The church is called "delle fratte" because, during the
Middle Ages, it was located outside the residential area. After having been, during the
Middle Ages, the head quarters of the Scots, the church was given by Pope Sixtus V (1585), to the Minimum Brothers
of St. Francis of Paola. Rebuilt at the beginning of the 1600s through the interest of the Marquis Paolo Del Bufalo, based on the plans by Gaspare Guerra, the church has a taste of the late 1500s. The interior has a single nave
with barrel vaulting and three chapels on each side. There are also two of the famous marble angels by Bernini for the St. Angelo bridge (regarded by Clement Xl as too fine to be left exposed to the elements, remained in the artist's studio and were donated by the nephew in 1729).
The chapel of St. Francis of Paola is also very beautiful; it was built in 1726 by Filippo Barigioni. The Stations of the Cross created by various Italian and foreign artists tied to the ring of the Nazarenes who frequented the area at the beginning of the 1800s, can also be seen.
|
|
The Angel of the Cross and the
Angel with the Crown of Thorns, originally destinated to decorate the Sant'Angelo bridge were replaced by copies ordered by
Clement IX to safeguard the precious marbles from the elements. in 1729, the originals—which rumour had it that they were to be transported to Pistoia, hometown of the Pontiff—were in the nearby Bernini
Palace when the nephew of the sculptor donated them to the altar of St. Francis of
Paola, in their parish church.
|
The fall of one of the two angels during transport broke a wing. In the project of 1667, perhaps inspired by the
splendid display on the bridge in honour of Charles V, the
spectacular celestili procession along the way to the Vatican
basilica was repeated to show the pilgrims the reiliquaries of the Passion. The work was
comleted on November 8th, 1671 with the intervention of the
most faithful of Bernini's students. |
