San Benedetto della Ciambella

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Basic data
Patronage : St. Benedict

St. Scholastica

Consecration day : (last) November 1, 1841
Address: Via di Torre Argentina, 70

00186 Roma

Portal to Via di Torre Argentina

San Benedetto della Ciambella , also Santi Benedetto e Scolastica della Ciambella or all 'Argentina , is a small church in Rome . It was built in the first half of the 17th century and was a Nursin national church .

Location and naming

The church is located in the 8th Roman Rione Sant'Eustachio on Via di Torre Argentina in the corner house to Vicolo Sinibaldi , about 160 meters almost exactly south of the Pantheon . It is not built as a separate building, but integrated into the surrounding house.

It has the patronage of Saint Benedict of Nursia from Norcia and his sister Scholastica of Nursia . It got its nickname all'Argentina from its proximity to Largo di Torre Argentina . She got the nickname della Ciambella from another event reported by the Roman sculptor Flaminio Vacca in his 1594 memoirs. The Cardinal Andrea della Valle (1463-1534) was a collector of antiques . In the early 16th century, he commissioned workers, including Flaminio Vacca's father, to search for ancient treasures in the remains of the Agrippa thermal baths just a few meters away . They actually found what they were looking for and excavated a gilded imperial crown. In the parlance of the 16th century, a ciambella was a ring that you put on your head when you wanted to transport objects with it. So after the discovery, the workers went to Cardinal della Valle and told him: Havemo trovato una ciambella di bronzo! (“We found a bronze head ring!”). Only a short time later, a landlord in the area put a sign with a picture of Ciambella on his restaurant . This made the name common, not only the church has the name, but also the remains of the Agrippa thermal baths themselves (Arco della Ciambella) and the street Via dell'Arco della Ciambella opposite the church .

History and building history

View inside the church

The church was founded as a brotherhood church of the Compagnia dei Ss. Benedetto e Scolastica dei Norcini built from this year. Pope Paul V also approved the community in 1615. It was completed between 1619 and 1625. After damage and temporary closure, it was opened in 1841 under Gregory XVI. restored and made accessible again. Today it is owned by the Confraternità dei Norcini .

portal

The portal of the small church is very simple. The entrance is covered by a blasted gable with curly wings that end in volutes towards the center . The round plate inside contains the inscription: DIVIS BENEDICTO ET SCHOLASTICAE PATRONIS ORDO ET POPVLVS NURSINIS .

Interior

The small, slightly warped room has a single nave and flat roofs. Almost all of the interior architecture is not actually executed, but rather painted as a trompe-l'oeil . Only the pilasters that support the gallery were actually erected on the portal side , they follow the Tuscan order . Curtains, cornices and coats of arms are still depicted between the painted pillars of the room.

On the high altar there is an oil painting from the 17th century. a. the two patrons of the church. Above is a semicircular window equipped with stained glass, it is the only natural light source of the church.

In Pavimentum a number of grave plates is embedded. These are the graves of citizens from Norcia who died in Rome, mostly from the 17th century, such as Pietro Matteo di Lucaruzzi, who died in 1622 and of Gradasso Pitta, who died in 1617, and others.

literature

  • Mariano Armellini: Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX . Roma 1891, pp. 456–457.
  • Walter Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome . 1. Volume, Brothers Hollinek publishing house, Vienna 1967.

Web links

Commons : Santi Benedetto e Scolastica (Rome)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Representation in Buchowiecki: Handbuch der Kirchen Roms , p. 447.
  2. ↑ Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome , p. 447.
  3. ↑ Quotation from: Buchowiecki: Handbuch der Kirchen Roms , p. 447.
  4. ↑ Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome , p. 446.
  5. ↑ With the year 1619, Buchowiecki: Handbuch der Kirchen Roms , p. 446, not listed.
  6. ↑ Two more at: Buchowiecki: Handbuch der Kirchen Roms , S. 446.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 48.6 "  N , 12 ° 28 ′ 34.7"  E