St. THOMAS AI CENCI

S. TOMMASO AI CENCI
Piazza delle Cinque Scole

It appears for the first time in the sources on the year 1114 in the MONTE CENCI area as mentioned in a plaque embedded in a wall in the atrium

Second consecration in 1240, maybe after a restoration

It was known as In Capite Molarum for the nearby mills (molendinis in Latin) along the River Tiber or In Mercatello for the square where the market was held weekly

It was built on the site of the TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX, where the two huge statues of Castor and Pollux with horses were found and moved in 1585 on the Capitoline Hill

It was restored in the years 1559/75 for the Cenci family (Rocco Cenci, his nephew Christopher and the latter's son Francis, who in turn was the father and rapist of Beatrice Cenci) who had the patronage since 1554

“The origins of the Cenci family, despite the claims of two thousand years of antiquity, date back reliably to the mid-fourteenth century (...). They were engaged in commercial activities and were in close relationship with the Roman aristocracy. Since this period, progressive acquisitions of properties in the area by members of the family lead to the establishment of an actual fortress, with towers, residential wings and services for common use - a balneum (bathing complex), an oven, a loggia, slaughterhouses and warehouses - the center of which was the church of St. Thomas” (Angela Catalano)

Restored in 1881
It belongs to the Brotherhood of the coachmen

COUNTER FAÇADE
Lunette “Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well” and “Two Evangelists” by an anonymous artist of the end of 1500s just like the other two on either side of the main altar

On the right “Banner with Enthroned Virgin Mary and Child (back) and Our Lady of Sorrows between angels with symbols of the Passion (front)” by an anonymous artist of the beginning of the 1700s

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
“Wooden crucifix” 1700

MAIN ALTAR
The altar is supported by “Two trapezophori with lions’ feet in white marble”
Round panel in turquoise murra, a very rare marble
Baptismal font resting on “Triangular base with dolphins and acanthus leaves” both of the Augustan period (27 AC/14 BC), and probably found in the area
Tabernacle and balustrade 1626
Altarpiece “Incredulity of St. Thomas” 1612 by Giuseppe Vermiglio (1585/1635), the only authentic work of this painter from Piedmont influenced by Caravaggio

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS
Vault “Stories of St. Francis” in 1612 by a late Mannerist anonymous artist influenced by Cavalier d’Arpino
Altarpiece “St. Francis praying in front of the crucifix” by an unknown artist of the end of 1500s

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF THE BAR
Cenci family patronage since 1453
Above the altar “Nativity of Jesus”, on the left “Nativity of the Virgin Mary” and on the right “Annunciation” 1565 by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80) a pupil of Perin del Vaga for Valerio Cenci
On the pilasters “Prophets” and on the vault “Stories from the life of St. Joachim” by Sermoneta with assistants

SACRISTY
“Cinerary urn” of the first century BC used as a water reservoir

St. ELIGIUS OF THE BLACKSMITHS

S. ELIGIO DEI FERRARI

Via di S. Giovanni Decollato 9

It was built over the ancient church of S. Martino and granted in 1453 by Pope Nicholas V (1447/55) to the Università dei Ferrari (University of the Blacksmiths)

It is also known as S. ALO or also as S. ANIGRO

It was rebuilt in 1562

Modified over the XVI, XVII and XX centuries

CEILING

1604 in wood and gilded stucco

1^st ALTAR ON THE RIGHT

“Wooden statue of St. Anthony” of the seventeenth century and frescoes of the sixteenth century

2^nd ALTAR ON THE RIGHT

“Holy Family and St. John” end of the sixteenth century by an anonymous Flemish artist

3^rd ALTAR ON THE RIGHT

Fragments of a mannerist fresco discovered in 1989 with “Way to Calvary”

MAIN ALTAR

“Madonna Enthroned, St. James and Bishops Martin and Eligius” late sixteenth century by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80)

“For the accuracy of the drawing, for the calm dignity of conception and composition, he stands out among the successors of Michelangelo. A good example is this Sacred Conversation made out of beautiful colors (...), which is divided into a strictly symmetrical upper half conductor and a freer lower half” (Hermann Voss)

In a reliquary is preserved a fragment of an arm of S. Eligius

3^rd ALTAR ON THE LEFT

1827 by Luigi Valadier (1726/85)

On the altar “Crucifixion” copy of the painting by Scipione Pulzone (about 1550/98) in the Chiesa Nuova

Some scholars believe that this is the original

2^nd ALTAR ON THE LEFT

“The Martyrdom and Glory of St. Ursula” 1764 by Ambrogio Mattei (1720/68)

1^st ALTAR ON THE LEFT

“S. Ampelio cured by angels” by an anonymous eighteenth-century artist

ORATORIO

Banner in silk with, on one side “Mary appears to St. Eligius” and, on the other side, “S. Ampelio cured by angels” 1750 by Pompeo Batoni (1708/87)

MUSEUM OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF S. ELIGIO DEI FERRARI

Small museum with vestments, relics and sacred furnishings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

St. ANDREW ON VIA FLAMINIA

S. ANDREA A VIA FLAMINIA

Via Flaminia 194

1552/53 Jacopo Barozzi aka Vignola (1507/73) for Julius III Ciocchi del Monte (1550/55)

It is also known as S. ANDREA DEL VIGNOLA (St. Andrew by Vignola) the only case in Rome and perhaps in the world of a church who took the name of its architect

“He was perhaps the best known and most representative architect of the late Renaissance. Central figure in the mannerist phase architecture, Vignola was characterized by his innovative and modular way of composing the masses through the application of architectural orders. (...) Simple is the church of St. Andrew (...), the first with a pseudo-central plan due to the use of the ellipse instead of the circle” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“There is no doubt that Vignola's artistic activity represents a strong reaction against Michelangelo's whims as a sculptor and architect, as well as his followers'. Instead of emphasizing unilaterally the sculptural effect of single elements, Vignola emphasizes again the rhythm and uniformity of the whole. The value of Vignola's work consists in refusing any personal arbitrary idea in favor of the general final result where the main feature is the proportionality of the surfaces. It is obvious that here are shown the same tendencies present in the Roman style of painting lead by the Zuccari's, which was opposing the arbitrary sculptural style of Michelangelo followed on by the Tuscan painters” (Hermann Voss)

Julius III wanted to build it as thanksgiving in memory of his escape on November 30, the day of St. Andrew, during the sack of Rome in 1527 from Palace of the Chancellery, where, still a cardinal, the Landsknechts held him captive

He offered his guards heavily drugged wine and fled with the help of Prospero Colonna

The popes never gave the church a pastoral function. It never had a convent or other ecclesiastical institution, it had no relic or miraculous icon to attract pilgrims and it was in an area that was virtually uninhabited until modern times

It was abandoned in the eighteenth century

Restored 1805 by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) who appreciated the austere style of the church close to his neo-classicism. It inspired his church of S. Maria Porto della Salute in Fiumicino

It was restored again in 1826 and 1828

It is the church of the Coptic community of Rome, the Christians from Egypt

“The Coptic rite is one of the oldest of Christianity, says Father Filippo, pastor of the Coptic Catholic community in Rome. During the Mass, sung entirely in Arabic the life of Jesus is celebrated, from birth, symbolized by the bread, to the resurrection, represented by the chalice emerging from its container, progressively freed from the sheets that cover it representing the shroud of Christ. The faithful always receive communion with both bread and wine” (Sandra Fratticci - www.piuculture.it)

BELL TOWER 1852

INTERIOR

Frescoes “Stories of St. Andrew” by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80) and Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527/96), both pupils of Perin del Vaga

MAIN ALTAR

“S. Andrew thanks God for the privilege of the crucifixion” by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta