Santissima Trinità a Lunghezza is a mid 20th century parish church at Via delle Cerquete 15 in the old settlement of Lunghezza, just north of the Strada dei Parchi east of the Grande Raccordo Anulare (Circonvallazione Orientale). The zone is the eponymous one of Lunghezza.
The dedication is to the Holy Trinity.
History
Lunghezza is an old settlement, and the original place of worship was the castle chapel of San Pietro Apostolo al Castello di Lunghezza which belonged in the diocese of Frascati. However, the locality was transferred to that of Rome in a boundary review in 1939.
In 1950, the Diocese entrusted the parish to the Vincentians (Congregation of the Mission). They initiated a project for a new parish and social complex for the growing neighbourhood, on the other side of the train station from the old village. The architect was Mario Muratori.
Very unfortunately, the project stalled after only an aula or meeting-hall was built in 1953. This was taken over as a temporary church, and San Pietro relegated to a subordinate status. The temporary state of affairs has persisted for over half a century, and the only way that the parish will gain a proper church is if its present premises become not worth repairing (there is a possibility of this).
Diocesan clergy took over in 1982.
There was a recent restoration of the building, which was finished in 2016. It now looks much better than it did.
Exterior
Layout and fabric
The church is placed longitudinally right next to the road. It is a flat-roofed box of six bays, the entrance bay being shallower than the others. At the sanctuary end the roof slopes up to become the flat roof of a two-storey sacristy block attached to the back of the church, and this in turn is continued as a two-storey parish office block to the right. Hence the overall layout is that of an L. The parish accommodation has roofs which are pitched and tiled.
The fabric seems to be in concrete, but the walls are entirely rendered in creamy white so it is difficult to tell. They stand on a low limestone plinth.
The main bays of the left hand (roadside) side wall each have a small horizontal rectangular window, five in total. Below these used to be a row of vertical rectangular niches looking like blocked doorways, but in the recent restoration these were filled in and rendered over.
There are only three of these windows on the right hand side, because the parish accommodation abuts the far side of the church as well as its back.
There is no proper campanile, but the parish offices have a projecting gabled bay on the far side and attached to the blank far wall of this is a spindly metal frame containing two bells and having a metal gable of its own.
Façade
The now simple but dignified façade has been given a false gable. It has two identical entrances near the corners, which are sheltered by a single-pitched tiled canopy occupying the entire width of the façade and supported on horizontal wooden struts.
The wall above the canopy, up to the gable roofline, is blank except for a semi-circular majolica tile figurative representation of the Trinity. This used to be on the left hand side wall.
Before the recent restoration, the doorways each had a little gabled tiled canopy supported by a pair of longitudinal slabs. Each slab was pierced by a vertical window strip. Above each doorway was another small horizontal rectangular window with a floating gabled tiled canopy. These windows have been blocked.
Interior
Information on the interior is lacking.
Liturgy
Church
According to the Diocese, Mass is celebrated (July 2018):
Weekdays 18:00 (18:30 in summer);
Sundays and Solemnities 7:30, 9:30, 11:00.
External Mass centres
The Diocese lists three external Mass centres in the parish. The first two are old country chapels, and these do not seem to have any public liturgical activity:
San Pietro Apostolo al Castello di Lunghezza (the locality's original place of worship);
Santa Restituta al Casale del Cavaliere
The third seems to have been a storefront chapel that has been shut down:
Sacra Famiglia, Via Marco Saccardo.
External links
(There is no parish website.)