Sts. SYLVESTER AND MARTIN AT THE MONTI NEIGHBORHOOD

SS. SILVESTRO E MARTINO AI MONTI
Viale del Monte Oppio 28

About 509 for Pope Symmachus (498/514) with the name of S. Martino (St. Martin)

It was built at the same time of the adjacent church of S. Silvestro (St. Sylvester) for which the structures of the ancient Titulus Equitii were used, maybe house of Pope St. Sylvester I (314/335)

It was renovated in the year 772 for Hadrian I (772/795)

Completely rebuilt in the years 844/847 for Sergius II (844/847), who built the monastic buildings over the old church of St. Sylvester. It was completed under the next pope, Leo IV (847/855)
For the foundations were used limestone blocks taken from the Servian Walls still visible on the right side of the church

Restorations 1636/67 by the Roman architect and painter Filippo Gagliardi (about 1607/1659) aka Filippo Bizzarro or Filippo delle Prospettive

BELL TOWER 1714

It is officiated since 1299 by the Carmelite Fathers
St. Martin of Tours (about 316/397) was originally the patron saint of animals with horns, and then also became the protector of cuckold husbands

“Twenty-four ancient columns” in different kinds of marble: cipollino, pavonazzetto, biglio and imezio, maybe recycled from the nearby Baths of Trajan

When in 1653 the box with the relics was found, it was was decided the lowering of the floor of the church of 50 cm (20 inches) in order to see the relics from the entrance

CEILING
1560 for Cardinal Charles Borromeo who was the cardinal in charge of the church with frames embossed in gold

It was rebuilt in 1650 and restored in the years 1741 and 1870

COUNTER FAÇADE
Statues in the first order “St. Peter” and “St. Paul” by Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619/91)
Statues in the second order “St. John the Baptist” and “St. Antonio the Great aka St. Anthony from Egypt” by Daniele Fiammingo

ON THE TRABEATION OF THE NAVES
“Frieze with Christian-Jewish symbols” 1649/52
“Eight statues of saints” and “Medallions in stucco” about1655 by Pietro Paolo Naldini

SIDE NAVES
Eighteen frescoes on the walls “Stories of St. Elijah and of his disciple Elisha inserted in the Roman countryside landscapes” of which sixteen were painted by Gaspard Dughet (1615/75) and two by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) from Bologna
St. Elias was the Prophet revered as an inspiration by the Carmelites
In addition, two frescoes in the left nave with the interior of “St. John’s Lateran” (before the renovation by Borromini) and “The old St. Peter's Basilica” by Filippo Gagliardi (about 1607/1659)

“This decoration is one of the most important and innovative cycle of paintings of the mid-1600: it is unique in the panorama of seventeenth-century ecclesiastical decoration in Rome. The novelty consists in the subordination of religious scenes to the setting of broad landscape that accomplishes itself the function of transmitting the religious message” (Simonetta Ceccarelli)

1^st RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. MARY MAGDALENE OF PAZZI
“St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi” 1647 by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi

2^nd RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. TERESA OF JESUS
“Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Jesus” 1646 by Giovanni Greppi

3^rd RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. MARTIN
“St. Martin” 1645 by Fabrizio Chiari (about 1615/95)

4^th RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. STEPHAN
“St. Stephan” 1645 by Giovanni Angelo Canini (1609/66)

5^th RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. CHARLES BORROMEO
“St. Charles Borromeo” 1693 by Filippo Gherardi (1643/1704)

MAIN ALTAR
End of the eighteenth century by Francesco Belli

APSE
Eighteenth-century frescoes “Eternal Father, saints and the Madonna and Child” by Antonio Cavallucci (1752/95) and Giovanni Micocchi
Spectacular CRYPT about 1650 by Filippo Gagliardi with stucco in the vaults by Pietro Paolo Naldini and “Fake dome in perspective with the symbol of the church” also by Filippo Gagliardi

TO THE LEFT OF PRESBYTERY - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
Rebuilt in 1790 by Andrea de Dominicis
Above the altar “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” 1595 by Girolamo Massei (?/1614-19) surrounded by the altar piece “Souls in Purgatory and cloud of St. Elijah” by Antonio Cavallucci who also painted the fresco on the left wall “Vision of St Elijah” and in the vault “Our Lady gives the scapular of Mount Carmel to St. Simon Stock” together with Tommaso Sciacca

3^rd LEFT - ALTAR OF THE HOLY TRINITY
“Holy Trinity with Sts. Bartholomew and Nicholas of Bari” 1640/44 by Giovanni Angelo Canini (1609/66)

2^nd LEFT - ALTAR OF St. ALBERT
“St. Albert Carmelite” 1575 by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

“A genuine controversial response to the late Mannerist painters from Emilia and Tuscany who still enjoyed great success in Rome during the seventies. The painting by Muziano from Brescia is quiet and solemn, with that monumental saint who dominates the canvas with his lofty quiet melancholy, solid like an oak and at the same time available to a frank chat with the faithful. Muziano, just like Marcello Venusti, moves away from any drama to focus on results of absorbed severity and intense naturalism” (Vincenzo Farinella)

BETWEEN THE TWO ALTARS
Large fresco “Pseudo-council of St. Sylvester in the age of Constantine” according to the apocryphal documents of Symmacus 1640 by Galeazzo Leoncini a Milanese that after this work, perhaps aware of his limitations, began the work as innkeeper

1^st LEFT - ALTAR OF St. ANGELUS OF JERUSALEM
“St. Angelus of Jerusalem” 1646 by Pietro Testa (1612/50)

TOP OF THE NAVE
Large fresco “S. Cyril baptizes a sultan” 1651 by the Antwerp painter Jan Miel (1599/1663)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS
From the crypt it is possible to go down to a hall of 18 x 11 m (59 x 36 feet) of the third century AD preceded by a vestibule part of the Titulus Equitii
Roman and medieval architectural fragments
Remains of frescoes from the ninth century, including “Jeweled cross” and a mosaic of the sixth century “Madonna with St. Sylvester”