060608


Roma Capitale
Zètema Progetto Cultura
060608 - Discover and buy tourist services, cultural offers and shows in Rome
You are in: Home » Culture and leisure » Historic places of worship » Catholic Churches » Chiesa Santa Maria del Rosario
Typology: Convent, Non Parish Church

Address

Address: Via Trionfale, 175
Zone: Quartiere Della Vittoria (Roma centro)

Contacts

Telephone: 06 35420940

Opening times


For the timetable of the masses and visiting conditions, please consult the contacts.

Description

The church stands with its striking dome on the hill of Monte Mario, along Via Trionfale. The primitive building is owed to the Roman humanist Giovanni Vittorio de Rossi, secretary to Cardinal Andrea Peretti, who had taken up residence on Monte Mario to devote himself to his studies. Moved by compassion for the plight of the local inhabitants, deprived of spiritual assistance and afflicted by malaria, the scholar had a chapel erected dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary and Fever. Upon his death (1647), by testamentary will, the building was left to the Gerolamini Fathers to found a religious community there; the new church was designed by Camillo Arcucci (1651), a pupil of Borromini, and its construction took a long time.

It was completed by Filippo Raguzzini (1724- 1726) on behalf of the Dominican Congregation of St. Mark's in Florence, which had been assigned the oratory since 1710 by the will of Clement XI. In 1798 the church was damaged by the French troops who had encamped in the nearby Villa Mellini; restored in 1828 to be elevated to the rank of Parish Church, it later lost its office (1904) in favour of the new and larger church built in Prati. Since 1931 it has been assigned to the cloistered Dominican Sisters of Sts Dominic and Sixtus in Magnanapoli, who moved to the convent next to the church, which was enlarged and restored.

The nuns brought there a Byzantine icon of the Virgin (7th century) known as the 'Madonna of St. Luke', as tradition has it that it was miraculously painted by the saint. It is the oldest of the images of the Madonna attributed to St. Luke in Rome, even compared to the Byzantine icons of St. Mary in Trastevere, the Pantheon and St. Frances of Rome. The panel was probably brought to Rome from Constantinople in the 9th century by some Greek nuns to save it from the fury of iconoclasm. It was kept in the Monastery of St. Sixtus the Elder on the Appian Way until 1575, when the Dominican nuns had to move to St. Dominic and St. Sixtus in Magnanapoli (Quirinal). Currently, the icon is placed in the presbytery of the church; a copy of the image faces the faithful, while the original faces the nuns' choir and is only shown on request.

The church is accessed by a double flight of steps built in 1838. The façade is topped by a lead-clad dome surmounted by a heavy lantern and flanked by a small bell tower. Inside are four chapels decorated with stucco work. Important paintings include: the Madonna and Child by Antoniazzo da Romano (15th cent.), St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena by Michelangelo Cerruti (17th cent.), the Transit of St Joseph by Biagio Puccini (1710). In 1911, a plaque was placed on the front of the entrance ramp to the church in memory of the stay (1863-1868) of the famous Hungarian musician Franz Listz, who composed some of his works here: Christus, St. Elizabeth, St. Francis Preaching to the Birds.

Last checked: 2022-07-18 10:20