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All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore.
Page revised in July 2010.

DON'T LET ME DOWN!

SS. Pietro e Marcellino (Book 3) (Map A3) (Day 1) (View C9) (Rione Monti) and (Rione Campitelli)

In this page:
The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
Today's view (S. Matteo a Via Merulana)
SS. Pietro e Marcellino
SS. Quattro Coronati
Sacello della Madonna

The Plate (No. 50)

SS. Pietro e Marcellino

Giuseppe Vasi dedicated his 1753 book of etchings showing the greatest churches of Rome to Pope Benedict XIV, the reigning pope and he felt compelled to include in it a view of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, a church which the pope had just completely rebuilt.
SS. Pietro e Marcellino was located at the intersection of two important streets, but it was surrounded by villas and farmed areas so that the view has a landscape atmosphere rather than a urban one (in the background Vasi showed SS. Quattro Coronati, a church which retained a medieval and almost rural appearance).
The view is taken from the green dot in the small 1748 map below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) Street leading to Porta Maggiore; 2) Street leading from S. Giovanni in Laterano to S. Maria Maggiore (Via Merulana); 3) Street leading to Colosseo (Via Labicana); 4) SS. Quattro Coronati. The small map shows also 5) SS. Pietro e Marcellino; 6) Sacello della Madonna. The dotted line in the small map delineates the border between Rione Campitelli (left) and Rione Monti (right).

Small ViewSmall Map

Today

The view today
The view in June 2010 (in the inset the roof of SS. Quattro Coronati)

Today the intersection between Via Labicana and Via Merulana is very busy (the photo was taken on an early Sunday morning); when Vasi drew his etching the nunnery adjoining the church was yet to be built; it now obstructs (together with later constructions) the view of SS. Quattro Coronati, of which only a roof is still visible. The small map shows that the section of Via Merulana leading to S. Giovanni in Laterano was very steep; in order to adapt it to modern traffic requirements the level of the ground near the church was raised so that today SS. Pietro e Marcellino is in a sort of a hole. The street was also enlarged and S. Matteo a Via Merulana, a small church which Vasi showed in his Map of Rome, was pulled down.

SS. Pietro e Marcellino

SS. Pietro e Marcellino
(left) Façade; (right) dome

This church is the only major work by Girolamo Theodoli and it is indicative of the transition from baroque to simpler patterns; the dome echoes that of Borromini's S. Ivo alla Sapienza, while the façade has a neat design. SS. Pietro e Marcellino was built on the site of a previous church by the same name which was founded in the IVth century and then modified several times.

SS. Pietro e Marcellino
(left) Main altar; (right-above) 1256 relief showing the two saints and a phoenix; (right-below) coat of arms of Pope Benedict XIV (shown because of the angel's kiss curl)

Sts. Peter and Marcellinus were two martyrs of the early IVth century; a church was dedicated to them on the site where they were beheaded, three miles from Porta Maggiore; according to an inscription dictated by Pope Alexander IV in 1256 their bodies were relocated to their church inside Rome.
You may wish to see the old church as it appeared in a 1588 Guide to Rome.

SS. Quattro Coronati

SS. Quattro Coronati
Via dei SS. Quattro Coronati (the street to the right leads to Colosseo which is partly visible)

While SS. Pietro e Marcellino is today immersed in the noise and pollution caused by cars and buses, at a few hundred yards SS. Quattro Coronati still lives in its medieval past. Similar to S. Saba it is protected by walls and its bell tower (the first of Rome) clearly had a defensive purpose.

SS. Quattro Coronati
(left) Medieval walls supporting the Benedictine monastery; (right) apse

Because two sides of the complex are built on the edge of a small elevation, the northern wall and the apse are supported by impressive substructures; the wall of the apse in particular retains masonry elements which indicate that the church made use of a previous Late Roman basilica which probably belonged to a private house; a reference to titulus Sanctorum Quattuor Coronatorum has been found in the records of a 595 synod.
Pope Leo IV largely restored the early church; according to art historians at his time the complex was composed of a large basilica preceded by an atrium the entrance to which was protected by a tower.

The Past
(left) Door of the inner courtyard and behind it the outer courtyard and the exit to Rome; (right) columns which separated the nave from the right aisle and which were included into the wall of a Benedictine monastery


In 1084 Robert Guiscard sacked Rome and set fire to SS. Quattro Coronati; Pope Paschal II reconsecrated the church in 1116, but its size was reduced to the final part of the nave and the apse; the initial part of the nave was not rebuilt and it became the current second courtyard of the complex; the aisles of the original basilica were included into a Benedictine monastery.

The Past
(left) Fresco showing nuns and orphans praying to the four martyrs; (right) a nun on her way to Rome


According to the prevailing tradition the saints to whom the church was dedicated were four sculptors who refused to work at a statue of Aesculapius and who for this reason were put to death at the time of Emperor Diocletian; the reference to Coronati (crowned) is probably due to the fact that they were portrayed wearing laurel wreaths symbolizing their martyrdom.
In 1562 Pope Pius IV assigned the complex to Augustinian nuns, who still reside there.
You may wish to see the church as it appeared in a 1588 Guide to Rome).

Sacello della Madonna

Sacello della Madonna
(left) Sacello della Madonna and Via dei SS. Quattro Coronati; (right-above) inscription with naive verses; (right-below) sacred image

At the foot of the slope leading to S. Quattro Coronati there is what is likely the most ancient sacred image of Rome. The image is located along the itinerary followed by the procession which accompanied the newly elected pope to S. Giovanni in Laterano for the formal ceremony during which he took possession of his charge. According to the legend at this spot in the IXth century a female pope (Pope Joan) was caught by labour pains, her sex was discovered and she was stoned to death. The madonnella is most likely a XVth century painting, but the existence of a sacred image located at this site is documented since the year 1000.

Sacello della Madonna
(left) XVIIIth century building; (right) madonnella

A madonnella in much better shape is located on an elegant XVIIIth century building opposite Sacello della Madonna.

Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:


Chiesa de' SS. Pietro e Marcellino
Ne' primi secoli della Chiesa fu questa eretta, e poi da Gregorio III. rifatta; come pure da Alessandro IV., e finalmente da Clemente XI. fu conceduta a' monaci Siriaci di sant' Antonio. Il Pontefice Benedetto XIV. la rifece da' fondamenti col disegno del Marchese Teodoli e poi la concedè alle religiose di santa Teresa, che stavano presso s. Lucia alle botteghe oscure, dette le Ginnasie, le quali vi hanno fatto un ampio monastero, ed hanno ornata la chiesa con quadri moderni.
Chiesa de' SS. Quattro Coronati
Incontro alla riferita chiesa, e sull'alto del colle si vede quella de' ss. Quattro Coronati, eretta da Onorio I. che fu del 630. nel luogo, ove i ss. Fratelli soffersero il martirio. Da san Leone IV. furono collocati in questa chiesa i corpi de' detti Santi con altri cinque corpi di ss. Martiri, e Pasquale II. vi aggiunse un gran palazzo, in cui per qualche tempo abitarono i sommi Pontefici; ma poi da Pio IV. vi fu adattato un conservatorio per le povere zittelle orfane, e vi si mantengono sotto la cura di alcune religiose Agostiniane, fino a tanto che prendano stato. Nel portico evvi una piccola chiesa dedicata a s. Silvestro Papa, che dalle pitture e memorie, che vi si osservano, sembra assai antica. La chiesa poi fu riattata ed ornata di pitture dal Card. Mellino Vicario di Urbano VIII. Prima di entrare in chiesa, sonovi alcune pitture a fresco credute di Raffaello da Reggio; nel primo altare a destra si vede la natività del Signore stimata del Naldini, e le pitture nell'altare del Crocifisso sono di persona ignota; quelle però nella tribuna con diversi santi Martiri sono belle opere di Giovanni da s. Giovanni. Il s. Sebastiano dall' altra parte è del Cav. Baglioni, e la ss. Annunziata, del suddetto Giovanni.

Next plate in Book 3: Ruine dell'antico Tempio dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino
Next step in Day 1 itinerary: Basilica di S. Giovanni in Laterano
Next step in your tour of Rione Monti: Chiesa di S. Clemente
Next step in your tour of Rione Campitelli: Chiesa di SS. Giovanni e Paolo