Santa Caterina dei Funari

Lazio / Italy

Santa Caterina dei Funari is a church in Rome in Italy, in the rione of Sant'Angelo. The church is mainly known for its façade and its interior with frescoes and paintings.

Order of Saint Augustine

Lazio / Italy

The Order of Saint Augustine is a mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremetical groups in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of Saint Augustine, written by Saint Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century. They are also commonly known as the Augustinians or Austin friars, and were also historically known as the Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine . The order has, in particular, spread internationally the veneration of the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Good Counsel .

Oratorio del Gonfalone, Rome

Lazio / Italy

The Oratorio del Gonfalone or Oratory of the Banner is a building in Central Rome which once housed a Catholic fraternity. Founded in 1264 under the name of the Accomandati di Madonna Santa Maria, over the centuries the group dedicated itself to various activities, including the participation in religious processions as banner carriers , and also of putting on a yearly passion play. They also were involved in charity towards the poor and needy, and during 1581–1765, of freeing Italians enslaved in Muslim and Slavic lands. The fraternity was awarded the Golden Rose in 1526 by Clement VII, and given by Julius III in 1550 the prerogative to pardon one individual. In 1890, the fraternity was dissolved and its property confiscated by the state. The building on Via del Gonfalone 32a has a modest façade resembling a simple church. Inside, a team of prominent Mannerist painters were recruited between 1569–1576 to complete elaborate wall fresco decoration of scenes of the passion. Artists included Giacomo Zanguidi ; Livio Agresti ; Marco Pino , Marcantonio dal Forno; Federico Zuccari ; Raffaellino Motta da Reggio ; and Cesare Nebbia . The main altarpiece is painted by Roviale Spagnolo. The site has been called the Sistine chapel of Mannerism. The Passion panels are flanked by quadratura spiral columns and surmounted by images of prophets and sybils. The restored frescoes are vivid in coloration. The oratory's frescoes were restored in the recent decade, and the site is used for many of the concerts by the Coro Polifonico Romano. Note there are at least two other Oratorio del Gonfalone in Italy, also highly decorated in the interior, one at Fabriano and the other at Vicenza.

Oratory of Saint Philip Neri

Lazio / Italy

The Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri is a pontifical society of apostolic life of Catholic priests and lay-brothers who live together in a community bound together by no formal vows but only with the bond of charity. They are commonly referred to as Oratorians . This "Congregation of the Oratory" should not be confused with the French Oratory, a distinct congregation, the Society of the Oratory of Jesus , founded by Pierre de Bérulle in 1611 in Paris. Founded in Rome in 1575 by St. Philip Neri, today it has spread around the world, with over 70 Oratories and some 500 priests. The post-nominal initials commonly used to identify members of the society are "C.O." . The abbreviation "Cong. Orat." is also used. Unlike a religious institute or a monastery , the Oratorians are made up of members who commit themselves to membership in a particular, independent, self-governing local community without actually taking vows, an unusual and innovative arrangement created by St. Philip. Normally an oratory must have a minimum of four members, two being ordained, in order to be founded. If a group of men seeks to establish an oratory, they may apply to do so, going through the proper diocesan channels; during the process of formation a member of a well-established oratory resides in the community to facilitate every aspect of the proposed foundation.

Palazzo Braschi

Lazio / Italy

Palazzo Braschi [paˈlat.tso ˈbras.ki] is a large Neoclassical palace in Rome, Italy and is located between the Piazza Navona, the Campo de' Fiori, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Piazza di Pasquino. It presently houses the Museo di Roma, the "museum of Rome", covering the history of the city in the period from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century.

Palazzo Lancellotti

Lazio / Italy

No description found.

Palazzo Mattei

Lazio / Italy

The Palazzo Mattei di Giove is the most prominent among a group of Mattei houses that forms the insula Mattei in Rome, Italy, a block of buildings of many epochsTo distinguish this section from the others it carries the name of a Mattei fief, Giove. The Mattei owned a number of other palazzi that carried the family name including Palazzo Mattei di Trastevere across the Tiber as well as properties in Umbria, the Palazzo Mattei Paganica.

Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi

Lazio / Italy

The Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi is a palace in Rome, Italy. It was built by the Borghese family on the Quirinal Hill; its footprint occupies the site where the ruins of the baths of Constantine stood, whose remains still are part of the basement of the main building, the Casino dell'Aurora. Its first inhabitant was the famed art collector Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V, who wanted to be housed near the large papal Palazzo Quirinale. The palace and garden of the Pallavicini-Rospigliosi were the product of the accumulated sites and were designed by Giovanni Vasanzio and Carlo Maderno in 1611–16. Scipione owned this site for less than a decade, 1610–16, and commissioned the construction and decoration of the casino and pergolata, facing the garden of Montecavallo. The Roman palace of this name should not be mistaken for the panoramic Villa Pallavicino on the shores of Lake Como in Lombardy.

Pantheon, Rome

Lazio / Italy

The Pantheon is a former Roman temple, now a Catholic church , in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus . It was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD. Its date of construction is uncertain, because Hadrian chose not to inscribe the new temple but rather to retain the inscription of Agrippa's older temple, which had burned down.The building is cylindrical with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43 metres .It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history and, since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been in use as a church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda". The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a state property, managed by Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism through the Polo Museale del Lazio; in 2013 it was visited by over 6 million people. The Pantheon's large circular domed cella, with a conventional temple portico front, was unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, and has been copied many times by later architects.