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The birth of the Congregation
of the Oratorio is due to St. Filippo Neri who, born
in Florence (1515) lived and worked in Roma from 1533
to the year of his death in 1595. With the official
institution by Gregory XIII, 1575, the congregation
had its home in the church of St. Maria in Vallicella,
which was rebuilt in the present form and embellished
by artists such as Barocci, Caravaggio, Rubens and
Pietro da Cortona, becoming one of the main pastoral
and cultural centres of the city.
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The first document that speaks of the works of the
architect fromTicino for the Filippini is from 1636, when
he, still not known by anyone, was employed in the re-working of the altar in the sacristy of the New
Church. Very soon, Borromini was appointed “house
architect" working in the so-called room of St. Filippo Neri,
rebuilt and decorated inside the convent (1638). Later, he occupied
himself with the construction of the oratorio, overcoming a series
of technical difficulties that ensued from the anticipated site next lo the
church. These difficulties were brilliantly resolved by the architect who was awarded the commission, making a
facade scanned by the asymmetry of the windows.
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The construction was, incredibly, completed in only two years (1638-40).The
Facade was conceived by the architect as “daughter”
to that of the church, it is smaller, it is constructed with “inferior but noble
materials" bricks in contrast io the luminous travertine of the church. Inside, there are various rooms like the oratorio (today used as a conference room),
the porter’s Iodge with the cardinals’ residence above, the
Vallicelli Library, the Vallicelli Refectory and the Recreation Room with the famous Borromini Fireplace.The building also contains the Capitoline Archives with the annexed Roman library and the headquarters of the Roman
Society for Native History.
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