HOLY STAIRS

SCALA SANTA
Piazza di S. Giovanni in Laterano

1587/89 Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) for Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90)

Arches closed in 1853 by Francesco Azzurri (1831/1901)

Built to preserve the chapel of S. Lorenzo in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum (S. Lawrence in the Palace of the Holy of Holies) originally built for Nicholas III Orsini (1277/80) but already mentioned in the sources of the end of the sixth century

“The experience of the construction of the transept of the Upper Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, and, according to Marina Righetti Tosti-Croce, also Cistercian constructions through which came the influence of French Gothic, were clearly an inspiration for the architecture of the ‘Sancta Sanctorum’, the Holy of Holies. Here the model of Assisi appears, however, proposed to a lesser extent and measured, as exemplified in the fake tunnel with trefoil arches, with more direct references to the classical Roman tradition, reaching a result that combines tradition and innovation” (Emanuela Marino)

SCULPTURES IN THE ATRIUM
From right “Pius IX in prayer” 1877 by Tomasz Oscar Sosnowski (1810/86)
“Jesus praying in the Garden” 1915/17 by Giulio Aristide Sartorio (1860/1932)
At the center marble groups “Kiss of Judas” 1855 and “Ecce Homo” 1857 by Ignazio Jacometti (1819/83)
On the left “Pietà” 1875 by Tomasz Oscar Sosnowski and “Jesus at the column” 1874 by Giuseppe Meli

STAIRS
28 marble steps of Proconnesio marble from the Marmara Sea covered in wood in 1723 to prevent the wear and tear

It is believed they are the ones that Jesus went up three times in the Palace of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem (Scala Pylati)
It is also believed that the steps were brought here by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine in the year 326

Originally the steps made up the stairway entrance to the Patriarchìo (Patriarchate), the old papal palace

The stairs can only be climbed up by the faithful kneeling and red spots are visible on the steps, tracks, according to an extremely improbable belief, of the blood of Christ
The first information of any devotion for the stairs dates back, however, only to 1450, while before that date they are not even called holy and it appears they didn’t have any kind of devotional consideration

The stairs were moved from the old location in the old, now destroyed, papal palace to the new papal palace in a single night in 1589. They were reassembled in reverse, with the original first step which is the last one now, so that the workers who carried out the displacement would not have walked on the steps

“It was the seat of an actual law court and a stage at the same time to perform punishment and even death sentences” (Cesare D'Onofrio)

VAULT AND WALLS OF THE STAIRS
“Stories of the Old Testament” and “Stories of Christ” 1586/90 iconography designed by Giovanni Guerra (1544/1618) mainly executed by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624), Giacomo Stella (1545/about 1630), Paris Nogari (about 1536/1601), Andrea Lilio (about 1555/1632), Paul Brill (1554/1626), Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643), Ferraù Fenzone (1562/1645)

“Andrea Lilio painted on the walls of the Holy Stairs various scenes of the Legend of Moses and among them the fresco with the Miracle of the Source deserves special attention. The style of Lilio is not always uniform: among his works carried out quickly and often superficially, there are works of great quality made with great precision. What sets him apart is the unusually irregular and broken character of the design and the iridescent coloring” (Hermann Voss)

“Paul Brill in the History of Jonah shows a lively and exciting fantasy that seeks to unify the wealth of ideas of the Nordic peoples with Italian clarity” (Hermann Voss)

Among the ones who also collaborated:
Avanzino Nucci (1552/1629), Antonio Viviani aka il Sordo (1560/1620), Cesare Torelli, Paolo Guidotti aka il Cavalier Borghese (1560/1629), Baldassarre Croce (about 1553/1628), Antonio Scalvati (1557/1622), Girolamo Nanni (about 1569/about 1642), Vincenzo Conti (second half of the 1500s/about 1620), Prospero Orsi, Giuseppe Franco aka Giuseppe Monti or “delle Lodole” (1565/1628), Ventura Salimbeni (1568/1613), Giovanni Alberti (1558/1601) and Cherubino Alberti (1553/1615) (as many as 21 artists in total!)

Unknown Flemish artists also collaborated for inserts with landscapes and topographical details
“Three ancient lintels” recycled here above the gaps in the upper part of the stairs

SANCTA SANCTORUM (Holy of Holies)
Remade in 1278 by members of the Cosmati family
“Bronze door” of the third or fourth century AD perhaps from the ancient Patriarchìo (Patriarchate)

Important frescoes on the VAULT “Four Evangelists” and on the WALLS “Sts. Peter, Paul, Lawrence, Stephen, Nicholas and Agnes”, “Nicholas III presents the Holy of Holies to the Saviour between Sts. Peter and Paul” about 1280 maybe by Jacopo Torriti (active 1270/1300) and Pietro de' Cerroni aka Pietro Cavallini (about 1240/about 1325) (according to Serena Romano) or by Cenni di Pepo aka Cimabue (about 1240/1302) (according to Pietro Longhi)

“The face of Nicholas III is the first real portrait in the painting Gothic civilization in central Italy” (Serena Romano)

“These frescos for the excellent condition and high quality style can reasonably be estimated as the most significant text of artistic Roman culture of the end of the thirteenth century, also considering the possibility to date them accurately. Recent studies are therefore reassessing their central role in relation to the parallel and important site of Assisi” (Emanuela Marino)

VAULT OF THE PRESBYTERY
Mosaic “Christ Pantocrator blessing” in a medallion supported by four angels about 1280

“The mosaic, which shows significant technical similarities with the paintings, as revealed by the restoration of 1994, it differs, however, from the paintings for modes more similar to Byzantine prototypes” (Emanuela Marino)

FAKE GALLERY
“Madonna and Child, saints and prophets” 1590 maybe by Girolamo Nanni (about 1569/about 1642), Ventura Salimbeni (1568/1613), Baldassare Croce (about 1553/1628), Andrea Lilio (about 1555/1632) and Paris Nogari (about 1536/1601)

MAIN ALTAR
Painting on board “Redeemer” acheropita (believed not to be painted by human hands) dating back to about fifth or sixth century, on which it is superimposed a copy of silk of the beginning of the thirteenth century

In the altar were kept SOME OF THE MOST PRECIOUS CHRISTIAN RELICS many of which stolen:
A piece of the Cross of Jesus, the heads of Sts. Peter and Paul, the sandals of Jesus, the sofa of the Last Supper, the rod of Moses, the manna descended from heaven, the bread of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, two ampoules with the blood spilled by the side of Jesus, the bread of the Last Supper, the sponge that was offered on the cross, the navel of Jesus and, incredibly, the foreskin of the Child Jesus

The holy foreskin was stolen, according to tradition, by a lansquenet in 1527 during the sack of Rome and ended up, somehow, in a church in the village called Calcata, 47 km (29 miles) north of Rome, where it was venerated until 1985 when it mysteriously disappeared

CHAPEL OF St. LAWRENCE
1587/89 Domenico Fontana (1543/1607)
Above the altar fresco “St. Lawrence venerated by the faithful underneath God the Father and the Son” by Baldassare Croce (about 1553/1628)
Four lunettes with “Landscapes” by Paul Brill (1554/1626)
Ceiling and pediments “Trinity in glory, saints and prophets” maybe by Giovanni Guerra (1544/1618) and Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)

CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
1936/37 by Vincenzo Mannucci
“Wooden crucifix” by an anonymous artist of the fifteenth century

CHAPEL OF St. SYLVESTER
1587/89 Domenico Fontana. It is used as choir
Vault “Triumph of Sixtus V” maybe by Giovanni Alberti (1558/1601) and Cherubino Alberti (1553/1615)
Lunettes with “Landscapes” by Paul Brill (1554/1626)
“Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross” of the second half of the eighteenth century by Tommaso Maria Conca (1734/1822)

SYRIAN SANCTUARY

SANTUARIO SIRIACO
Via Dandolo 47

It had three phases of construction:

1)       First century AD

2)       Second half of the second century AD for the rich Syrian merchant Marcus Antonius Gaionas

3)       The last one, maybe after a fire, in the fourth century AD

It was discovered in 1906 during the works for the construction of a building in medieval style called CASTELLETTO inserted in the area of Villa Sciarra owned at the time by the American diplomat George Wurts

It is a unique building for the plan and for the technique of construction employed, consisting mainly of walls in blocks of tufa
Two opposing sides separated by a central courtyard evidently intended to accommodate the faithful, on the south side of which the entrance to the temple opened

SECTOR TO THE WEST OF THE COURTYARD
Better preserved and most probably intented for the worship
Hall with an apse at the bottom, preceded by a sort of vestibule flanked by two long narrow rooms
In this room a “marble statue” representing Jupiter without attributes was found (maybe Hadad the Jupiter of Heliopolis, the chief god of the Heliopolitan triad or Osiris) sitting on a throne

SECTOR TO THE EAST OF THE COURTYARD
Diamond-shaped room with a triangular altar in the center, preceded by a small room with an apse and flanked by two more rooms with a pentagonal plan
In this area of the temple probably reserved for priests and practices of initiation was found the most important piece of the entire excavation:

A “Bronze statuette” 50 cm (20 inches) high, (now in the Museo delle Terme) representing a male character mummy-looking, whose body is wrapped in the coils of a snake
The small idol, probably to be identified with Osiris, was buried inside the triangular altar, apparently in connection with a ritual of death and symbolic resurrection

POLLING STATION OF JULIUS CAESAR

SAEPTA IULIA
Via dei Cestari/Via del Gesù

26 BC. Giant square of 310 x 120 m (1,017 x 394 feet)

Designed by Julius Caesar (100/44 BC) but finished by his son-in-law Agrippa (about 63/12 BC) and dedicated to the memory of the dictator

It was the place for the elections with the south appendix, DIRIBITORIUM, used for counting. It was divided by wooden partitions to facilitate the electoral process

Here ended the arches of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct

On the long sides of the square, two porticos were named from the works of art kept in them:
To the west (side of the Pantheon, corresponding to Via dei Cestari) the PORTICO OF THE ARGONAUTS
To the east (side of the Temple of Isis, corresponding to Via del Gesù) the PORTICO OF MELEAGER

Roman citizens were divided into groups and the majority was figured out not per heads but per groups which could be small groups if consisting of rich people and very large groups if consisting of poor people

For the COMIZI TRIBUTI which elected the tribunes of the people, and promulgated almost all laws, citizens were divided into 35 groups called tribes, 4 inside and 31 outside of Rome

For the COMIZI CENTURIATI which elected the magistrates, decide on matters of war and peace and of death sentences, the citizens were divided into 193 groups called centurias from five different classes differentiated by wealth

80 centurias belonged to the first class and 20 centurias to the second class representing together the absolute majority (at least 97), making useless the vote of the other three classes that often then didn’t even bother to vote, as the first class was the first to cast its vote, followed by the second and so on

Therefore the Roman Republic, as well as Sparta and Athens and the Greek cities, rather than being a democracy was a TIMOCRACY, which is a republic formally participatory, but where the political class became such in virtue of the wealth of its members. The situation is actually not much different to the majority of so-called Western “democracies” today

“Military service was exclusively for the richest, who also obtained the largest political rights; (...) The vote was no longer per head, as had been established by Romulus; rather the differences were established so that no one seemed to have been excluded from the vote, but also so that all authority resided in wealthier citizens” (Livy)
From August onwards the Saepta Iulia were only a monumental square, which was used primarily as a place for shows or as a market for antiques and works of art

St. PAUL'S WITHIN THE WALLS

ST. PAUL'S WITHIN THE WALLS
Via Napoli 58/angolo Via Nazionale

1872/76 George Edmund Street (1824/81) for Rev. Robert Jenkins Nevin

PORTAL
Mosaics “St. Paul teaching the gospel in Rome” - with quote from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians: That in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, I will rejoice and I will continue to rejoice - and on the corners of the rose window “Four evangelists” 1909 by the American George William Breck (1863/1920)

On either side of the façade “Iron gates” 1879 by George Edmund Street made in England and transported to Rome by sea

“The decorative motifs of flowers and plants of the gates anticipate solutions of Art Nouveau” (Flaminia Giorgi Rossi)

“Bronze doors” 1977 by Dimitri Hadzi (1921/2006)

American Protestant Episcopal Church

First non-Catholic Christian church built in Rome after the fall of the Papal States

COUNTER FAÇADE
Mosaics “Adoration of the Magi” and around the rose window, “Old Testament scenes”: “Creation of the World”, “Adam called to life”, “Bethlehem” and “Jerusalem” 1913 by George William Breck with glass by the firm Castelli of Murano which was responsible for all the mosaics of the church

“Compared to the atmosphere of rarefied melancholy and refined symbolism, which dominates the mosaics of Burne-Jones, one can find in the mosaics by Breck, by this time an artist of the new century, a certain vitality and optimism expressed through the use of vivid and dazzling colors which are the key features of American painting” (Flaminia Giorgi Rossi)

Rose window in glass painted with “Christ and the saints” 1876 by the British firm Clayton and Bell

“Two sarcophagi” of the second or third century AD donated by the Rev. Robert Jenkins Nevin

IN THE NAVE
Pillars with columns of red granite from Sardinia surrounded by four half-columns of Carrara marble
Thirteen stained glass windows with “Scenes from the Life of St. Paul” 1876 by the British firm Clayton and Bell

NEXT TO THE 1^st COLUMN ON THE RIGHT
“Sarcophagus” of the second or third century AD

AT THE END OF THE RIGHT NAVE
“Marble baptismal font” 1100s/1200s

APSE WITH MOSAICS:

BASIN
“Christ in glory between the archangels and the heavenly Jerusalem” 1885 with the writing in Hebrew: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and in Greek In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

WALLS OF THE APSE
“The Church Triumphant and the Church Militant” with “Five groups of people: ascetics such as St. Francis receiving the stigmata, a group of women, the most important people of the church in front of St. Paul, the procession of virgins and martyrs and Christian warriors patron saints of various countries”

WALL APSE
“Paradise on Earth with Christ on the tree of life in between Adam and Eve” 1904

TRIUMPHANT ARCH
“Annunciation” 1881/98 all works of Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833/98) with his pupil Thomas Matthew Rooke (1842/1942), who completed the triumphal arch in 1907
Burne-Jones was chosen by Street in 1881 before dying

He represented political and ecclesiastical authorities of his time:
In the role of Christian warriors Burne-Jones portrayed the US president in 1873 General Grant (St. Patrick, 3^rd from left), Giuseppe Garibaldi (S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli, 2^nd from left), Abraham Lincoln (St. Andrew, 4^th from left), Theodore Roosevelt, father of President Roosevelt, who in 1874 had made a donation for the construction of the church, and, standing with his spear, the pupil Thomas Matthew Rooke

In the roles of the most important of the church Burne-Jones portrayed himself as St. John Chrysostom, to the left of St. Paul

In the procession of virgins and martyrs St. Barbara with the tower has the features of his wife Georgiana and St. Dorothy with roses those of his daughter Margaret

“He summoned the medieval Byzantine tradition, but with imaginative tone, modern eye and unique iconography. From the gold background characters emerge evocative of an ideal beauty and of an inevitable end: key ideas of the culture of his time. The work made a strong impression on the Roman artistical scene of the end of the century suspended between symbolism and decadence. First of all, Giulio Aristide Sartorio, who considered the mosaics by Burne-Jones as the best example of the evolution of the Pre-Raphaelite style in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance” (Flaminia Giorgi Rossi)

ON THE DOOR OF THE SACRISTY
“Bronze plaque commemorating the Rev. Robert Jenkins Nevin” by George William Breck

NEXT TO THE 1^st COLUMN ON THE LEFT
“Wooden pulpit” 1909 by George William Breck

SACRISTY
Ancient and medieval pieces from the Nevin Collection including medieval friezes and a statue in marble of “Poseidon with dolphin” of the second or third century AD

RECTORATE
Adjacent to the church on the side of Via Napoli in Venetian Gothic style

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

HOLY TRINITY OF THE PILGRIMS

SS. TRINITÀ DEI PELLEGRINI
Via Trinità dei Pellegrini/angolo Via dei Pettinari

Eleventh or twelfth century, formerly known as S. Benedetto de Arenula (St. Benedict of Arenula) connected to the hospice for pilgrims and convalescents founded in 1540 by S. Filippo Neri

Rebuilt in the years 1603/16 by Paolo Maggi (?/1613) from a design by Martino Longhi the Elder (1534/91)

In 1690 G.B. Contini (1641/1723) inserted eight columns in the pillars of the dome

FAÇADE
1722/23 by Francesco De Sanctis (1693/1740) with “Statues of the four evangelists” by Bernardino Ludovisi (about 1713/49)
Francesco De Sanctis after completing this façade designed and executed in the following three years the famous Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna

INTERIOR remodeled in 1858 by Antonio Sarti (1797/1880)

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY CROSS
“Wooden crucifix” of the seventeenth century
Frescoes with scenes of the “Passion” of the beginning of 1600s by an anonymous artist influenced by Giovanni Alberti

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FILIPPO NERI
1852 designed by Antonio Sarti
Above the altar “Ecstasy of S. Filippo Neri” by Filippo Bigioli (1798/1898)

3^rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF S. G.B. DE ROSSI
Above the altar “Christ with the Virgin Mary and Sts. John the Baptist and Filippo Neri” 1882 by Antonio Bianchini (1803/84)
Frescoes “Stories of St. Julius” about 1615 by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624)

RIGHT TRANSEPT
Marble group “St. Matthew “1587/1602 by Jacob Cornelisz Cobaert aka Cobe the Dutch (about 1535/1615), who had sculpted it for the Contarelli Chapel in S. Luigi dei Francesi. However, it was rejected by the client Matteo Contarelli

It was purchased by the Crescenzi family and it was made complete in 1615 with the “Angel” by Pompeo Ferrucci (about 1566/1637)

“The marked Mannerism of the apostle contrasts here with the Baroque figure of the angel, echoing the style of Francesco Mochi and elements of classical sculpture which Ferrucci liked very much” (Roberto Luciani)

MAIN ALTAR
“Holy Trinity” by Guido Reni 1625/26 (1575/1642) for Cardinal Ludovisi

PENDENTIVES
“Four Evangelists” about 1612 by G.B. Ricci

DOME
In the lantern “Eternal Father” 1612 by Guido Reni

LEFT TRANSEPT
“Sts. Joseph and Benedict” by G.B. Ricci, containing a fragment of a fresco with “Madonna and Child” originally on the outside wall of Palazzo Capranica and considered miraculous

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. GREGORY THE GREAT
Above the altar “Mass of St. Gregory” by Baldassare Croce (about 1553/1628), who also painted the frescoes on the walls

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF Sts. FRANCIS AND AUGUSTINE
Above the altar “Madonna and Child with Sts. Augustine and Francis” by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavaliere d'Arpino (1568/1640)
Frescoes “Four Doctors of the Church and the four Evangelists” by Baldassare Croce

1^st LEFT – CHAPEL OF St. CHARLES BORROMEO
“Madonna and Child with Sts. Dominic, Anthony, Charles Borromeo and Filippo Neri” 1677 by Guillaume Courtois aka il Borgognone (1628/79), other paintings by G.B. Ferretti

SACRISTY
1644 designed by Giacomo Mola (?/1650)
“Annunciation” by G.B. Ricci and “Mass of St. Gregory” about 1572 by Jacopo Zucchi (about 1542/96) with the face of the client right in the center of the painting, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who inspired Caravaggio for one of the faces of his Deposition in the Chiesa Nuova, now in the Vatican Museums

HOSPITAL-HOSPICE FOR PILGRIMS AND CONVALESCENTS
1622/25 by Giacomo Mola (?/1650)
In 1849 here died the Italian patriot Goffredo Mameli, author of the lyrics of the Italian national anthem

HOLY TRINITY OF THE MOUNTAINS

SS. TRINITÀ DEI MONTI
Piazza Trinità dei Monti 3

The construction began in 1502 for the French king Louis XII (reigned 1498-1515) and it was consecrated in 1585 for Pope Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90)

FAÇADE
1584 maybe by Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) but, more likely, by Annibale Lippi (active in Rome in the second half of the sixteenth century), son of Giovanni Lippi aka Nanni di Baccio Bigio, and Gregorio Caronica, collaborator of Giacomo Della Porta

STAIRS
1587 by Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) with ancient capitals and reliefs
Sixtus V wanted two side ramps, not a front ramp, so as not to hinder the Via Felice, which had just been opened

In 1798 the church was used as a stable by French revolutionary troops

In 1800 the vault collapsed

Restored 1816 by Carlo Francesco Mazois (1783/1826) for the French King Louis XVIII (he reigned in the years 1814/24)

French National Church granted to the French nuns of the Sacred Heart

INTERIOR modified in 1774

1^st RIGHT - ALTOVITI CHAPEL 
Above the altar “Baptism of Christ”, on the sides “Stories of St. John the Baptist” about 1580 by G.B. Naldini (about 1537/91)

“All in all, in the art of this successor of Vasari there is certainly still alive a great expression of the old tradition. The accuracy and security of the drawing style of Naldini are still due mostly to his master, Pontormo” (Hermann Voss)

3^rd RIGHT - DELLA ROVERE CHAPEL
Frescoes 1548/60 by Daniele da Volterra (1509/66) helped by Marco Pino aka Marco da Siena (about 1525/87), Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527/96), Giovanni Paolo Rossetti, Michele Alberti (active in the years 1535/82) and the Spanish Gaspar Becerra (1520/70):
In the center, above the altar “Assumption” with a portrait of Michelangelo staring at the viewer
On the right “Presentation in the Temple” by Daniele da Volterra
On the left “Massacre of the Innocents” by Michele Alberti

“To save space, Daniele da Volterra imagined the altar of the chapel as the tomb around which the apostles gathered, so that they, at the side of the altar, came to stand directly on the floor, it was an innovation that sparked a lot of discussion but on the whole failed, and rightly so. More important as a composition is the scene of the Massacre of the Innocents executed by Alberti, worthy of praise for the great spatial arrangement, which features the theme of the stairs, and the richness of the plastic patterns” (Hermann Voss)

4^th RIGHT - ORSINI CHAPEL
Above the altar “Flagellation” 1817 by the French Louis Vincent Palliere (1787/1820)
Frescoes “Scenes of the Passion of Christ” by Paris Nogari (about 1536/1601)
On the walls “Gravestones of Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi and of Cecilia Orsini” 1567 by Leonardo Sormani (before 1530/after 1589)

6^th CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Frescoes of the beginning of 1500s of Umbrian school, maybe by a follower of Perugino

OVAL CHAPEL 
Altar on the right “St. Michael the Archangel” about 1758 by Domenico Corvi (1721/1803) from Viterbo

MAIN ALTAR
Designed in 1676 by ​​Jean de Champagne
On the right “St. Louis receiving the royal crown” 1820 by Charles Theenin
In the center “Crucifixion” by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)
On the left seventeenth-century copy of the “Deposition” by Daniele da Volterra

CHAPEL TO THE LEFT OF THE MAIN ALTAR
Above the altar “Coronation of the Virgin Mary” by Federico Zuccari (about 1542/1609)

7^th LEFT - PUCCI CHAPEL
“Stories of the Old and of the New Testament” 1520/27 by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

“The main scene is a Visitation rich of figures and architectural elements. It later became the visual model for numerous religious ceremonies” (Hermann Voss)

The cycle was completed in the years 1563/66 by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66) and, after his death in 1566 by his younger brother Federico Zuccari

6^th CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
On the right “The Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins” and on the left “The Prodigal Son” by Alexander Maximilian Seitz (1811/88), a pupil of Friedrich Overbeck and father of Ludovico Seitz

5^th LEFT - MASSIMO CHAPEL
“Eternal Lord with the dead Christ”, “Assumption, Augustus and the Sibyl” began in 1537 by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga in collaboration with Daniele da Volterra (1509/66)
Completed in the years 1563/89 Federico Zuccari and Taddeo Zuccari. Little remains of the original decoraion

4^th LEFT - CARDELLI CHAPEL
Above the altar “St. Joseph with the Child Jesus” about 1840 by Lucien Theophile Langlois (1803/45)

3^rd LEFT - ORSINI CHAPEL
Above the altar “Immaculate Conception” 1830 by Philipp Veit (1793/1877) the best colorist among the Nazarene painters
On the right “Annunciation” and on the left “Visitation” by Joseph Ernst Tunner (1792/1877) another Nazarene painter, a pupil of Philipp Veit

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “Deposition” 1541/45 by Daniele da Volterra (1509/66) commissioned by Elena Orsini. It was originally located in the Orsini Chapel

“It still shows the influence of Perin del Vaga in the restless and moved arrangement of the drapes; but what for the latter was resolved in a sophisticated formal elegance, it does translates here into a more tense and dramatic vision. The work is one of the most representative of the second phase of the Mannerist style not only for stylistic originality due to the animated monumentality and to the accurate breakdown of the levels, but also for the personal reading of the cultural components that converge in here: from the lesson of the Tuscan artists of the previous generation, like Rosso Fiorentino, to the formal and philosophical torment of the last period of Michelangelo’s life” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

Other frescoes 1571/77 by Paolo Céspedes and Cesare Arbasia

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE CRUCIFIXION
Granted in 1574 to Marcantonio Borghese whose children commissioned “Stories of Passion” 1589/90 by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)
The “Crucifixion” was moved behind the altar and now there is a plaster cast of the destroyed “Pietà” of the Cathedral of Munster by Wilhelm Theodor Achtermann (1799/1844)

VESTIBULE OF THE SACRISTY
“Coronation of the Virgin Mary”, “Annunciation” and “Visitation” by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66)

“Taddeo Zuccari died thirty-seven year old and at the peak of his success. If one would take a look at the work of his whole life, it looms very clearly the image of a new generation that is no longer content to latch on to the school of Raphael or Michelangelo, a generation aspiring to a kind of art that would like to blend the best of both artists, pictorially fused together with the echo of a third one: Correggio” (Hermann Voss)

CORRIDOR
“Meridian” 1687 designed by the French Emanuel Maignan (1601/76) to figure out the time of the major cities in the world when it was noon in Rome
Maignan also painted the amazing “Anamorphosis” with landscape and St. Francis of Paola hermit in Calabria
Another anamorphosis by his pupil Jean François Niceron has been lost

CLOISTER
Lunettes painted with “Stories of St. Francis of Paola” by:
Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640), Paris Nogari (about 1536/1601), Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626), Girolamo Massei (?/1614-19), Giacomo Semanza (1580/1638) and Marco Marchetti aka Marco da Faenza (about 1526/88)

 “Portraits of the Kings of France” 1616 by Avanzino Nucci (1552/1629) and others

REFECTORY
La plus belle salle à manger qu'il eut dans Rome (the most beautiful dining room to be found in Rome) with quadrature architecture representing “Stories of the Order of the Minims” 1694 by Andrea Pozzo (1642/1709)

HERMITAGE ROOM
Small room known as “Room of ruins” painted like the interior of an ancient temple in ruins in 1760 by Charles Louis Clérisseau (1721/1820)

HOLY TRINITY OF THE SPANISH PEOPLE

SS. TRINITÀ DEGLI SPAGNOLI
Via Condotti 41

1741/46 Emanuel Rodriguez Dos Santos (about 1702/74) for the Bishop Diego Morcillo of the Order of the Shod Trinitarians who sent 200,000 pesos from Peru

The Portuguese architect was joined in the years 1741/44 by Giuseppe Sardi (1680/1753)

There was a dispute between the Trinitarians and Dos Santos, who was considered too experimental

“If the extreme attention to detail has led to describe, as a recurring feature of the works of Dos Santos, a certain 'over-emphasis of detail with respect to the structural frame' (A. Marino), also evident in the façade of the church in question, however, Dos Santos was not lacking quality as an urban planner, evident in the brilliant solution of the inclusion of the church itself in the urban context: the qualification of the surrounding space is achieved through the 'creation of a plastic-spatial structure able to blend seamlessly with the urban surroundings' (Tafuri)” (Daria Colonna)

The church was consecrated in 1750
It passed in 1895 to the Spanish Dominicans

FAÇADE
ABOVE THE PORTAL there is the sculptural group “Angel freeing two chained slaves” by Pietro Pacilli (1716/after 1769)
In the NICHES statues of the founding saints of the order: on the left “St. Felix of Valois” and on the right “St. John of Matha” by Pascasio La Tour

“On entering the church one is struck by the tone of polite composure and consistency of style that characterizes the decoration as a whole, conceived and developed within a few years, both in terms of general fittings and for the individual works of art. About the latter, the Longhi even coined the formula of 'culture of Via Condotti' to indicate that interesting episode of Roman artistic life represented by paintings of the Trinity of the Spaniards” (Daria Colonna)

VAULT

“St. John de Matha in glory” 1748 by Gregorio Guglielmi (1714/73) who also painted “Virgin Mary among the Trinitarians” in the CEILING OF THE CHOIR BALCONY

“He was perhaps the greatest exponent of Roman Rococo. He gave his figures, although hoisted between daring perspectives and unbelievable foreshortenings, a full-bodied and clear corposity, with a new attention derived from the Enlightenment focused on the new spectacle of the world, on familiar and exotic habits. After 1750 he also, like Giaquinto, left the city, to carry out his brilliant career as a fresco painter at the major courts of northern Europe” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

CHAPEL TO THE RIGHT OF THE VESTIBULE
Above the altar “Good Shepherd” by Antonio Gonzalez Velazquez (1723/93), a pupil of Corrado Giaquinto

“The theme of derivation from Murillo with a strong devotional message is treated with a pictorial refinement, sensitive to the teachings of his master” (Daria Colonna)

On the left “S. Miguel de Los Santos” 1779 by Andrea Casali (1705/84), a pupil of Sebastiano Conca and Francesco Trevisani. He painted sixteen canvas in this church

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
Above the altar “Martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria” 1764 maybe by Giuseppe Paladini (1721/94) but, more likely, by Andrea Casali
On the left “Miracle of the wheel” and on the right “St. Catherine of Alexandria ascends to heaven” 1771 by Andrea Casali

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FELIX OF VALOIS
Above the altar “Sts. John de Matha and Felix of Valois” 1775
On the right “Vision of St Felix of Valois” and on the left “Miracle of St. Felix of Valois with the blind child” 1776 all works by Andrea Casali

3^rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE PIETÀ
Above the altar “Deposition of Christ between Mary Magdalene, Mary and St. John the Evangelist” 1777
On the right “Fall under the Cross” and on the left “Flagellation” 1777 all works by Andrea Casali

MAIN CHAPEL
Above the altar “The Holy Trinity assists in the liberation of a slave carried out by an angel” about 1749 by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66)
It is a splendid work of solemn monumentality and exceptional richness of color, typical features of his maturity
Paintings on the walls “Innocent III dei Conti di Segni (1198/1216) recognizes the Trinitarians” and “Two Founders of the Order”
Frescoes in the dome “Abraham and the Three Angels” and pendentives “Evangelists” 1750 by Antonio Gonzàlez Velàzquez (1723/93) of such excellent workmanship technique that they have led to the belief (rebutted) that they had been retouched by Francisco Goya in 1770

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Above the altar “Immaculate Conception” 1750 by Francisco Preciado (1713/89), a pupil of Sebastiano Conca
On the right “Annunciation” and on the left “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” 1781 maybe by Michele Espinosa de la Torre or Andrea Casali

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOHN DE MATHA
Above the altar “St. John De Matha” by Gaetano Lapis (1706/76) who also studied with Sebastiano Conca
On the right “St. John De Matha receives money from the Virgin Mary to free slaves” 1779 and on the left “Miracle of St. John De Matha” 1776 by Andrea Casali

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. AGNES
Above the altar “Martyrdom of St. Agnes” 1750 by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)
This painting is among the most unorthodox and dramatically effective of all the ecclesiastical paintings of the eighteenth century in Rome
On the right “St. Agnes goes to martyrdom” and on the left “Apparition of St. Agnes to her parents” 1773 by Andrea Casali

SACRISTY
1758 Marco David (active in Rome 1754/65)
Vault “St. Ambrose and the two founder saints among angels, slaves and heretics” about 1747 by Gregorio Guglielmi (1714/73)
“Bust in a round frame of Bishop Diego Morcillo” who commissioned the church, by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

CONVENT
Paintings by Francisco Preciado (1713/89), Giuliano Presutti (active 1490/1554) and Antonio Gonzàlez Velàzquez (1723/93)