Page 136 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

134  ROME AREA B Y AREA

1 Sant’Andrea scrolls like semifolded hearts
delle Fratte supporting a spiky crown.
In 1842, the Virgin Mary
Via Sant’Andrea delle Fratte 1. appeared in the church to a
Map 5 A3 & 12 F1. Tel 06-679 3191. Jewish banker, who promptly
@ 116, 117. q Spagna. Open
6:30am–12:30pm & 4–7pm daily converted to Christianity and
became a missionary. Inside,
(to 8pm Sat & Sun). 5
the chapel of the Miraculous
When Sant’Andrea delle Fratte Madonna is the first thing you
was built in the 12th century, notice. The church is better
this was the northernmost edge known, however, for the angels
of Rome. Though the church is that Borromini’s rival, Bernini,
now firmly embedded in the city, carved for the Ponte Sant’Angelo.
its name (fratte means thickets) Pope Clement IX declared they
recalls its original setting. were too lovely to be exposed to
The church was completely the weather, so they remained
rebuilt in the 17th century, partly with Bernini’s family until 1729,
by Borromini. His bell tower and when they were moved to
dome, best viewed from the the church.
higher ground farther up Via
Capo le Case, are remarkable for 2 Palazzo di
the complex arrangement of
con cave and convex surfaces. Propaganda Fide
The bell tower is particularly fan- Via di Propaganda 1. Map 5 A2 & 12 Entrance to the Palazzo di Propoganda Fide
ciful, with angel caryatids, flam- F1 Tel 06-6988 0266. @ 116, 117.
ing torches, and exaggerated q Spagna. Museum: Closed for 3 Colonna
restoration. dell’Immacolata
The powerful Jesuit Congrega- Piazza Mignanelli. Map 5 A2. @ 116,
tion for the 117. q Spagna.
Propagation of the
Faith was founded Inaugurated in 1857, the
in 1622. Although column commemorates Pope
Bernini had Pius IX’s proclamation of the
originally been doctrine of the Immaculate
commissioned Conception, holding that the
to create their Virgin Mary was the only human
head quarters, being ever to have been born
Innocent X, who “without the stain of original
became pope in sin.” The column itself dates from
1644, preferred the ancient, pagan Rome but is
style of Borromini, crowned with a statue of the
who was asked Virgin Mary.
to continue. His On December 8, the pope,
extra ordinary west assisted by the fire department,
facade, completed places a wreath around the
in 1662, is striped head of the statue (see p63).
with broad
pilasters,
bet ween which the first-
floor windows bend in, and
the central bay bulges.
A rigid band divides its
floors, and the cornice
above the con vex
central bay swerves
inward. The more
you look at it, the
more restless it seems; a
sign perhaps of the increasing
unhappiness of the architect,
who committed suicide in
Angel by Bernini, 1667. The building houses the
Sant’Andrea delle Fratte Vatican’s missionary museum. Portrait of Pope Pius IX (reigned 1846–78)

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