Chiesa Nuova

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Map of the Churches of Rome

Chiesa Nuova

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Santa Maria in Vallicella, which is much better known as the Chiesa Nuova, is one of the great 16th century Counter-Reformation preaching-churches; it is also a parish, titular and convent church. 

The Chiesa Nuova belongs to the Congregation of the Oratory, also known as the Oratorians, which was founded by Filippo Romolo Neri (1515-95), a Florentine priest, on July 15th 1575.  In the same year, Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572-85) gave Neri the old church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, which he proceeded to rebuild. 

Facade

A Detail of the Facade

The church was begun in 1575 and consecrated in 1599. Initially, the architect was Matteo di Città di Castello, but he was later replaced by Martino Longhi the Elder. The building of the Chiesa Nuova was financed by Cardinal Pier Donato Cesi. His brother Angelo paid for the facade, which was designed by Fausto Rughesi. The inscription proclaims: ANGELVS · CAESIVS · EPISC · TVDERTINVS · FECIT · ANNO · DOM · MDCV (Angelo Cesi, Bishop of Todi, made this in the year of our Lord 1605). 

The central doorway is surmounted by a triangular pediment, which is broken at the top in order to accommodate a large tablet bearing a dedicatory inscription. Santa Maria in Vallicella is jointly dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Pope St Gregory the Great. 

Pope St Gregory the Great

St Jerome

The two statues on the facade depict St Gregory the Great and St Jerome, and are the work of the sculptor Giovanni Antonio Paracca (1546-99), better known as il Valsoldo. ​

Tablet Inscription to the Virgin Mary

​The side entrances are surmounted by ornate tablets. The two inscriptions praise the Virgin Mary with words from the Song of Songs (4:7): TOTA PVLCHRA ES AMICA MEA ('Thou art all fair, my love') and MACVLA NON EST IN TE ('There is no spot in thee').

Two Door Handles Decorated with the Cor Flammigerum

The handles of the inner side doors are decorated with flaming hearts, for the Cor Flammigerum is St Philip Neri's emblem. As a young man, Neri would often spend the night in prayer in the catacombs of St Sebastian. In 1544, he was praying there on the eve of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit appeared to him in the form of a flaming globe, which descended and entered his heart. The Cor Flammigerum thus became one of the symbols of the Congregation of the Oratory. ​

Dome

Lantern

The dome was finished in 1650 by Pietro da Cortona. The disproportionally tall lantern has a cog-wheel entablature. 

Nave

Nave

​The interior comprises a nave and two aisles. 

Nave vault

The fresco (1664-65) in the ceiling of the nave is by Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669). It depicts a dream in which St Philip Neri was warned by the Virgin Mary that the roof of his church was about collapse. On waking he found the roof miraculously  suspended in mid-air.

Stucco angels

The striking stucco work on the nave walls was added by Tommaso Mattei between 1697 and 1701.

Dome

Pietro da Cortona painted the fresco of the Triumph of the Trinity in the dome and the Assumption of Mary in the vault of the apse. 

The Trinity in Glory by Pietro da Cortona

The pendentives of the dome depict the four major Old Testament prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. A pair of stucco angels sits on the crown of each of the four arches, the work of Ercole Ferrata and Cosimo Fancelli. ​

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Pietro da Cortona painted the fresco of The Assumption of the Madonna in the conch of the apse. 

Madonna and Angels by Peter Paul Rubens

The sanctuary is also home to three paintings by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). In the painting of the Madonna and Angels (1608), which adorns the high altar, a small panel can be moved aside to reveal a much-venerated 13th century icon of Santa Maria in Vallicella. ​The two other paintings depict Saints Domitilla, Nereus & Achilleus and Saints Gregory, Maurus & Papianus. These are the only paintings by Rubens in a Roman church.

Wooden crucifix by Guglielmo Berthelot

The high altar is crowned with a wooden crucifix (1615), the work of the French sculptor Guglielmo Berthelot (1580-1648). The pair of stucco angels were added by Francesco Maratti in 1697.

Transept

The two transept chapels have altars of similar design. In the Chapel of the Coronation (right) the statues (1594) of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist are by Flaminio Vacca (1538-1605); the altarpiece (1615) is by Giuseppe Cesari (1568-1640), better known as il Cavaliere d'Arpino.

​In the Chapel of the Presentation the statues (1592) of St Peter and St Paul are by Giovanni Antonio Paracca (1546-99), better known as il Vasoldo; the altarpiece (1603) is by Federico Barocci (1535-1612).

One of the Two Baroque Organ Cases

The transept also boasts two spectacular Baroque organ cases. ​​

Chapel of St Philip Neri

Chapel of St Philip Neri

Off the left transept stands the sumptuously decorated Chapel of St Philip Neri, where he is enshrined. Filippo Neri died, at the age of 79, on May 26th 1595. Less than thirty years later, on March 12th 1622, he was canonised by Pope Gregory XV (r. 1621-23). The altarpiece is a copy in mosaic by Vincenzo Castellani of a famous painting by Guido Reni. The saint is interred beneath the altar. 

Chapel of St Charles Borromeo

Vault, Chapel of St Charles Borromeo

Off the right transept stands the 17th century Cappella Spada, which is dedicated to St Charles Borromeo (1538-84). The chapel comprises three rooms. The vault of the middle room, the work of Giovan Francesco di Rossi, is exuberantly ornate. In the centre of the vault is a single word, HUMILITAS, which was the saint's personal and episcopal motto (he served as archbishop of Milan from 1564 until his death). 

Copy of the Entombment by Caravaggio

The Chiesa Nuova was once home to a painting of the Entombment (1604) by Caravaggio (1571-1610). However, at the end of the 18th century, the altarpiece was looted on the orders of Napoleon and sent to Paris. When the painting was returned to Rome, in 1816, it was not put back where it belonged but taken to the Vatican Museums, where it remains.

​The present altarpiece, second chapel to the right, is a copy of Caravaggio's Entombment by the Austrian painter Michael Köck (1760-1825). ​

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