St. PAUL AT THE REGOLA

S. PAOLO ALLA REGOLA

Via S. Paolo alla Regola 6

Founded according to tradition at the time of Pope Sylvester I (314/355) in a house that had already been converted into a chapel

It was known as SCHOLA PAULI (Paul's School) for the tradition according to which St. Paul lived here for two years. Tradition has it also that he wrote here his letters to the Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians and to Philemon which are part of the New Testament

The church was home to corporations including the ones of the Cappellari (hat makers), Vinai (wine makers), Barbieri (barbers), Cicoriari (chicory pickers) and Vaccinari (cowmen) 

Rebuilt since 1687 by G.B. Bergonzoni (1629/92) for the Third Regular Order of St. Francis of the Sicilian Nation

Consecrated in 1728

FAÇADE

Finished in 1721 with a project by Giacomo Cioli (?/1734) executed by Giuseppe Sardi (1680/1753)

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ROSALIA

Above the altar “Sts. Chiara, Rose of Viterbo and Rosalia” maybe by Cristoforo Creo

Oval painting on the right “Martyrdom of St. Erasmus” by Biagio Puccini (1673/1721)

BETWEEN 1^st AND 2^nd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

“Tomb of Bishop Pietro Gioeni” d. 1761

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS

Above the altar “St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata” 1695 by Michele Rocca (about 1675/1751) from Parma

Formerly erroneously attributed to Francesco Mazzola, who, just like Michele Rocca, was nicknamed Parmigianino

3^rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

Above the altar “Bronze crucifix” attributed to Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654) or Pietro Bracci (1700/73)

ABOVE THE DOOR OF THE ORATORY

Oval painting “St. Thomas Aquinas admires St. Bonaventure who had fallen into a trance” by Biagio Puccini

ORATORY OF St. PAUL

Oldest area of the church built on the ruins of the house, maybe prison, of St. Paul

Rebuilt 1931 by Antonio Muñoz (1884/1960)

Mosaic “St. Paul” by Eugenio Cisterna (1862/1933)

MAIN ALTAR

At the center “Conversion of St. Paul”, on the right “Martyrdom of St. Paul”, on the left “Preaching of St. Paul” about 1701 frescoes by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721), a pupil of Andrea Sacchi later influenced by Carlo Maratta

“Luigi Garzi went to Rome from Pistoia when he was very young (...) He was at the school of Andrea Sacchi whose teachings helped to direct him towards classicism. Sacchi in particular advised him to study the works of Raphael, Domenichino and Nicolas Poussin. Garzi studied also other classicists Emilian painters such as Guido Reni, and he preferred Giovanni Lanfranco above all. He was, however, decisively influenced by Carlo Maratta, 'so that he can be considered, as a painter, on a minor parallel line to Carlo Maratta, but with interesting differences and anticipations of the eighteenth century' (Sestieri, 1994)” (Gerardo Casale - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Eighteenth-century choir made out of walnut wood

ORGAN 1763 by Hans Conrad Wehrle (beginning eighteenth century/1771), German organ builder designer of numerous organs for churches in Rome and in the Lazio region, including that of St. Mary Magdalene

Marble tabernacle for the holy oils made in 1535

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF GRACE

Above the altar fresco beginning of fifteenth century “Our Lady of Grace” believed to be miraculous, formerly at the entrance of the old church

Above the door of the sacristy

Oval painting “Virgin Mary delivering the Child to St. Clare of Assisi” by Biagio Puccini

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. ANNA

Above the altar “St. Anna receives the Child Jesus from the arms of the Virgin” by Giacinto Calandrucci (1646/1707) a pupil of Carlo Maratta

In the vault frescoes “Glory of St. Anna” and “Prophets” by Salvatore Monosilio (active since 1744/d. 1776) who was also a pupil of Maratta

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. ANTHONY OF PADUA

Above the altar “St. Anthony of Padua with the Child in his arms” by Giacinto Calandrucci

Oval painting on the left “Miracle of the healing of the foot by St. Anthony” by Giacomo Dio

In the aedicula of the altar “Redeemer” fragment of a larger painting by an anonymous artist of the Veneto-Lombardy area

SACRISTY

1712 Alessandro De Grandis

Vault “St. Paul points out to St. John Chrysostom the Virgin Mary in Glory” by Ignazio Stern (1679/1748)

Walnut cabinets of 1736

Insula Romana di S. Paolo alla Regola

Ancient Roman Apartment Block of St. Paul at the Regola

Under PALAZZO SPECCHI, the building dating back to the sixteenth century to the right of the church, archaeologists found in the years 1978/82 a large brick building made out of four floors dating back to the imperial age with medieval phases of construction

Two of the ancient four floors are below the current street level 

The building was originally built at the time of Domitian (81/96 AD) to be used as a warehouse, maybe the HORREA VESPASIANI, used as part of the port and trading activities that took place along the nearby Tiber River

Two rooms in opus latericium (concrete covered with bricks) and two rooms with mosaic floors arranged on roads parallel to the Tiber and slightly sloping towards the river 

In the Severan period (early third century AD), the building was renovated and new warehouses, spacious halls and residential apartments were built. The new structures made the building rise to four stories in height

In the twelfth century on the ancient building a house with a tower was built, which is still visible behind Palazzo Specchi

St. MARY MAGDALENE

S. MARIA MADDALENA

Piazza della Maddalena 53

At first it was just a small chapel built in the fourteenth century

It was given in 1586 to St. Camillus De Lellis as the seat of the Ministers of the Sick

In 1621 room was cleared for a new square in front of the church

It was rebuilt in the years 1631/34 by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) from Bologna, who especially worked for the convent

The works continued with this sequence of architects:

1673 Carlo Fontana (1634/1714) (dome and vault)

1680/82 Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri (1655/1721)

1695 Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95)

Completed in 1699 by Giulio Carlo Quadri and Francesco Felice Pozzoni

FAÇADE

Designed in gorgeous Rococo style

1735 attributed to Giuseppe Sardi (1680/1753) but more likely by the engraver Domenico Barbiani and the Portuguese Emanuel Rodriguez Dos Santos

It is a unique example in Rome of application of the repertoire of ornamental Rococo to exterior architecture

Statues in the lower order “S. Filippo Neri” and “St. Camillus De Lellis” maybe by Paolo Campana

Statues in the higher order “S. Martha” and “St. Mary Magdalene” 1760 by Joseph Canard

It is the Church of the Abruzzo Region

ABOVE THE ENTRANCE

Exceptional ORGAN 1736 by Hans Conrad Wehrle (beginning XVIII century/1771), German organ builder designer of numerous organs for churches in Rome and in the Lazio region

Wooden gilt choir 1729/35 and stuccos done in 1740

VAULT

“Resurrection of Lazarus” and “Six stories of Mary Magdalene” 1730/32 by the Roman Michelangelo Cerruti (1663/1748)

On the walls niches “Statues of the Virtues” in stucco:

On the right “Verecunda”, “Fidelis” and “Lacrimabilis” maybe by Paolo Morelli (active from 1712/d. 1719)

On the left “Humilis” by Carlo Monaldi (about 1690/1760), “Secreta” and “Simplex” 1696 by Giuseppe Raffaelli

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS OF PAOLA

It was rebuilt in 1837 by Antonio Cipolla (1822/74)

Above the altar “St. Francis of Paola Resuscitating a Child” 1720 by Biagio Puccini (1673/1721)

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE SALUS INFIRMORUM

Decoration 1718 by Francesco Ferruzzi

Venerated image of “Our Lady of Health” by an unknown sixteenth-century artist

Above the altar “Angels in flight and the Holy Spirit” maybe by Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634/1721)

3^rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE RELICS OF St. CAMILLUS

1757 Francesco Nicoletti (?/1776)

Above the altar “St. Camillus has the vision of the Cross” 1749 by Placido Costanzi (1702/59)

Urn under the altar 1770 by Luigi Valadier (1726/85) with relics of St. Camillus De Lellis

Vault “Glory of St. Camillus” 1744 by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

Passage between the two chapels “Wooden statue of Mary Magdalene” by an unknown fifteenth-century artist

TO THE RIGHT OF THE MAIN ALTAR - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

1764 Francesco Nicoletti (?/1776)

On the altar “Wooden cross” of the end of the fifteenth century which, according to tradition, he spoke to St. Camillus De Lellis

MAIN ALTAR

1757 Francesco Nicoletti

Above the altar “St. Mary Magdalene in prayer” 1698 by Michele Rocca (about 1675/1751) from Parma

On the sides bas-reliefs: on the left “The three Marys at the Tomb” and on the right “Noli Me Tangere” by Francesco Gesuelli

Sculptural group on the pediment “Angels supporting the cross” by Pietro Pacilli (1716/after 1769)

APSE

“Preaching of Jesus” 1732 by Aureliano Milani (1675/1749)

ARC BETWEEN APSE AND DOME

“Dinner at the Pharisee's house” 1730/32 by Michelangelo Cerruti (1663/1748)

“Cerruti could not be part of the Academy of St. Luke. He opposed it in fact when, for the approval of a new statute that introduced a rigid and binding control of the members of the Academy on all the most important works in the field of fine arts, a dispute arose for the defense of the rights of the artists not belonging to the Academy. (...) Integration and adaptation of figurative painting with the real architecture of the church can be seen in the decoration of the ceiling and the arch of the tribune in St. Mary Magdalene, carried out in 1732 at the behest of father Costantini, provincial of Rome, with a wealth of inventions and innovations. We mention, among other things, the solution of fresco in the tribune in which the Supper in the Pharisee's house is represented as if it were the figuration of a tapestry held and expanded by angels in flight” (Michele Cordaro - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

DOME

“Holy Trinity in Glory” and spandrels “Doctors of the Church” 1739 by Etienne Parrocel (1696/1774)

TO THE LEFT OF THE MAIN ALTAR - CHAPEL OF THE RELICS

Above the altar “Death of St. Joseph” by Antonio Gagliardi

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. NICHOLAS OF BARI

1673 Carlo Fontana

Covered in marble in 1696 by Mattia De Rossi (1637/95) and Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri (1655/1721)

Above the altar “Christ, Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas of Bari” 1698 by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)

“Using the brightness of Veronese, Baciccio cleared out Roman painting of the seventeenth century, opposing his terse and brilliant color solutions not only to the anachronisms, but also to whatever more advanced one could see in Rome at that time. It would suffice to enter today in any Roman church where there is an altar piece or a fresco by Gaulli to notice the incredible difference in terms of values of light and colors compared to what one could see around. This quality of light and colors, mind you, is not the one of the Thirties, from the Veneto region, inspired by Titian's bodied and dense matter that dissolves the form, but it is substantiated by smooth and unwrinkled surfaces designed with drawing, which, for their uniformity of matter, are even more vivid” (Francesco Petrucci)

On the sides “Miracles of St. Nicholas” by Bonaventura Lamberti (about 1653/1721)

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. LORENZO GIUSTINIANI

Above the altar “St. Lawrence Giustiniani adoring the Child” 1704 by Luca Giordano (1634/1705), his last masterpiece

“The speed with which he produced his great improvisations was proverbial, and he was soon nicknamed 'Luca fa presto' (Luca is quick). He considered the whole past an open book for his own purposes. He studied Dürer as well as Lucas Van Leyden, Rubens as well as Rembrandt, Ribera as well as Veronese, Titian as well as Raphael and he was able to paint in any way he chose, but he never copied. He was inspired by all traditions rather than being tied to one and his personal style is always unmistakable. Evidently the purpose of painting for him was fun. In Rome and Venice his influence became extraordinarily strong, and on an international scale the effect of his art cannot be overstated” (Rudolf Wittkower)

Above the pediment of the altar fresco “Angels in Flight” by Girolamo Pesci (1679/1759)

On the left “Tomb of Maffeo Farsetti” 1704 by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE ASSUMPTION

Above the altar “Assumption” by Girolamo Pesci who also painted the angels on the ceiling

SACRISTY

1739 Francesco Rosa (active from 1674/d. 1687) in rococo style, one of Rome's most beautiful

Closets at the corners 1740 by Domenico Barbiani

In the vault “Glory of Sts. Camillus and Filippo Neri” by Girolamo Pesci

On the first floor CHAPEL OF St. CAMILLUS with his relics 1732 by Emanuel Rodriguez Dos Santos, in the place where St. Camillus died