St. ANGELO IN THE FISH MARKET

S. ANGELO IN PESCHERIA

Via di S. Angelo in Pescheria 6

Diaconia (building for assistance and charity to the poor, the sick and pilgrims) dedicated to St. Paul, founded in the year 755, maybe on a previously existing church dating back to the fourth or sixth century, built in turn on the ruins of the PORTICO D’OTTAVIA

This information was taken from an inscription embedded on the left wall of the entrance room

In the twelfth century it was dedicated to S. Angelo and was named S. Angelo in Foro Piscium (St. Angel in the Forum of Fish) for the presence of the nearby fish market

Restored in 1583 by Martino Longhi the Elder (1534/91) and in 1599 by Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602)

Other restorations in the years 1700, 1719, 1741, 1821

Last renovation in 1864 Alessandro Betocchi for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)

“The engineer Alessandro Betocchi, also intervened on the outside: he knocked down the huts on the left side of the front of the Propylaeum with the aim to restore its original appearance, he destroyed the wall that was partially hiding the arch and carried out an excavations to bring to light the Roman walkway. Inside he also freed the three columns and the façade of the church was moved back from them. The façade was plastered with the aim to put even more emphasis on the difference with the Roman ruins” (Pier Paolo Racioppi)

In 1929 the roof with trusses was rebuilt after the collapse of the vault in 1928

Here the Roman Jews were forced to listen to the sermons of the Jesuits who wanted to convert them

1^st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “Apparition of the Blessed Trinity to Sts. Cyrus and Lorenzo” by G.B. Brughi (1660/1730) pupil of Baciccio

2nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ANDREW OF THE FISHMONGERS

Above the altar “St. Andrew” maybe by Marco Tullio Montagna (1594/1649) from Velletri, pupil of Federico Zuccari

On the right “The Calling of St. Andrew” in 1619 by Bernardino Cesari (1571/1622), brother of Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino

Frescoes “Stories of St. Andrew, Evangelists and saints” about 1599 maybe by Innocenzo Tacconi (active in Rome 1607/25)

Coat of arms in the floor in opus sectile (inlaid marble) of the University of Fishmongers who had the chapel restored in 1618. The fish symbol is accompanied by the deer, symbol of old nobility and the Capitoline geese, symbol of fidelity

MAIN ALTAR

“St. Michael” 1862 copy by Angelo Augero of the famous original by Guido Reni in S. Maria della Concezione

Under the altar “Early Christian sarcophagus” with relics of St. Cyrus of Alexandria

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

Above the altar “Madonna and Child with Angels” 1450 maybe by Benozzo di Lese aka Benozzo Gozzoli (1420/97)

He was called Gozzoli by Giorgio Vasari in the 1568 edition of his book dedicated to the lives of the artists, but all the other existing documents identify him as Benozzo di Lese

It is a fresco that was detached from the outer wall of the church and was moved here to be better preserved

“He worked with Ghiberti (...), but he was born to art with Fra Angelico: it is assumed with convincing evidence that he was his help during the work in the Convent of S. Marco in Florence, and worked with him in March of the year 1447 in the Vatican and in June of the same year in Orvieto, in the Chapel of S. Brizio in the Duomo. (...) It is also likely that he helped Angelico with the frescoes in the Chapel of Nicholas V in the Vatican painted in those years. Benozzo became independent late, in his thirties, and always under the influence of the mystical severity of his teacher. But also his familiarity with Ghiberti left in him a clear pattern: that loving attention to the world around him and his pleasant capacity of materializing Angelico's style” (Emma Micheletti - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

“Wooden crucifix” of the sixteenth century

Above the entrance doors of the side aisles “St. Francis Caracciolo converts a courtesan” and “St. Francis Caracciolo adoration of the Eucharist” 1808 by Francesco Manno (1752/1831)

TO THE RIGHT OF THE PROPYLAEUM OF PORTICO D’OTTAVIA

ORATORIO DI S. ANDREA DEI PESCIVENDOLI (deconsecrated)

Oratory of St. Andrew of the Fishmongers 

1688/89 Filippo Tittoni

Façade with stucco restored in 1928

It was dedicated to St. Andrew, the apostle who was a fisherman

Inside the church “Busts of the Evangelists and of the Fathers of the Church” maybe by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736) and Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century)

It is now owned by the Municipality of Rome and it is used for commercial activities

PORTICO OF OCTAVIA

PORTICO D'OTTAVIA

Via del Portico d'Ottavia

It was a reconstruction of the preexisting Portico of Metellus inaugurated maybe in 131 BC, which Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonian had begun to build in 146 BC after returning from the victories against Andrisco that had won Rome the subjugation of Macedonia

It included on the left the TEMPLE OF JUNO REGINA (prostyle hexastyle), dedicated in 179 BC by the censor Lepidus

On the right there was TEMPLE OF JUPITER STATOR (peripteral hexastyle without postico, i.e. without columns on the back) the first of Rome to be built entirely in marble, work of the Greek Hermodoros of Salamis

The statues of the two gods were made by the Greek sculptors Polycles and Dionysios

After the reconstruction in the years 33/23 BC at the behest of Augustus (27 BC/14) the portico was dedicated by him to his sister Octavia and that's when it took the name of PORTICO OF OCTAVIA

It was restored in 203 AD by Septimius Severus (193/211) and by his son Caracalla (211/217), phase to which date back most of the current remains

It must have been a grand building (about 119 m - 390 feet - wide by about 132 m - 433 feet - deep) facing the Circus Flaminius and perhaps constituting a single unit with the adjacent Portico of Philip

It had a DOUBLE PORTICO on the sides and a simple FRONT PORCH with a protruding propylaeum which emphasized the entrance

Inside, in addition to the two temples, there were TWO LIBRARIES, one Greek and one Latin, and the large hall with apse CURIAE OCTAVIAE located at the back to the temples

Among the statues that adorned it:

Bronze equestrian group of thirty-four statues of Lysippus representatives of Alexander the Great and his officers who died in the battle of the Granicus River (it was located in front of the temples, between them and the Propylaea)

Bronze statue of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi brothers, the first statue of a woman to be exhibited in public in Rome (about 100 BC), whose base is in the Capitoline Museums

Nearby (scholars do not know where exactly) was the PORTICO OF OCTAVIUS (in Latin Porticus Octavia) not to be confused with the Portico of Octavia, built in 168 BC by the orders of the consul Gnaeus Octavius

In the ruins of the portico eventually the church of S. ANGELO IN PESCHERIA was built