Sts. VITUS AND MODESTUS

SS. VITO E MODESTO
Via S. Vito/Via Carlo Alberto 47

Mentioned in the sources at the end of the eighth century also as San Vito in Macello Martyrum (St. Vitus in the Slaughterhouse of the Martyrs) because it stood close to the MACELLUM LIVIAE (Livia’s Slaughterhouse)
According to tradition, St. Vitus came from Sicily and was martyred under Diocletian (284/305) in 303 with his teacher St. Modestus

The church was rebuilt for Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere (1471/84)

In the twentieth century its orientation was reversed with entrance on Via Carlo Alberto

The restoration of the years 1973/77 returned the orientation of the fifteenth century

“Marble portal of Sixtus IV” 1477

ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
“Virgin Mary and Child with Saints” 1483 maybe by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508)
Near the altar, behind a lattice, there is the so called pietra scellerata, an ancient Roman stone with a funerary inscription, believed to be the stone on which Christians were martyred over the centuries and scraped to obtain powder with alleged therapeutic powers

Sts. VINCENT AND ANASTASIUS

SS. VINCENZO E ANASTASIO
Vicolo dei Modelli 73/Via del Lavatore/Piazza di Trevi

Known since the tenth century as S. Anastasio de Trivio

Completely rebuilt in the years 1640/46 by Gaspare De Vecchi (active 1628/1643)

FAÇADE
1646/50 Martino Longhi the Younger (1602/60) with coat of arms of Cardinal Jules Mazarin who commissioned the church
It is known as “the cane thicket” for the sixteen columns inserted in the façade

The bust above the door has the features of the nephew of Cardinal Mazarin, Maria Mancini who, from being a maid, ended up becoming the mistress of King Louis XIV of France
She later married Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna with whom she had three children. Once, in order to be forgiven for a marital disagreement, he surprise her with a boat ride on the flooded Piazza Navona

The church is dedicated to the Persian monk Anastasius martyr in Assyria on the year 628 and to the Spanish martyr Vincent

“The repetition on both floors of the triad of columns, together with the slight projection of the columns themselves toward the center, give the façade its spirit and its power” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“The progressive projection of each column forward as they approach the central axis, gives the surface a dynamic vitality reiterated by the interpenetration one inside the other of the three pediments which crown the second order. To counterbalance the increasing pace of rhythm of the central composition neutral portions of the side wall are inserted in the lower sections” (Giorgio Muratore)

Interior restoration in 1847

VAULT
“Apotheosis of Sts. Vincent and Anastasius” 1818 by Francesco Manno (1752/1831)

COUNTER FAÇADE
Grand eighteenth-century organ
On the floor modern slab dedicated to the painter Bartolomeo Pinelli buried embalmed in this church in 1835 in a tomb that was never found

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Above the altar “Vision of St. Camillus de Lellis” by Gaspare Serenari (1707/59), a pupil of Sebastiano Conca
On either side “Stories of St. Camillus” 1876 by Silverio Capparoni (1831/1907)

4^th RIGHT - SMALL CHAPEL OF THE IMMACULATE AND BAPTISTERY
Three stucco reliefs “Baptisms” by Jean Ledoux

MAIN ALTAR
“The Martyrdom of Sts. Vincent and Anastasius” 1778 by Francesco Pascucci

Inside a room behind the sanctuary are kept in ampoules the innards of all of the 30 popes from 1590 to 1903, 313 years!
This is because this has been the parish church of the nearby Quirinal Palace until 1876 and, being the Quirinal Palace the residence of the popes, this church was therefore the papal parish church

The poet Gioacchino Belli called it “a museum of coratelle and frattaje (innards and guts)”
The strange collection of internal organs and guts has always struck the macabre imagination of the Roman people who saw in this an almost demonic expression. The church was in fact popularly defined as Ss. Vincenzo e Satanasso (Sts. Vincent and Satan)

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Fresco bleached “Madonna and Child” of the beginning of the fourteenth century, venerated and known as Our Lady of Grace

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “Death of St. Joseph” by Giuseppe Tommasi (1610/72)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
It was rebuilt in the nineteenth century by Giacomo Monaldi (1819/1905)
Above the altar “Sacred Heart of Jesus” 1846 by Zanetti

GADDI PALACE

PALAZZO GADDI

Via del Banco di Santo Spirito 42

Built in 1518/27

According to Giorgio Vasari it was designed by Jacopo Tatti aka Jacopo Sansovino (1486/1570) for the Gaddi family, Tuscan merchants who moved to Rome in the fifteenth century

It was also known as PALAZZO NICCOLINI and PALAZZO AMICI from the names of the two families who lived here

Michelangelo Buonarroti lived here for two years (1544/46) and Benvenuto Cellini as well

The roof terrace was built in 1841

Beautiful Renaissance COURTYARD with statues in niches and rich stucco decoration in the upper part

PALACE OF THE PRESS

PALAZZO DELLA STAMPA

Lungotevere de' Cenci 8

1959 Leo Calini (1903/85) and Eugenio Montuori (1907/82)

“An extraordinary example of integration of the new architecture in the consolidated fabric of the city center. The preexisting historical buildings represented by the ghetto, and the environmental requirements, determined by the presence of the Tiber, suggested the designers to adopt a different strategy to solve the two opposing fronts the building” (Giorgio Muratore)