvas can now be dated to 1613, thanks to the cleaning for the exhibition in 2013 at Palazzo Venezia, particularly revealing of colors and veiling, of the four shades of red, white and blue-black, of the totally obscured background from which the relic at the center and the crucifix in the upper part emerge” (Maria Giulia Aurigemma)

Paintings on the sides maybe by Gregorio Preti (active in the seventeenth century), Mattia Preti's Brother

1^st LEFT - BAPTISTERY

1721 Giuseppe Sardi (1680/1753), maybe from a project by Francesco De Sanctis (1693/1740)

“Interesting opening on the European 'rocaille' taste, inspired by a careful rereading of the Roman Baroque style. Due to the tight integration between structure and decoration, it is likely that the stuccos (unfortunately in very poor condition due to infiltration of water) have been carried out from the design of the same artist responsible for the architecture” (Francesca Bertozzi)

Above the altar “Baptism of Christ” 1722 by Giuseppe Nasini (1657/1736)

Canvas on the left “Baptism of St. Lucina” and on the right “St. Peter baptizes St. Savina” by Giovanni Antonio Grecolini (1675/1725)

SACRISTY

“Reliquary of the chains of St. Lawrence” of the sixteenth century

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS

Building of the second century AD of uncertain identification inserted in the area of the monuments of Augustus, traces of which remain in two rooms with black and white floor mosaics and wall paintings

An insula (apartments' block) was superimposed in the third century AD also used for Christian activities in the fourth century, as a source mentions that here (in Lucinis) the election of Pope Damasus (366/384) took place

The perimeter of the insula was used for the construction of the early Christian Basilica of the fifth century built by Pope Sixtus III (432/440) of which traces of the baptistery remain