St. NICHOLAS OF THE LORRAINS

S. NICOLA DEI LORENESI

Largo Febo 7

Formerly S. Nicola in Agone, mentioned by the sources for the first time in 1186

It was built with marble taken from the nearby Stadium of Domitian

In 1476 Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84) granted the church of S. Stefano in Regione Pontis (destroyed in 1888 for the construction of the Victor Emmanuel II Bridge) to the four transalpine nations: France, Burgundy, Lorraine and Savoy. Lorraine was independent nation until its annexation to France in 1766

In 1612 the sculptor from Lorraine Nicolas Cordier (1567/1612) left a large sum for the construction of a new national church of Lorraine

In 1623 it was decided to rebuild the old and abandoned S. Nicola in Agone

Rebuilt 1635/36 with new FAÇADE in travertine by the architect from Lorraine François Desjardins, when it was assigned to the Brotherhood of Lorraine

INTERIOR

Fully decorated with splendid frescoes in the years 1731/33 by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66), his first great masterpiece:

Vault of the nave “St. Nicholas making water overflow from a rock”

Spandrels “Four cardinal virtues”: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance

Dome “Trinity, St. Nicholas, Virgin Mary and other saints”

Vault of the presbytery “Three theological virtues”: Faith, Hope and Charity

Counter façade “Angel releasing a prisoner”

“These paintings, made readable again by the recent restoration, marked the Roman debut of the artist, who proved himself master of his own personal language, formed on contemporary Roman examples, while the influence of Francesco Solimena seemed to have somewhat reduced (...). Sign of the success met by Giaquinto with the decoration of the national church of Lorraine was the call to the court of Turin, in June 1733, by Filippo Iuvarra” (Susanne Adine Meyer - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

“Giaquinto first worked closely with Sebastiano Conca, then ended up distinguishing progressively himself for a more blunt penchant for painting with results of airy and bright rococo, as with these brilliant frescoes” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

RIGHT CHAPEL

Above the altar “St. Peter Fourier and the Virgin Mary” about 1730 by Francesco Antonozzi

MAIN ALTAR

“St. Nicholas with the three children and a prisoner” about 1676/86 by Nicolas François de Bar aka Nicolas Lorrain or Niccolò Lorenese (1632/95)

In the upper part “Decorations with architectural trompe-l'oeil” 1750 by the Roman architect Giuseppe Silvestri

LEFT CHAPEL

Above the altar “Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria” about 1660/74 by Nicolas François de Bar aka Nicolas Lorrain or Niccolò Lorenese

ABOVE THE FOUR DOORS

Four reliefs in stucco “Stories of St. Nicholas”:

On the right “St. Nicholas elected bishop of Myra” and “St. Nicholas refuses breast milk on Wednesdays and Fridays”

On the left “St. Nicholas child prays during a bath” and “St. Nicholas distributes his possessions to the poor” 1749 by G.B. Grossi, who also sculpted one relief for the Trevi Fountain

During the same period the SIXTEEN PILLARS were coated with Sicilian jasper and yellow marble from Siena by Pietro Mariotti

ABOVE THE FIRST DOOR ON THE LEFT

“Crucifix” in front of which young Roman couples used to swear eternal love

St. MARY OF MOUNT CARMEL AT THE THREE FOUNTAINS

S. MARIA DEL CARMINE ALLE TRE CANNELLE

Via del Carmine 3

1605/25 as the Oratorio della Confraternita del Carmine (Oratory of the Confraternity of Mount Carmel) for Cardinal Odoardo Farnese

1724/33 transformed and enlarged by Giacomo Cioli (?/1734)

Restored in 1775 after a fire in 1772 destroyed the interior of the church

The urban setting of the church was completely altered after the demolitions for the construction of Via IV Novembre began in 1875. Originally the church was on a larger square and the buildings surrounding it were lower

FAÇADE

1750 Michelangelo Specchi (active in Rome about 1684/after 1750)

“At the center of the façade there is a window surmounted by a broken pediment with scrolls onto which there is a garland plant, according to a late Baroque taste, even if it is set in an already Neoclassical style, as it was typical of Specchi” (Olga Melasecchi)

In the lunette fresco with the “Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel” 1824

INTERIOR

Interior decoration 1817 by Camillo Marini

Decorative painting with “Fake stuccos and cornices” 1862 from drawings by Vincenzo Martinucci

COUNTER-FAÇADE

Organ of 1807

RIGHT ALTAR - ALTAR OF St. ELIJAH

Beautiful banner used as an altarpiece “Virgin Mary appears to Elijah on Mount Carmel” (front) and “Virgin Mary gives the scapular to St. Simon Stock” (back) 1727 maybe by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764) or, more likely, by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66)

MAIN ALTAR

Designed by Giacomo Cioli (?/1734) with eighteenth century statue “Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and Child” in papier mâché

ALTAR TO THE LEFT OF MAIN ALTAR

Canvas “Our Lady gives the scapular to St. Simon Stock” 1776 by Giovanni Pirri, originally placed above the left altar

LEFT ALTAR - ALTAR OF St. TERESA

Canvas “St. Therese of the Child Jesus” 1927 by Tito Ridolfi (1886/1956)

SACRISTY

Canvas “S. Filippo Neri” by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66)

“Flagellation” of the end of the sixteenth century by an anonymous artist of the Tuscan or Lombard schools

ORATORIO UPSTAIRS

“Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel” about 1605 by Gaspare Celio (1571/1640), originally placed on the main altar

St. JOHN CALIBYTES

S. GIOVANNI CALIBITA

Isola Tiberina 39 - Piazza Fatebenefratelli

About 870 in the area of the Temple of Jupiter Iurarius

Mentioned in the fourteenth century in the sources with the name of Sancti Ioannis de Insula and also Sancti Ioannis Cantofiume

It was dedicated to St. John Calibita in the spot where, according to tradition, his father's house would have been

Rebuilt in 1584 on the ruins of the old church

FAÇADE

1640, completed in 1711 by Luigi Barattoni (active in the first quarter of the eighteenth century) and Romano Carapecchia (1668/1738)

BELL TOWER

Cesare Bazzani (1873/1939)

INTERIOR

Renovated in the years 1736/42

Decorations in the years 1740/41 by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66) including the frescoes “Glory of St. John of God” and “Sts. Hyppolitus, Taurinus and Herculaneum”

“In the pre-neoclassical Rome of these years, Giaquinto is an outsider who accentuates the melodramatic technique of the Arcadia of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, in vogue in the twenties and thirties, with amazing special effects of lights and theatrical artifice, in a style all his own. Taking to the extreme the possibilities inherent in Baroque painting, this captivating and bombastic language proves the most appropriate to interpret the requirements of representation of the great international courts” (Anna Lo Bianco)

1st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “Lady of the Lamp” venerated since the flood of 1557 when the lamp below the image stayed on despite being submerged in water

UNDER THE MAIN ALTAR

Relics of St. John Calibytes and of seven other martyrs found during the seventeenth century renovation

St. John Calibytes was a Roman monk of the fifth century who went to Constantinople to live as a hermit in a hut called kalýbe, where he died

CLOISTER

Lunette with eighteenth-century paintings

PROPAGANDA FIDE PALACE - MISSIONARY MUSEUM OF PROPAGANDA FIDE (second part)

Museo Missionario di Propaganda Fide

It opened in December 2010 by the will of the new prefect, Cardinal Ivan Dias

Multimedia temporary exhibit space on the missionary activities of the Catholic Church and rooms with an interesting collection of paintings owned by the congregation

The interiors were largely designed by Francesco Borromini, with beautiful decorative solutions

Among the works:

“Pentecost” by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66)

“Flood” by Salvator Rosa (1615/73)

“Romulus and Remus” by Marco Tullio Montagna (1594/1649)

“Massacre of the Innocents” maybe by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

“In 1750, Count Nicola Soderini had assured his protection to the painter: this allowed Benefial to paint quietly during the last period of his life, drinking again and again at the inexhaustible source of the Bolognese seventeenth century art, impetuous and raw in tragedy as in the Massacre of the Innocents now in the Palace of Propaganda Fide, idyllic and almost frivolous in the mythological scenes now in Palazzo Corsini, but always aiming to search for historical truth, in a clarification of the detail, never giving in to decorative frills, and proceeding alone on the scene of contemporary painting. He died in April 1764, without pupils of merit and, if not forgotten, certainly underestimated until today” (Evelina Borea - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

“Annunciation” maybe by the Flemish Denijs Calvaert (1540/1619)

“St. George” maybe by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

“Portrait of Ezzelino Romano” by Antonio Canova (1757/1822) who made this portrait as a joke trying to make it look as a sixteenth century painting

Some “Landscapes” by Jan Frans Van Bloemen aka Orizzonte (1662/1749)

BORGIA ROOM

Some objects and paintings from the collection of Cardinal Stefano Borgia (1731/04) from Velletri distantly related to the infamous Spanish family

It was an extraordinary collection of antiques of all kinds and origins disparate now dispersed between the Vatican Museums, the Vatican Library, the Museum and the Museum Luigi Pigorini Capodimonte in Naples

BARBERINI LIBRARY

Monumental shelving of the eighteenth century and seventeenth-century ceiling in wooden beams with bees of the Barberini family. The anteroom by Francesco Borromini is spectacular in its simplicity

NEWMAN CHAPEL

Refined room by Francesco Borromini with questionable small later adjustments. Dedicated to the English Cardinal John Henry Newman who was declared blessed in 2010

QUIRINAL PALACE (sixth part)

Room of Hercules

Coffered ceiling and frieze with trophies 1940 by Cesare Maria Crestini

Paintings over the doors “Six stories of Aeneas” brought here in 1893 from the Savoy residences:

“Aeneas sacrifices to Apollo”, “ Venus appears to Aeneas as Diana”, “Aeneas and Dido caught by the storm”, “Mercury appears to Aeneas”, “Venus deliveries the weapons to Aeneas” and “Departure of Aeneas from Carthage” 1735/38 all sublime masterpieces by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66)

“It is with the musical theater here that the painter seems to relate more explicitly than in his other works. (...) A new aesthetic marked by the desire to affirm the seriousness of art and to restore expressive decorum starting right from the reform of opera. His characters exemplify, in terms of behaviors, a way of feeling graceful and sensitive, according to the rules of society. The Arcadian world that reigns in these paintings is made of a mixture of subtle tones in which everything is blurred and in where the epic is transformed, rejecting the extremes of tragedy and comedy” (Sara Parca)

Three tapestries from the left “Stories of Apollo”, “Stories of Minerva” and “Stories of Hercules” beginning of the eighteenth century by the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris

Hall of the Chests

It takes its name from the five chests of the sixteenth and seventeenth century

In this room Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800/23) was arrested by the French on July 9, 1809

Busts “Hector” and “Paris” beginning of nineteenth century by Pietro Fontana

Four French tapestries 1743/47 by the Gobelins manufactory in Paris

Tapestry with “History of Don Quixote” 1773 by the royal manufactory of Naples

MASCHERINO'S STAIRS

1583/85 by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606)

Loggia of Honor

The center of the Gregorian Small Palace, the oldest part of the palace built by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino for Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85)

Ceiling “Allegory of the Arts” 1908 by Ernesto Ballarini (1845/1922)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (twenty-fourth part)

Room XXXI - Painting in Naples in the 1700s

“Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple” by Francesco Solimena (1657/1747) the best pupil of Luca Giordano

“Preparatory version for the fresco painted on the Counter façade of the Neapolitan Church of Gesù in 1725. The scene, theatrical and complex, reveals the great skills of Solimena painting a grand composition, in which monumental architecture is the background to the interweaving of characters with many different poses and expressions. The artist represents perfectly darting movements that emphasize the vibrancy of light” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Wedding contract” about 1752 and “Portrait of Father Giovannezio di Molina” by Gaspare Traversi (1722/70)

“Among the most interesting personalities of the eighteenth century in Naples. Pupil of Francesco Solimena, he was in Rome since 1752. His paintings show interest in nature and in Carracci's style and are aimed at a rigorous and sensitive rendering of reality, through which there is a vein of irony featured in scenes of everyday life” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Portrait of a lady” by Giuseppe Bonito (1707/89)

“A pupil of Francesco Solimena, Bonito is part of a generation of artists who determined the cultural climate of the Neapolitan eighteenth century with strong points of contact with the Spanish painting. In 1751 he was officially invested the office of House Painter of the King (...). He became also academic of St. Luke in 1752” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

“Meeting of Cardinal Anton Felice Chigi Zondanari and Philip V King of Spain”, “The grand master Marcantonio Zondanari receives the Turkish flags” and “Idolatry of Solomon” by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

“Sebastiano Conca studied in Naples at the school of Francesco Solimena, but his career unfolded in Rome, where he assimilated the lessons of Carlo Maratta, who, with his school, had a hegemony over Roman painting, and yet he managed to blend it with his Neapolitan training rich of echoes of Luca Giordano, laying the foundations of the Roman Rococo” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

“Judgment of Solomon” and “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba” by Francesco De Mura (1696/1782)

“The Martyrdom of St. Denis” by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66)

Denis was the first bishop of Lutetia, today Paris

Tradition has it that, during the persecution of Decius in about 250, after he had been beheaded on the hill which, following this event, took the name of Montmartre (mountain of the martyr), stood up, picked his head up and walked for 10 km (6.2 miles) continuing preaching as if nothing had happened

“Within the last Roman activity of the painter, in the period between 1949 and 1951, numerous sketches are known, characterized by immediacy of execution and density of material and color” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

Corvi Room - Characters of Myth and History

On the walls, life-size figures in niches to imitate ancient sculptures:

Ciro, Sofonisba, Zenobia, Achilles, Silla, Tuzia, Scipio, Lucrezia, Tullia, Faustina, Dido, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great

Decorations around the room with elegant friezes that evoke the inventions of older artworks by Piranesi

The room was painted in 1770 by Domenico Corvi (1721/1803) from Viterbo for Princess Costanza Barberini Colonna di Sciarra

BASILICA OF THE HOLY CROSS IN JERUSALEM

BASILICA S. CROCE IN GERUSALEMME

Piazza S. Croce in Gerusalemme 12

In the area there was an imperial villa built in about 230 with amphitheater for gladiators fights and circus for horse racing

In the early fourth century the so called PALATIUM SESSORIANUM was the private residence of the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine (306/337), who probably turned a large hall of the building into a church

A few decades later it was transformed into a Basilica, Eleniana or Sessoriana

It was transformed in 1145 by Lucius II (1144/45) who added the bell tower and it was modified again in the fifteenth and sixteenth century

The last modifications in 1743/44 were designed by the Roman architect Domenico Gregorini (1692/1777), a student of Filippo Juvarra, for Benedict XIV Lambertini (1740/58): he modified the aisle and created the masterpiece of elliptic atrium and façade

"The authorship of the façade that Melchiorre Passalacqua gives to the father Pietro, a grandson of Juvarra, finds no confirmation in the documents showing the name of Gregorini only" (Elizabeth Kieven)

"The façade unfolds as a corrugated screen, following the inflection of the singular elliptic inner vestibule, transparent structure that faces the walkway with a series of openings alternating lintels and arches, illuminated by guided lights influenced by Juvarra" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

FLOOR

Cosmatesque, from the twelfth century

At both sides of the entrance of the "Marble holy water fonts" end of fifteenth century

CEILING

"Virgin introduces St. Helena and Constantine to the Trinity" 1744 by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66) very elegant architect from Apulia Region, artistically educated in Naples

"He represents one of the most interesting personalities of the Rococo style. He is distinguished by a precious approach, full of subtleties in form and refined seemingly changing colors" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

RIGHT NAVE

2nd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

"St. Bernardo humiliates the antipope Victor IV in front of Innocent II (1130/43)" 1660/65 by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)

3rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

"Vision of St. Robert's mother" by Raffaello Vanni (1587/1673) from Siena

PRESBYTERY

"Ciborium" of the eighteenth century by Domenico Gregorini

"The genial torsion of the frames is among the greatest inventions of the late Baroque period and it underscores its persistent vitality" (Paolo Portoghesi)

Urn under the altar with the bodies of Sts. Cesareo and Anastasio

In the VAULT

"Appearance of the Cross" about 1744 by Corrado Giaquinto

APSE

"Tomb of Cardinal Francis Quinones" 1536 Jacopo Tatti aka Jacopo Sansovino (1486/1570) and on the "Tabernacle" in marble and bronze with statues "David" (right), "Solomon" (left) and "Angels" by Carlo Maderno (1556/1629)

"Monument of Cardinal Carvajal" 1523

Frescoes on the sides "Stories of Moses" 1749/51 by Corrado Giaquinto

In the SEMI-DOME

"Invention of the Holy Cross by St. Helena and its recovery by Heraclius" and above "Christ blessing between cherubims" about 1492 maybe by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (1452/1508)

LEFT NAVE

3rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

"St. Sylvester and Constantine" 1675 by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721)

1st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

"Incredulity of St. Thomas" about 1675 by Giuseppe Passeri (1654/1714)

CHAPEL OF St. HELENA

In the vault wonderful mosaic "Jesus, Evangelists, four stories of the Cross, Saints and Symbols of the Passion" remake (maybe about 1484) maybe by Melozzo Ambrosi aka Melozzo from Forlì (1438/94) or (maybe about 1510) by Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536) of the lost original from the time of Valentinian III (435/455)

Roman altar statue "Juno" found at Ostia Antica and transformed into St. Helena

Frescoes on the walls painted at the end of sixteenth century by Niccolò Circignani aka Pomarancio (about 1520/98)

Under the floor a few bags of the earth from Mount Calvary were scattered, hence the name of the church in Gerusalemme

The entrance to the chapel is forbidden to women who may enter only once a year: every 20 March, the day of the dedication of the chapel

GREGORIAN CHAPEL

1520, altar with reliefs "Pietà" beginning of seventeenth century

CHAPEL OF THE RELICS

1930 by Florestano Di Fausto (1890/1965)

"Reliquary" by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) containing some of the most precious catholic relics:

Three small pieces of Jesus' Cross

A nail

Part of the Titulus Crucis, the writing INRI written in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew: it actually dates to the eleventh century as it was proved in 2002 with an examination with carbon-14

The sponge that was soaked in vinegar

Two thorns from Christ's crown

Fragments of the grotto of Bethlehem, of the Holy Sepulchre and of the column of flagellation

A finger of St. Thomas

A big piece of the cross of one of the two thieves

MUSEUM

Frescoes that originally decorated the central nave dated approximately to 1150

A Giottesque "Crucifixion"

"Two statuettes of St. Peter and St. Paul" of the fourteenth century

Codes and furnishings

CONVENT

To the right of the basilica. It was founded about 980 by Pope Benedict VII of the Counts of Tusculum (974/983)

It was enlarged in the sixteenth century, in 1743 and in the years 1756/60 by Melchiorre Passalaqua son of Pietro

HALL OF THE SESSORIANA LIBRARY

1724 Sebastiano Cipriani (about 1660/1740) with vault frescoed 1724/27 by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691/1765)

"Monument to Benedict XIV" 1743 by Carlo Marchionni (1702/86)