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Santa Maria in Aquiro

Santa Maria in Aquiro

English name:	St Mary in "Aquiro" (meaning unknown)

Dedication:	Blessed Virgin Mary
Denomination:	Roman Catholic





Built:	1588-1774



Contact data
Address:	Via della Guglia 69/B

Santa Maria in Aquiro is a parish and titular church of ancient foundation in the rione Colonna, just north-east of the Pantheon. Its postal address is Via della Guglia 69/B, but the main entrance is on the Piazza Capranica.

1 History
2 Exterior
3 Interior
4 External links

HistoryEdit

The church is of ancient foundation, and its origins as well as the meaning of the appellation Aquiro have been lost in time. The first documentary reference is to its restoration by Pope Gregory III (731-741). One theory is that it was originally one of the tituli, which were the first parish churches in Rome, and was known as the titulus Equitii. However, it is more likely that this was the church now known as San Martino ai Monti. Another theory is that it was built by a man called Cyrus in the 5th century, since the Greek name Kuros (Cyrus) can be rendered into Latin as Quirus.

In the Middle Ages it was also referred to as Santa Maria della Visitazione, notably by Pope Urban VI in 1389.

The church was granted to the Confraternity of Oprhans in 1541, and they established an orphanage next door under the inspiration of St Ignatius Loyola. (The name of the little street leading from the north-east corner of Piazza della Rotonda to Piazza Capranica, Via dei Orfani, is a reminder of this). In 1571 the church was made titular, having its title transferred from the church of San Stefano in Trullo in Piazza di Pietra. This church was demolished in the mid 17th century. The confraternity started a programme of rebuilding in 1588 which went on until 1620, initially involving the architect Francesco da Volterra and then Carlo Maderno. In 1774 the façade was added by Pietro Camporese the Elder.

In 1826 the Ignatian confraternity was suppressed, and the church handed over to the Somaschi Fathers. They still administer the parish. A thorough re-ordering of the interior took place in 1866, resulting in the present fresco cycle. In 1984 the parish boundaries were re-defined, and the parish now has responsibility for ten other historic churches including the Pantheon and the Minerva. Despite its proximity to the former, it is little bothered by tourists and features in few guidebooks. There was a major restoration of the fabric in recent years.

ExteriorEdit

The plan is that of a Latin cross, with a nave and aisles having external chapels. There is no presbyterium, but only a small semi-circular apse with conch. The central dome is octagonal, egg-shaped in lead with a lantern having little columns and its own octagonal lead cupola. There is a pair of campanili flanking the façade. The façade and all exterior walls are in pink brick with architectural details in white travertine, and the roofs are pitched and tiled.

The rather unassuming façade is false, being higher than the nave roof behind. It has two storeys, and the first storey has a full entablature over its entire width, with a projecting cornice but no inscription on the frieze. This storey has six brick pilasters with swagged Ionic capitals, two pairs flanking the main entrance and the other two on the outer corners of the aisles. Either side of the aisles the frontage is recessed, and forms two narrow walls behind which are the external chapels. The nave frontage is brought forward slightly from the aisles, allowing the outer pair of the four pilasters to be doubled (one behind the other). The main entrance is larger than the aisle entrances, and has a raised triangular pediment over a lintel bearing swags either side of a putto's head. The aisle entrances have a pair of lions' heads each, flanking an inscription tablet. Over each aisle entrance is a large square window with a stone geometric Baroque frame. Unusually, the entablature does not correspond with the aisle rooflines but is below them, with a narrow horizontal zone between it and the plinth of the second storey. This zone has three small rectangular windows.

The second storey has a stone plinth running from one campanile to the other. It has four Corinthian pilasters flanking a large recessed round-headed window set into a stone arch with Ionic columns as piers. This window has a balustrade. The pilasters support an entablature and pediment containing a spectacularly rendered cardinalate coat-of-arms in stucco, which it is worth examining with binoculars. This has two winged putti as supporters, and the shield has a double-headed eagle over a lion rampant. The crest is a cardinal's hat, and the lappet ropes are rendered in the round. On the corners of the pediment is a pair of flaming urns decorated with heads of putti and swags of cloth, the latter allegedly being an allusion to the swaddling cloths of the foundling babies which the orphanage used to collect. The central finial of the pediment has been seriously damaged, and has been replaced crassly by a wire cross.

The two campanili are identical, and are placed over the two outer façade walls marking the external chapels. They are square, with Doric pilasters on the corners and large rectangular sound-holes having bowed balustrades. Each side has a segmental pediment, and each tower is capped with a funnel-shaped stone cupola bearing a ball finial. The pediments facing the piazza have eagles within wreaths.

InteriorEdit

The nave is narrow for its height, and the aisle arcades have solid piers, four on each side. Off each aisle are three external chapels. The height of the nave allows for a large lunette above the arch into the crossing, and the windows above the arcades have dormers which cut into the barrel-vaulted ceiling. The 19th century restoration has left all interior wall surfaces, as well as the ceiling and dome interior, covered in Mannerist frescoes of saints bordered with stucco relief decorations. This work was executed or supervised by Cesare Mariani. It was fashionable in the 20th century to sneer at this sort of work, but the overall effect is really quite good and the figures of saints on the arcade piers are devotionally accessible. However, the conch of the apse is coffered in ancient Roman style.

The most important work of art in the church is a 14th century painting of the Madonna and Child with St Stephen of the school of Pietro Cavallini, which is to be found in the apse. This used to belong to the lost church of San Stefano in Trullo. There are also paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries, notably Our Lady with Saints by Carlo Saraceni of 1617 (third chapel on right) and Scenes from the Passion by Trophime Bigot (?) of c1640 (second chapel on the left). A full list of the artists whose works are in the church are on the info.roma web-page. Surviving the re-ordering are some fine surviving Baroque funerary monuments, notably that to Archbishop Carlo di Montecatini by Domenico Guidi. The monuments in the vestibule were transferred from San Stefano. The church's painting of Our Lady of Lourdes is the oldest known, dated 1873.