Via Ss. Quattro Coronati 20
Fourth century, reusing a hall with apse maybe belonging to the ancient Titulus Aemilianae perhaps from the name of the lady who used to own the house
The archaeological remains are very heterogeneous and there is a rich stratigraphy difficult to interpret
Maybe it was part of CAELIOLUS with the TEMPLE OF MINERVA CAPTA and the QUERQUETULANA GATE
Mentioned in the sources for the first time on the year 595
Enlarged in about 630 for Honorius I (625/638) who commissioned the Chapel of St. Barbara, the semicircular crypt, the portico and the bell tower
Converted into a basilica in about 850 by Leo IV (847/855)
For the foundations were used blocks of tufa stone taken from the Servian Walls
It was damaged by a destructive fire caused by the Normans in 1084
It was rebuilt smaller in the years 1111/16 for Pascal II (1099/1118), with a second internal courtyard
At the end of 1100s/beginning of 1200s monastery and cloister were added
Between 1244 and 1251 the building was used as a residence by the Cardinal Rainaldo Conti di Ienne, the future Pope Alexander IV (1254/61), who had here a wealthy PALATIUM (palace) definitely connected with the nearby Lateran Patriarchate
Only the TORRE MAGGIORE (Major Tower) and the adjoining TORRE DI S. SILVESTRO (tower of St. Silvester) are left of the Palace of Alexander VI
Soon after, the building was chosen as the home of some senators of Rome and it housed cardinals and politicians
Renewal of the sanctuary and crypt 1621/27
Restoration 1912/16 by Antonio Muñoz (1884/1960)
In the west side of the building live some nuns of the order of the Augustinians, in the east side live the so called Little Sisters of the Lamb
The church is dedicated to the four soldiers Severo, Severiano, Carpoforo and Vittorino martyred for not worshiping the statue of Aesculapius and whose bodies were buried in secret by their friend St. Sebastian
The church is dedicated also to four Dalmatians sculptors (to whom was later added a fifth martyr) of the Pannonia quarries, killed on the same day by the order of Diocletian (284/305) drowned in metal cases for having refused to carve the statue of Aesculapius
The cult of the two groups of martyrs was joined together by Pope Miltiades (311/314)
The TOWER WITH FOUR-LIGHT WINDOWS dates back to the ninth century
It was first used for defensive purposes, then as a bell tower
It is the oldest tower of Rome and it is a unique typology, inspired by models from across the Alps
In the PORTICO OF THE FIRST COURTYARD faded frescoes 1632 maybe of the school of Livio Agresti (about 1508/79) or of the school of G.B. Naldini (about 1537/91)
INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH
WOODEN CEILING
1580 for Cardinal Enrico from Portugal
COSMATESQUE FLOOR
One of the earliest examples of this technique in Rome
WALLS OF THE NAVE AND OF THE COUNTER FAÇADE
Frescoes with gaps representing “Stories of Saints” end of 1200s/beginning of 1300s
RIGHT NAVE - ALTAR OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT
“Adoration of the Shepherds” end of the 1500s, maybe by an anonymous artis of the school of Federico Zuccari
APSE
Closed by a gate and used by the cloistered Augustinian nuns to sing
On the right seventeenth-century organ with ivory keys and doors painted with “Musical Scenes”
Frescoes in the lower order “Seven scenes of the saints sculptors from Pannonian”, in the higher order “Four scenes of the saints soldiers”, in the apse “Paradise with the glory of all the saints” (known as “chorus of the women angels” for adolescent effeminate appearance of the angels) 1623 by Giovanni Mannozzi aka Giovanni da S. Giovanni (1592/1636) helped by the plasterer Francesco Solario from Chiaronno
“Not even the Roman experience freed him from the ways of expression and from the provincialism of the Florentines of his own period. Although his light touch, bright colors and the looseness and panache of his production make him one of the most attractive Florentine painters of the 1600s, the character of his art is dated” (Rudolf Wittkower)
CRYPT
Cell with “Four ancient tombs” (one in red porphyry, another in green porphyry) with the relics of the saints
Frescoes in the vault “God the Father” and “Sts. Four Crowned” by Giovanni Mannozzi aka Giovanni da S. Giovanni
AT THE END OF THE COLUMNS, ON THE LEFT
“Ciborium” of the end of the fifteenth century maybe by Andrea Bregno (1418/1503) or Luigi Capponi (active end 1400s/beginning of 1500s)
LEFT NAVE - ALTAR OF St. SEBASTIAN
Featuring a fenestella confessionis where the reliquary with the head of St. Sebastian used to be kept. Now it is in the Museo Sacro Vaticano
“St. Sebastian Tended by Irene and Lucina” by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643)
FURTHER ON IN THE NAVE
“Annunciation” by Giovanni Mannozzi aka Giovanni da S. Giovanni
SACRISTY
“Aedicula in marble with winged griffins facing each other” about 1500
CLOISTER
About 1116 maybe by Pietro de Maria, one of the oldest in Rome, perhaps the first ever built
“Fountain made of two overlapping medieval pools” assembled by Antonio Muñoz in 1917
It probably dates to the late eleventh century and it could therefore be regarded as the oldest fountain in Rome
Adjacent to the cloister there is the CHAPEL OF St. BARBARA with traces of thirteenth-century paintings
In the second external courtyard RECEPTION OF THE NUNS with “Liturgical Calendar of the thirteenth ceentury”
FIRST FLOOR OF THE MONASTERY
Extraordinary GOTHIC CHAPEL with frescoes of the thirteenth century discovered in 1996 attributed to the Third Master of Anagni, the painter of the frescoes in the crypt of the Cathedral of Anagni, one of the most important and admired medieval pictorial cycles in Italy
“At the time of presentation of the frescoes to the scholars the Hall was called 'The Sistine Chapel of the thirteenth century'. Beyond the excellent quality of the frescoes, the historical importance of this series of paintings is such as to oblige scholars and historians to rewrite entire pages of art history. The press throughout Europe has spoken enthusiastically of this finding. (...) The Gothic Chamber, however, is in a monastery of cloistered nuns who can not have contact with any outside person. To open the hall to the public was thus necessary the construction of a secondary access door. In December 2006, the then Minister Francesco Rutelli announced the end of the restoration work, postponing the opening to the public in March 2009. To this day (May 2013) the works necessary for the construction of the door have not yet begun. From a research of the Rome daily Il Tempo has emerged that the responsibility of the work is of the APSA (Administration o the Apostolic Heritage), an organ of the Vatican from which the newspaper has received no answer. And so the Gothic Hallis likely to remain closed. All blocked. For a small door” (From the blog riprendiamociroma.blogspot.it)
Oratorio di S. Silvestro
Oratory of St. SylvesterFrescoed in 1247 by one or more masters of Byzantine influence, Venetian, perhaps, for Cardinal Rainaldo Conti di Ienne future Pope Alexander IV (1254/61), who consacrated it on that same year
In the counter façade
“Christ between the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, the Apostles, and two angels”
On the side walls
“STORIES OF CONSTANTINE”
“Recognition of the true cross among the three crosses found by St. Helena on Golgotha”
“S. Silvestro resurrects a bull” who had been killed by a rabbi
With this miracle St. Sylvester (314/335) succeeded in converting both Helena and the rabbi and the bull became his iconographic attribute
“Defeat of a huge dragon settled in a cave of the Roman Forum” (almost completely gone) persistent symbol of paganism in Rome
“Constantine leper reassures mothers who ask mercy for their children” having had from the pagan doctors the advice to immerse himself in the blood of three hundred children
“Sts. Peter and Paul appear in a dream to Constantine”
“The imperial envoys go on the Soratte Mountain to look for St. Sylvester”
“St. Sylvester baptizes Constantine”
“Constantine cured of leprosy hands the tiara to St. Sylvester”
“Constantine receives St. Sylvester in Rome”
These paintings reflect the contrasts between Pope Innocent IV dei Conti di Lavagna (1243/54) and the Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen
Here the anti-imperial and theocratic ideology of the church is glorified with a flat but decoratively rich style. It is an original reprocessing of influences coming perhaps from the mosaics of Monreale or from the frescoes in the crypt of the Cathedral of Anagni
Rectangular apse:
Frescoes on the right “Deposition of the four saints sculptors in the coffers before being thrown into the river”
On the left “Flagellation of the four holy soldiers”
On the back wall “Crucifixion” and, in the upper part, “Annunciation”
In the pendentives “Four Saints”
In the vault “Four angels and four Evangelists” 1570 all works maybe by Raffaellino Motta aka Raffaellino da Reggio (1550/78)
On the frieze two marble funnels voice-carriers to allow to listen to the songs and ceremonies in the Gothic Hall on the floor above
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