St. SAVIOUR IN THE FIELD

S. SALVATORE IN CAMPO
Piazza di S. Salvatore in Campo

Mentioned for the first time by the sources in the first half of the tenth century and known as S. Salvatoris de Domno Campo
The original church was built in a place other than the one of the present church, a little further north, in front of the church of SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini
Demolished in 1638 for the construction of the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà

Rebuilt where it is now, not far from the original church, in the years 1639/40 by Francesco Peparelli (active since about 1626/d. 1641) for Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) with a FAÇADE clearly inspired by that of the Chiesa del Gesù (Church of Jesus)

“It is interesting, for the architectural culture of the seventeenth century in Rome, the clear intent of Peparelli to blend a longitudinal plan with a central scheme, emphasizing the areas of the two side altars” (Sofia Barchiesi)

It was built on the back area of the TEMPLE OF MARS dating from the year 135 BC the remains of which are still visible in the cellar of the church

Tradition has it that Giuseppe Balsamo, Count of Cagliostro, got married in this church

At the beginning of the eighties it was granted to the Neocatechumenal Centre “Servant of Jave” and now is home to the Eritrean Orthodox Coptic community

ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
“Virgin Mary and Saints” by an anonymous artist of the eighteenth-century

MAIN ALTAR
Seventeenth-century copy of the “Transfiguration” by Raphael

St. RITA

S. RITA
Via delle Vergini 21

1615 as S. Maria delle Vergini (St Mary of the Virgins) over a small preexisting church
Rebuilt in the years 1634/36 by Francesco Peparelli (active since about 1626/d. 1641) for Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese (1577/1633) who had ordered the nuns to move here from the Quirinal Hill for the construction of his palace, which later became Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi

FAÇADE
1696 maybe by Mattia De Rossi (1637/95)
Reconsecrated in 1904 as St. RITA after the church of St. Rita of Cascia was deconsecrated and moved from the Capitol Hill
St. Rita, after having prayed to share the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, was given a thorn from the crown of Christ, which she held stuck in her forehead for no less than fifteen years
The church is also known as S. RITA DA CASCIA ALLE VERGINI (St. Rita of Cascia at the Virgins)

INTERIOR by Francesco Peparelli

COUNTERFAÇADE
Choir organ on “Shelves with female heads” carved in wood

ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
“St. Augustine and St. Monica” about 1695 by Pietro Locatelli (about 1637/1710), a pupil of Pietro Da Cortona

PRESBYTERY
Renovated 1681/82 by Mattia De Rossi
Vault of the presbytery “Trinity” maybe by Ludovico Gimignani (1643/97)

MAIN ALTAR
“St. Rita” 1911 by Arturo Ferretti

DOME
Breathtaking fresco “Glory of Paradise” about 1695 maybe by Michelangelo Ricciolini (1654/1715)
Stucco and statues on the right “St. Joseph” and on the left “St. Augustine” 1682/83 by Filippo Carcani (active 1670/91)

LEFT ALTAR
“Christ and Mary Magdalene” 1639 by G.B. Mercati (1591/about 1645)
CHAPEL OF THE GROTTO OF LOURDES built in 1912

St. JEROME OF CHARITY

S. GIROLAMO DELLA CARITÀ

Via di Monserrato 62a

A small church was built on the site where, according to tradition, St. Jerome on the year 382, was a guest in the house of the saint matron Paola

Known since 1492

Assigned in 1524 to the Arciconfraternita della Carità (Archconfraternity of Charity)

The church is linked to the figure of S. Filippo Neri (1515/95), known as St. Philip Neri in English

He lived for 33 years in the adjacent convent, in a room where there used to take place frequent meetings between four saints: Filippo Neri, Charles Borromeo, Ignatius of Loyola and Felice da Cantalice

In a barn adjoining the church S. Filippo Neri established the institution of the oratory

A fire in 1631 damaged the church

Rebuilt in the years 1632/37 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641)

Restored in the years 1652/60 by Domenico Castelli (1582/1657)

FAÇADE

1660 completed by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) after the death in 1657 of Domenico Castelli who had already designed in 1647

FLOOR

Made of marble, 1660 by Alessandro Sarti

CEILING

1587 by the master carpenter Andrea Tozzi

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY or SPADA CHAPEL

1654 Giovanni Somazzi for Virgilio Spada

It is traditionally attributed to Francesco Borromini (1599/1667), of whom in fact there is only one project for the front of the altar and nothing else

Above the altar

“Madonna and Child” by an anonymous Sienese painter of the fifteenth century

At the sides of the altar

“Two medallions embossed with Sts. Francis and Bonaventure” by Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619/91)

On the right wall

“Tomb of Giovanni Spada” by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88)

On the left wall

“Tomb of Lorenzo Bernardino Spada” by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)

“Ferrata proved to be a faithful executor of the drawings supplied to him, showing a remarkable ability to adapt his style to the task requested. It is however acknowledged in him a tendency to tone down excessively dramatic and pathetic images in the name of that idea of Classicism of which he was then the main representative in Rome” (Gerardo Casale - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Above the graves

“Six medallions embossed with illustrious ancestors of the Spada family”, three on each side:

“Amadore I with his brother Aleramo Spada” and “Pietro di Cecco and Serrone di Pietro Spada” by Pietro Paolo Naldini

“Amadore with his son Mengo Sword” by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86)

“Amadore II Spada” by Francesco Baratta (about 1590/about 1663)

“Mutio with his nephew Antonello Spada” by Ercole Ferrata

“Ghino di Mengo Spada” by Giuseppe Perone

On the threshold of the chapel

Sculptural group in bloodstone with “Angels kneeling and tending tablecloth for the Eucharist” by Antonio Giorgetti (known from 1660/d. 1669), a pupil of Alessandro Algardi

The angel on the left has movable wooden wings in faux marble used as small door of the chapel

“Borromini had little to do with the project (...) and anything with its execution. The lavish style of the chapel is very different anyway from the one of the architect from Canton Ticino in his late period. It remains a masterpiece of Baroque Roman for the highly theatrical effect and the use of pictorial marquetry and marble slabs with fake damasks” (Olga Melasecchi)

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

It was remodeled in 1717, the year to which frescos and stuccos date back to

Above the altar “Wooden crucifix” mid-1400s in front of which tradition has it that S. Filippo Neri used to celebrate Mass

RIGHT TRANSEPT

“Tomb of the Earl Asdrubale from Montauto” 1629 Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

“The baroque style is detectable in the original cyma around the portrait, with the ends curled and the hanging festoons, imitated by Carlo Maratta for his own grave at S. Maria degli Angeli” (Olga Melasecchi)

TO THE RIGHT OF THE MAIN ALTAR

CHAPEL OF St. JOHN THE BAPTIST formerly CASALI CHAPEL and later MARESCOTTI CHAPEL

Altarpiece “Madonna and Child with Sts. Joseph, John the Evangelist and John the Baptist” by Durante Alberti (1538/1616) who also painted the frescoes with “Stories of Jesus” damaged by a fire in 1630 and by some bad restorations in the eighteenth century

MAIN ALTAR

1645/47 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for Fantino Renzi and his nephew Scipione Gisleni who are buried here and whose “Busts” by the school of Algardi are inserted in the walls

“Communion of St. Jerome” 1797 copy by Antonio Corsi from the famous 1614 original by Domenichino which was originally here and is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana

TO THE LEFT OF THE MAIN ALTAR

ANTAMORO CHAPEL

1707 by the great architect Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736)

“He solved the narrowness of the available space creating movement with the ellipsoidal shape of the plan, opening a large oval window at the end and expanding the stucco decoration in the lantern where it ends in a glory of cherubims. The concave shape of the altar is a counterpoint of the convex part of the steps” (Olga Melasecchi)

Statue of “S. Filippo Neri” by Pierre Legros (1666/1719) perhaps also the author of the reliefs with “S. Filippo Neri in the Catacomb of St. Sebastian” and “S. Filippo Neri sees the souls of his penitents going to heaven” also attributed to Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728)

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. CHARLES BORROMEO or MALAGOTTI CHAPEL

“Madonna and Child appearing to Sts. Carlo Borromeo and Filippo Neri” by an unknown artist of the first half of the seventeenth century

On the sides “Fake perspectives” and “Annunciation” about 1748 by Girolamo Mengozzi aka Colonna (1688/1774) from Ferrara

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. PETER

“Handing of the keys” maybe by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

Prospective frescoes by Girolamo Mengozzi aka Colonna

SACRISTY

Walnut furniture attributed to Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736)

“S. Filippo Neri in adoration of the Madonna and Child” about 1639 maybe by Pietro Barbieri (1684/1730) pupil of Carlo Maratta

CONVENT

In Via S. Girolamo della Carità 63

Rebuilt in the years 1632/37 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641)

Paintings with connections to S. Filippo Neri including “S. Filippo Neri in adoration of the Madonna and Child” about 1640 by Emilio Savonanzi (1580/1660) from Bologna

VALENTINI PALACE

PALAZZO VALENTINI

Via IV Novembre 119

1583/85 Fra' Domenico Paganelli for Cardinal Michele Bonelli nephew of St. Pius V Ghislieri (1566/72) and known as Palazzo Bonelli

Expanded in the first half of the seventeenth century maybe by Francesco Peparelli (active from about 1626/d. 1641)

In the years 1705/13 it was rented to the Marquis Francesco Maria Ruspoli who opened a theater in the building and hosted musicians such as George Frideric Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti and Angelo Corelli

In 1752 it was bought by Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali who arranged a rich library with 24,000 volumes also visited by Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717/78)

From 1827 it belonged to the banker Vincenzo Valentini who had the FAÇADE FACING THE FORUM OF TRAJAN built in about 1830 by Filippo Navone (active first half of XIX century)

The Valentini family had in it a great picture gallery and lived here until 1870

Since 1873 it is the headquarters of the PROVINCE OF ROME, which transformed the courtyard and the interior in 1878 by Luigi Gabet (active 1858/78)

In the COURTYARD there are four ancient statues with modern changes:

“Valentini Aphrodite”

“Man with breastplate and head of Marcus Aurelius” maybe not relevant

“Hermes of Andros with head of Pertinax” not relevant

“Naked man with head of Caracalla” not relevant

The palace houses a collection of ancient statues and paintings which belonged to Vincenzo Valentini with works by artists such as Carlo Cignani and Ludovico Stern (1709/77) as well as many anonymous seventeenth century artists 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS

1,800 square meters (20,000 square feet) residential district comprising

Two richly decorated houses (domus) of the fourth century AD maybe owned by a judge or a senator: walls decorated with polychrome panels and polychrome mosaic floors

Small private baths

The excavations were made from 2006 to 2010

Landfill of the sixteenth century known as BUTTO (throw) where ceramic plates were discovered, as well as everyday objects and even food scraps

Two sculptures of “Togati” of the second century AD without head that had been used as a fill for foundations in the sixteenth century

Stretch of paved Roman road very well preserved

Two “Fragments of huge monolithic columns” in Egyptian granite similar to the one near the Column of Trajan and probably part of the Temple of Trajan, whose exact topographic location is still the focus of academic debate. The columns had to have a minimum height of 15 m (49 feet) and perhaps it was even 20 m (65 feet) high

The area is beautifully accessible with very effective reconstructions using virtual reality and an exciting archaeological trail that goes up to the front of the Trajan's Column

An example that should be imitated in many other archaeological sites, almost a waking dream for those who love Rome, made possible thanks to the initiative of the great popularizer Piero Angela

PASOLINI DALL'ONDA PALACE

PALAZZO PASOLINI DALL'ONDA

Piazza Benedetto Cairoli 5

1598/1602 Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) for Onofrio Santacroce. Formerly known as PALAZZO SANTACROCE

Completed in the years 1630/40 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641)

1659/68 FAÇADE ON VIA DEI CATINARI by Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95)

Since 1904 it belongs to the Pasolini family from Ravenna who opened their palace to the followers of Modernism

It is now divided into apartments and it is the seat of the library of the Italian-Latin American Institute

GALLERY

Frescoes by G.B. Ruggieri aka Battistino del Gessi (1606/40)

In another room “Biblical scenes” by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) from Bologna

Cardinal Prospero Publicola Santacroce was the first to introduce tobacco in Rome which was called Santacroce Grass. The French ambassador in Portugal had planted it in the royal gardens of Lisbon and had him trying it in 1561

It was called Nicotine Grass and was thought to be a cure for many diseases so as to be known as Holy Grass

The Santacroce family could afford to build this building thanks to the proceeds of the tobacco trade

In the seventeenth century tobacco was strongly recommended to priests and nuns as an aid to repress the sexual desires even if not everyone encouraged its use: Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55) came to threaten to excommunicate those who had smoked in the Basilica of St. Peter

FERRAJOLI DEL BUFALO PALACE

PALAZZO FERRAJOLI DEL BUFALO

Piazza Colonna 355

Built at the end of 1500s maybe by Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) for Ottavio Del Bufalo

Rebuilt in the years 1626/41 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641) for Paolo Del Bufalo

Renovated in 1871 by the marquises Ferrajoli who, in part, still live in the palace

In the COURTYARD there is the “Fountain of Ceres”

PALACE OF THE MOUNTAIN OF MERCY

PALAZZO DEL MONTE DI PIETÀ

Piazza del Monte di Pietà 32

1588 designed by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606) for Cardinal Prospero Santacroce as a modification of previous buildings belonging to the family Santacroce

Headquarters since 1603 of the ISTITUTO DEL MONTE DI PIETÀ (Institute of Pawnshop) at the behest of Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605)

It was founded in 1539 with headquarters originally in Via dei Banchi Vecchi to lend money to the poor at low interest against usury

Expanded in the years 1603/29 by Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) who had as collaborator the then young Francesco Borromini (1599/1667)

Works continued in the years 1629/37 by Bartolomeo Breccioli (?/1639) and Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641)

REAR FAÇADE on Via S. Paolo alla Regola 1735/40 by Nicola Salvi (1697/1751)

It is now a branch of the Unicredit Bank and they continue to make loans in exchange for pledges, an activity carried on here without interruption for almost 500 years

Cappella del Monte di Pietà

Chapel of the Mountain of Mercy

1618 Carlo Maderno (1556/1629), rebuilt 1639/41 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641) and continued in the years 1660/70 in the decorations by his pupil Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95): he transformed the plan from rectangular to elliptical

Decoration continued 1696/1725 with marble and stuccos by Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri (1655/1721)

It was consecrated in 1730

VESTIBULE

Oval panel in the vault “Eternal God Surrounded by Angels” 1701 maybe by Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome the second half of the seventeenth century)

“Bust of St. Charles Borromeo” 1657 by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701). St. Charles Borromeo in 1564 was protector of the Monte and wrote its statutes

DOME

Four oval panels with “History of the Monte di Pietà” and central oval panel “Holy Spirit in glory” decoration began in 1696 by Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri who coordinated Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736), Simone Giorgini (active in Rome 1677/1712), Michel Maille, Andrea Bertoni and Andrea Berrettoni

“While referring to the examples of Bernini's S. Andrea al Quirinale and St. Thomas of Villanova, the dome sunken-shaped, doesn't have similar monumentality, but it appears lighter as ornamental elements have no structural function” (Susanna Misiano)

STATUES IN THE NICHES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE

On the right “Faith” 1724 by Francesco Moderati (about 1680/after 1724)

On the left “Hope” 1724 by Agostino Cornacchini (1683/1740)

“One of his best works in which the Baroque vehemence is contained in a subdued elegance, infusing lightness and painterly effects in the stone” (Susanna Misiano)

“His best work is the life-size figure of Hope in the chapel of the Monte di Pietà. The body moves with the slight wave of Rome 'Barocchetto' as it is crossed, in an almost musical counterpoint, by the folds of the wet drapery gathered brightly which also serves to reveal the soft underlying shapes” (Robet Engass - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

RELIEFS ABOVE THE SIDE DOORS

On the right “Tobias lends money to Gabelo” 1704 by Pierre Legros (1666/1719)

On the left “Joseph lends the grain to the Egyptians” 1702 by Jean-Baptiste Théodon (1646/1713)

MAIN ALTAR

Relief “Pietà (Mercy)” 1661/76 by Domenico Guidi

“Guidi was largely responsible for the change from the Roman Baroque to the new Late Baroque idiom: this composition, which rises in a curve from the Magdalene at the bottom on the right to the Figure of God the Father at the top, is not without merit, but there isn't discrimination between the degrees of spiritual importance of the sacred characters, nor the individual figures are sufficiently articulated to put the viewer in a position to discern exactly the movements and even to decide whether the drapery belongs to a figure or another: the result is a lively jumble of plastic form” (Rudolf Wittkower)

STATUES IN THE NICHES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE MAIN ALTAR

On the right “Begging” 1724 by Bernardino Cametti (1669/1736)

On the left “Charity” 1721/24 by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725) who maybe coordinated the other sculptors

“Very similar to the Bernini's group of the tomb of Alexander VII in St. Peter, the work, marked by a great dynamism, reveals the artist's effort to show, in a complex and redundant form, his virtuous ability even in his very old age” (Susanna Misiano)

Cappella di S. Maria del Soccorso

Chapel of S. Mary of the Rescue

1759, in Via Arco del Monte with three paintings by an unknown artist of the eighteenth century:

ON THE RIGHT “Adoration of the Magi”

MAIN ALTAR “Virgin and Child bowing to St. John”

ON THE LEFT “Presentation in the Temple”

CARDELLI PALACE

PALAZZO CARDELLI

Piazza Cardelli 4

1516 for Jacopo Cardelli who unified pre-existing buildings

It was the Domus Magna of the family who also owned the nearby Palazzo di Firenze as the ceremonial Palatium

1592 FAÇADE by Francesco Capriani aka Francesco da Volterra (1535/94)

The palace was completed in 1602 by Gaspare Guerra (about 1560/1622)

Further work 1630/39 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641)

In the second half of the nineteenth century the building was extended towards Via del Clementino keeping the original style

It was raised with a third floor in 1925

It is still inhabited by the counts Cardelli, a family who settled in Rome in early fifteen century from the Romagna region

In 1538 the children of Jacopo Cardelli bought the space of the square in front of the building to keep the space free from buildings

Inside there are paintings in the splays of the windows maybe by Francesco Allegrini (1587/1663)

ROOF GARDEN

One of the few remaining in Rome

Stucco sculpture “Apollo” by the pupil of Bernini Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619/91)

BALEANI PALACE

PALAZZO BALEANI

Via Larga/Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 244

1627/28 maybe by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641) with original FAÇADE ON VIA LARGA which was opened in 1630 opposite the Chiesa Nuova

Formerly known as Palazzo Cerri and Palazzo Caucci

FAÇADE ON CORSO VITTORIO EMANUELE II rebuilt in 1922 by Pietro Romagnoli who demolished the block with the exception of Francesco Paparelli's seventeenth-century wing and rebuilt one office building that took up the seventeenth-century façade design with the technique of “fake antique”

Now is the headquarters of CIMS, Centro di Ricerca per le Malattie Sociali (Research Center for Social Diseases) of La Sapienza University