Largo Angelicum 1
Mentioned in the sources since the tenth century as S. Maria Balneapolim
Church and adjoining convent built for the Dominican Pope St. Pius V Ghislieri (1566/72) for the Dominican Sisters originally in S. Sisto on the Appian Way
FIRST PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION
1574/78 by Domenico di Dario da Mezzana
Choir and bell tower 1579/91 by Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602)
SECOND PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION
1606/36 Nicola Torriani (active in Rome about 1601/1636), who was probably also the designer of the façade
Torriani was supervised since 1628 by Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) and from 1630 he worked with Orazio Torriani (about 1601/about 1657) who worked mainly on the interior decoration
COMPLETION
Interventions 1635/36 Francesco Peparelli (active about 1626 /d.1641), 1634/52 G.B. Soria (1581/1651) and since 1651 Vincenzo Della Greca (1592/1661), designer of the PORTAL and of the beautiful STAIRCASE, built in 10 years from 1654 to 1664 and finished by his son Felice Della Greca (1626/77)
It was an innovative Baroque solution for Roman religious architecture, originally framed by a portal demolished in late 1800s
“The idea of this staircase full of fantasy probably derived from the Villa del Pigneto by Pietro da Cortona, but it was here that a Roman architect built for the first time a Baroque staircase in an urban setting, a prelude to the Port of Ripetta by Alessandro Specchi and to the grand spectacle of the steps of Piazza di Spagna by De Sanctis” (Rudolf Wittkower)
The construction of the church lasted about 90 years
Renovation of the convent in 1932 by Tullio Passarelli (1869/1941)
FAÇADE
In the first order
“St. Dominic” and “St. Sixtus” 1654 by Marcantonio Canini (1622/after 1669) who maybe also sculpted the statue of the “Virgin Mary of the Rosary” in the niche above the portal
In the second order
“St. Thomas Aquinas” and “St. Peter Martyr” 1636 by Stefano Maderno (1560/1636)
VAULT
Frescoes “Apotheosis of St. Dominic and patronage of Mary” and “Cardinal Virtues and Allegories of the Church, Heresy, Religion and Obedience” in monochrome 1673/75 masterpiece by Domenico Maria Canuti (1626/84) and Enrico Haffner (1640/1702) who did the drawings a quadrature (the geometrical frames)
COUNTER FAÇADE
At the sides of the window “Ecstasy of St. Dominic” and “Virgin Mary appears to St. Dominic” also by Domenico Maria Canuti and Enrico Haffner
“This work demonstrates the familiarity of Domenico Maria Canuti with the grouping of figures and with the achievements relating to atmosphere and light reached by Gaulli in the decoration of the Church of Gesu, in statu nascendi (just being conceived) at the time. But Canuti also introduced the novelty of the squaring that framed the entire ceiling. Rome acquired a kind of spectacular fresco of which neither Cortona, nor Bernini made use of, a kind of fresco you'd expect to find in Genoa” (Rudolf Wittkower)
In the eaves of the roof are included iron gratings (two also in the external façade) that were used by the nuns to watch unseen the religious ceremonies
FLOOR
Rebuilt in the years 1849/52
1st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE
“Alaleona Altar” 1649/52 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) according to a drawing in the Uffizi but executed by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86)
Marble group of “Noli Me Tangere” by Ercole Antonio Raggi
2nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. PETER MARTYR
Altar front 1709 by G.B. Contini (1641/1723) who also made the other altar fronts in the rest of the church
Above the altar “Killing of St. Peter Martyr” a copy of a lost painting by Tiziano Vecellio (about 1490/1576) for Ss. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice painted by one N. Senese, maybe Nicolò Nasini or Niccolò Tornioli (1598/1651)
3rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. DOMINIC or COSTAGUTI CHAPEL
Above the altar “Vision of St. Dominic” about 1648 by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66), who maybe also painted the “Stories of S. Dominic” in the vault
The vision of St. Dominic is a miraculous event which took place in 1530 at Soriano when the Virgin Mary and the Sts. Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria appeared to a monk urging him to put a portrait of S. Dominic on the altar
MAIN ALTAR
1640 amazing “Ciborium” maybe by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Tuscan terracotta of the fifteenth century “Virgin Mary and Child” in place of the venerated Madonna Acheropita kept since 1931 in the new Dominican Convent at Monte Mario
Frescoes on the right “Battle of Muret Albigensian” 1639 by Pietro Paolo Ubaldini (about 1614/1684)
Frescoes on the left “St. Dominic and the miracle of fire” by the Belgian Louis Cousin aka Luigi Gentile (1605/67) who also did the six paintings “Life of the Virgin Mary” at the sides of the altar
VAULT OF THE PRESBYTERY
Frescoes “Virgin Mary protecting the Dominican Order” and “Christ Appearing to St. Dominic and to the Dominican nuns” also by Domenico Maria Canuti (1626/84) and Enrico Haffner (1640/1702)
3rd LEFT – ALTEMPS CHAPEL
Fresco found in 1771 with “Madonna and Child” 1448/49 most likely by Benozzo di Lese aka Benozzo Gozzoli (1420/97), maybe detached from S. Maria ad Balneapolim or from the nearby Torre dei Conti
On walls and ceiling frescoes “Stories of the Passion of Christ” maybe by Pietro Paolo Ubaldini (about 1614/about 1684)
2nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. CATHERINE OF SIENA
Above the altar “Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Siena with Jesus” 1650 by Francesco Allegrini (1587/1663)
1st LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
Above the altar “Virgin Mary and Child give the rosary to Sts. Dominic and Catherine” by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona
Other paintings maybe by Clemente Maioli (1634/73)
CHOIR OF THE NUNS
Located behind the altar, according to the scheme codified in 1577 by St. Charles Borromeo, who wanted the cloistered nuns out of sight during ceremonies
Restored in 1749
ALTAR 1671 by Vincenzo Della Greca (1592/1661)
Four large murals on the walls maybe by G.B. Ricci
To the right of the altar “St. Peter hands over the keys to St. Pius V” 1749 by Mattia Tome where it is visible the front of the church with the steps by Vincenzo e Felice Della Greca
DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY - “ANGELICUM”
In the annexed monastery formerly of the Dominican Sisters of Lombardy
CAPITULAR HALL
Built in 1668
“Cross painted on board” of the first half of 1200s according to the iconography of the Christus patiens by an unknown artist of the Lazio area
Triptych “Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels and Sts. Dominic and Aurea” and “Four Stories of St. Aurea” in the side doors 1358 by the Sienese Lippo di Vanni (active 1340/75)
It is his only signed and dated work, from the church of St. Aurea on Via Giulia today Chiesa dello Spirito Santo dei Napoletani
“Crucifixion” by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647) formerly in the Altemps Chapel
INTERNATIONAL BOARDING SCHOOL St. THOMAS AQUINAS
On Via degli Ibernesi
Institution of Dominican studies in the sixteenth century building converted in 1964 by Lucio Passarelli (1922) with his brothers Vincenzo (1904/85) and Fausto (1910/98)
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