HOLY CROSS AND St. BONAVENTURE OF THE PEOPLE FROM LUCCA

S. CROCE E S. BONAVENTURA DEI LUCCHESI
Via dei Lucchesi 3
Built in the years 1575/80 for Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85)
The church incorporated two medieval churches, the oldest of which reused an ancient building of the second/fourth century AD
In the twelfth century the second church was built over the first one with the name of S. Nicolao de Trivio
From the fifteenth century the church took the name of S. Nicolao de Porcis or S. Nicola de Portiis from the name of the family De Portiis who lived in the area or perhaps even for the ancient Forum Suarium, the pork market that until the fourth century AD included also this area
It was granted by the Colonna family in 1536 to the Capuchins who moved in 1631 to their new church, S. Maria della Concezione
The church was in the same year assigned to the nation of Lucca and took its present name

FAÇADE and INTERIOR 1682/95 maybe by Mattia De Rossi (1637/95)

1859/63 interior restoration by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82)

CEILING

“The emperor Heraclius returns the Cross in Jerusalem”, “Angels with the shroud of Veronica”, “Angels and the Holy Face” and “Putti with symbols of the Passion” 1673/77 by the Lucchese Giovanni Coli (1636/81) and Filippo Gherardi (1643/1704)

COUNTER FAÇADE

In the upper part statues “S. Paolino” and “S. Frediano” by an unknown pupil of Camillo Rusconi

To the right of the entrance “Monument to Monsignor Fabio Guinigi” d. 1691

To the left of the entrance “Monument to Bishop Fatinello Fatinelli” d. 1719

He was a lawyer and paid for the decorations of the Chapel of S. Zita, the most beautiful in the church

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ZITA

Altarpiece “St. Zita converts the water into wine for the poor” a good work by Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703) from Pistoia, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona
Above the altar “Two putti” maybe by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736)

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY TRINITY

1701 Simone Costanzi (active in Rome from 1695/d. 1709)
Above the altar “Immaculate” by Biagio Puccini (1673/1721) from Lucca
On the walls “S. Frediano saves Lucca from flooding by diverting the course of the River Serchio with a rake” the only Roman work by the Lucchese Francesco Del Tintore (1645/1718) and “St. Lawrence Giustiniani frees a possessed woman” by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742)

3^rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL

Above the altar “Archangel Raphael” by the Lucchese Agostino Tofanelli (1770/1834) for his son Raffaele who had died prematurely

MAIN ALTAR

Decoration 1745 by Giovanni Antonio Perfetti (?/1754) renewed during the nineteenth century restoration by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82)
On the altar “Holy Face” by Francesco Buonamici, a copy of the crucifix carved, according to tradition, by Nicodemus and with the face executed by angels, kept in the Cathedral of Lucca
Christ is crucified with four nails and is dressed with the so-called colobium, a tunic with sleeves characteristic of Eastern iconography, the prototype of which in Italy is located in S. Maria Antiqua
Frescoes on the walls “Stories of the Holy Face”: on the right “Seleucio, last guardian of the statue in the Holy Land, reveals where the image is located” and on the left “The ship with the Holy Face arrives in Luni” about 1862 by Francesco Grandi (1831/91), a pupil of Tommaso Minardi

In the main altar relics of St. Aurelia, martyred, according to tradition, under Aurelian (270/275)

DOME

“Angels and symbols of the Passion” by the nineteenth-century painter Ercole Ruspi

PENDENTIVES

“Prophets” also by Ercole Ruspi

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE ASSUMPTION

Above the altar “Assumption between Sts. Jerome and Francis” maybe by Antonio Alberti aka Barbalonga (1600/49) the best pupil of Domenichino
Frescoes on the ceiling and walls badly damaged with “Saints” maybe by Marco Tullio Montagna (1594/1649) pupil from Velletri of Federico Zuccari

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

Above the altar “Coronation of the Virgin” by an unknown seventeenth-century artist
In the lower part on the right “Funerary Monument of Alessandro Gaetano Buttaioni” with bas-relief by Adamo Tadolini (1788/1868)
“Monument of the painter Stefano Tofanelli (1752/1812)” with a portrait painted by his brother Agostino Tofanelli (1770/1834)

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

Decorated with marble in 1723
“Wooden Crucifix” of the eighteenth-century
On the sides “Crowning with Thorns” and “Ecce homo” maybe by Giovanni Coli e Filippo Gherardi

UPPER CHURCH OF S. NICOLA DE PORTIIS

It dates back to the twelfth/thirteenth century and it is now used by the nuns as an oratory

LOWER CHURCH OF S.NICOLA DE PORTIIS

Two aisles divided by three brick pillars
Important complex of frescoes from the late fourteenth century inserted between ornamental motifs:

In the first arch

“St. Christopher with Christ Child on his shoulders” and “Crucifix between the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist”

In the keystone

“Mystic Lamb”

Intrados of the first arch

“Archangel Gabriel slaying the dragon” and “Virgin Mary and Child”

Back wall

“Figure of prayer”

Above the arch between the two aisles

“Annunciation”

In the right aisle

“Townscape” an almost unique work in the late medieval Roman painting

Intrados of the last arch

Fresco of the fifteenth century with “St. Nicholas” with below “Tombstone” of a certain Elizabeth, who was the nurse of King Matthias I Corvinus of Hungary (about 1440/90). The plaque was made by his son, who maybe was the sculptor Andrea Bregno (1418/1503)