Piazza di S. Silvestro 17a
Built about 761 as Ss. Silvestro e Stefano (Sts. Sylvester and Stephen) under Pope Stephen II (752/757) on the ruins TEMPLE OF THE SUN by Aurelian (270/275) from which many of the archaeological fragments preserved in the cloister probably come from
Known as inter duos hortos (in between two gardens) because it was surrounded by gardens or in capite (at the head) because there is a relic of the head of St. John the Baptist
Tufa blocks taken from the Servian Walls were used for the foundations of the church
Fully restored in the years 1198/1216
BELL TOWER
1216 with on top “Bronze rooster” of the twelfth century, the only one in Rome still in the original place
Rebuilt in the years 1595/1601 with a design by Francesco Capriani aka Francesco da Volterra (1535/94) continued by Carlo Maderno (1556/1629)
1680/96 interior decoration by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91), Mattia De Rossi (1637/95) and Domenico De Rossi (1659/1703)
FAÇADE
1703 by Domenico De Rossi
Statues on the façade from left to right:
“St. Sylvester” by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736)
“St. Stephen” by Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century)
“St. Francis” by Vincenzo Felice (about 1657/1715)
“St. Clare” by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)
The monks who used to officiate this church, first Greeks and later Benedictines were the owners of the Column of Marcus Aurelius as mentioned by an inscription 1119 in the COURTYARD
From 1285 to 1876 it was the seat of the Poor Clares
Since about 1886 it is officiated by the English Pallottine Fathers and it is the English National Catholic Church
PORTAL with frame of the thirteenth century
INTERIOR
VAULT
Splendid “Assumption in glory with saints” 1680 by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91) who was inspired by the Baciccio
At the corners “Sibyls” design by Mattia De Rossi (1637/95)
Above the entrance “Choir with Organ” 1680
1st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF Sts. ANTHONY OF PADUA AND STEPHEN
Above the altar “Madonna and Child with Sts. Anthony of Padua and Stephen” 1695 and paintings with “Stories of Sts. Anthony of Padua and Stephen” by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727), a pupil of Niccolò Berrettoni who was, in turn, a pupil of Carlo Maratta
2nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS
Above the altar “St. Francis receiving the stigmata” by Orazio Lomi aka Orazio Gentileschi (1563/1639) from Pisa
Walls and vault “Stories of St. Francis” by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721)
3rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Above the altar “Our Lady of Pentecost” and rest of the decoration by Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634/1721)
RIGHT TRANSEPT
Above the altar “Madonna and Child with saints” by Baccio Ciarpi (1574/1654)
In the vault “Stories of St. Sylvester” 1690 by Ludovico Gimignani (1643/97) the eldest son of Giacinto Gimignani (1606/81) who was his first teacher. He trivially died aged 54 for an enema too hot
“The activity of Ludovico, from the outset, closely interwove with that of Bernini, finding in Giulio Rospigliosi, later Pope Clement IX (1667/69) his main patron. Since his early works Bernini's teaching was decisive for him, as well as characteristics derived from his father's style. Equally important for his artistic development was the journey in 1668 to Venice, Lombardy and Modena, together with Gaulli on the recommendation of Bernini and with a scholarship of Clement IX. The works by Veronese were extremely important for his future artistic development. (...) The decoration of S. Silvestro in Capite is a summary of the different cultural currents of those years; with its calmer exhibition tones it offers the best example of great sacred decoration in Rome at the end of the century” (Ursula Verena Fischer Pace)
DOME
1595 frescos “Angels, Evangelists and God the Father” about 1604 by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626) and assistants
MAIN CHAPEL
Marble altar with “Arch and angels holding the Edessena image” 1518 by Tuscan sculptors perhaps even by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564) as well
Tabernacle by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91)
APSE
On the right “Martyrdom of St. Stephen I” and on the left “Messengers of Constantine call St. Sylvester” 1610 maybe by Orazio Borgianni (1578/1616)
In the basin “Baptism of Constantine” by Ludovico Gimignani
LEFT TRANSEPT
Above the altar “Madonna and Child with saints” by Terenzio Terenzi da Urbino (active from about 1578/d. 1620)
3rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE IMMACULATE
Above the altar “Immaculate Conception” 1696 and frescoes on the ceiling by Ludovico Gimignani
2nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOSEPH
Above the altar “Pope S. Marcellus has the vision of the Holy Family”, paintings on the sides with “Stories of St. Joseph” and vault with “Glory of St. Joseph” 1695 by Ludovico Gimignani
1st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST
Above the altar “Crucifixion” 1695, on the left “Flagellation”, on the right “Way to Calvary” and vault with “Triumph of the Cross” by the remarkable Istrian painter Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746) who had with these works his first major and well-deserved success in Rome
“Under the inventive aspect, marginal contributions from Caravaggio, whom he certainly admired, can be highlighted. More direct influences, especially for the Triumph of the Cross, from Lanfranco, also for his use of colors, and finally a vivifying memory of compositional solutions from Veronese. But the seventeenth-century Roman experiences had to be decisive for a distillation of his primitive language towards a really unusual color intensity, unparalleled among his fellow Roman painters, and towards a compositional clarity and brightness, which did not exclude the calibrated movement of scenes such as the Flagellation (...) or the controlled tumult of the Ascent to Calvary. In this scene the influence of Maratta was prevalent and positive, but a major factor was constituted, in our view, also by a familiarity with the paintings of the Roman Bamboccianti. Indeed, the animated excitement of the scene mentioned above looks like the implementation on a sacred level of a seventeenth-century genre scene, represented with the detailed meticulousness typical of the artists of Northern Europe, but expressed with the luminosity and the palette of a Venetian painter, purified from its seventeenth century dross” (Giancarlo Sestieri)
SACRISTY
Frescoes:
“Crucifixion” of the thirteenth century
“Virgin Mary of the Milk” of the fifteenth century
“Flagellation” fourteenth of fifteenth century from the former monastery
RELIQUARY
Fourteenth century, with skull believed to be the head of St. John the Baptist
It was stolen in 1969 but returned by the thief the next day. Up to the early nineteenth century also the head of St. Sylvester was kept in the church
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