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It rises over the site of a smaller
church, dedicated to the same saint who, according
to tradition, was a guest of the matron Paola here.
In 1524, Clement VII assigned it to the Company of
Charity, formed by him for the purposes of helping
the poor. Filippo Neri was fundamental in the
history of the pious institution. He was ordained
priest here in 1551 (the rooms where he lived can
still be visited). Damaged by a fire in the church,
which also included a refectory, the guest room and
other rooms, it was restored by Domenico Castelli
(1647), probably replaced on his death by Carlo
Rainaldi. The interior has a single nave with two
chapels on each side and another two on either side
of the high altar. It still has the old wooden
ceiling and the copy of the famous "Communion of San
Girolamo" by Domenichino, moved after the French
invasion, to the Vatican Picture Gallery. The
splendid Anatamaro Chapel dedicated to St. Filippo
Neri, the work of Filippo Juvarra (1707) is worthy
of note.
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In the first chapel on the right,
belonging to the Spada family since 1595, is entered through
a baroque device, moving, that is, the wings of the angel on
the left. Little is known of the early works, but those
begun in 1 q654 are documented through the interest of
fatherVirgilio Spada, a close friend of the architect, even
after the close collaboration in the Vallicelli complex. The
question of whether the decoration of the chapel was by
Borromini or not is controversial; it is probable that the
architect and the religious man were both concerned, even if
the work is a long way from the later style of Borromini. |
The chapel is rectangular
and the walls are completely covered in polychroma marble
creating a special scenic and picturesque effect; the
veining of the stone, in fact, resemble a damask cloth. On
the rich surfaces marble tondos with profiles, in relief, of
the more important personalities of the family. The two
large sepulchres on the sidewalls complete the decoration.
Statues of the two members of the family are placed above
them, the work of students of Gianlorenzo Bernini. |
