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All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore.
Chiesa e Monastero di S. Cecilia (Book 8) (Map C3) (Day 6) (View C10) (Rione Trastevere)

In this page:
The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
Today's view
Cardinal Acquaviva
S. Cecilia
The statue of S. Cecilia
Casa di Ettore Fieramosca

The Plate (No. 145)

Chiesa e Monastero di S. Cecilia

The old church of the IXth century was almost entirely rebuilt by Cardinal Acquaviva in 1725. Vasi shows very elegant people in the courtyard: the interior of the church looks like a ballroom for dancing minuets. The view is taken from the green dot in the 1748 map below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) Part of the Monastery; 2) Vase which once stood at the center of the courtyard. The map shows also 3) Church of S. Cecilia; 4) Entrance to the courtyard; 5) Casa di Ettore Fieramosca.

Small ViewSmall View

Today

The area today

The only noticeable change is the ancient vase for ceremonial ablutions which is now back at the center of the courtyard.

Cardinal Acquaviva

The coat of arms of Cardinal Acquaviva

Cardinal Acquaviva did not spare expenses to celebrate himself. The courtyard is closed by this building (designed by Ferdinando Fuga) crowned by a large coat of arms of the Cardinal (the coats of arms of the popes are inside the church: you can see that of Pope Clemens XI in my background).

S. Cecilia

the church

The slightly leaning bell tower dates back to the XIIth century. The porch has a nice medieval frieze and four antique columns.

Statue of S. Cecilia

S. Cecilia

Beneath the high altar rests the recumbent statue of the martyr by Stefano Maderno (1600). The bare throat shows the vain attempts of the executioner to sever her head. The sculpture shows the body as it was (re)discovered in 1599. The body was found untouched and there are several descriptions of the event, which was attended by Maderno. The sculpture was highly praised by Marquis de Sade, who described at length in his Voyage en Italie the marks on the neck of the saint and the posture of her hands.

Casa di Ettore Fieramosca

Casa di Ettore Fieramosca

This part of Trastevere was heavily populated in the Middle Ages when the river harbour of Rome was moved here from Testaccio. During the Renaissance and the following centuries the area lost its importance and this explains why it retains so many medieval houses. A fine example of a medieval fortified house stands opposite to S. Cecilia. It is named after Ettore Fieramosca an Italian knight who in 1503 led a team of 13 Italian knights against a similar French team in a tournament in Barletta (near Bari). The building dates back to the XIIIth century and it had a little porch supported by ancient columns.
A modern building near the house of Ettore Fieramosca is decorated with a relief showing a lion's head: it is the symbol of Rione Trastevere.

Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:


Chiesa e Monastero di s. Cecilia
Quivi nella propria casa sofferse per tre giorni il martirio la s. Verginella, la quale prima di morire, venendo visitata da s. Urbano Papa, lo pregò, che dopo la di lei morte convertisse quel luogo in chiesa, o per dir meglio in oratorio, come costumavasi in que' tempi. Ma poi essendosi nel Pontificato di s. Pasquale I. ritrovato nel cimiterio di s. Calisto il corpo della santa Titolare con quello di s. Valeriano suo sposo, e di s. Tiburzio suo cognato, nell'anno 821. vi fu fatta una magnifica chiesa nella forma, che ancor si vede, ed in essa con solenne festa furono trasportati quei santi Corpi. Per lungo tempo stettero nel monastero i monaci Umiliati; ma essendo questi soppressi, da Clemente VIII. fu conceduto il monastero, e la chiesa alle monache di s. Benedetto. Il Card. Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, essendone titolare, ornò la confessione, o vogliamo dire altare maggiore, con quattro preziose colonne di marmo bianco e nero antico, e varj ornamenti di pietre orientali, di metallo e d'argento. Sotto l'altare si vede la statua della Santa a giacere scolpita in candido marmo da Stefano Maderno nell'atto, come fu trovato il suo corpo; l'immagine però della ss. Vergine in un tondino fu dipinta da Annibale Caracci. Accanto alla sagrestia, si conserva ancora la stanza, ove la santa Vergine nel bagno fu ferita a morte, e vi sono delle pitture a fresco credute di Guido Reni, e de' paesi del Brilli. Dopo il deposito del Cardinal Sfondrati colle statue fatte da Carlo Maderno, segue la cappella delle reliquie, la quale per essere molto ricca e nobile, resta nella clausura, e però dalle monache si scopre per favore. Il quadro di s. Andrea, e la Maddalena, sono del Baglioni, il quale dipinse il s. Pietro, e il s. Paolo, ed ancora il martirio di s. Agata; ma la flagellazione alla colonna, e la santa Titolare nel sotterraneo, ove si custodiscono i sagri corpi, con molte altre reliquie, sono del Cav. Vanni, e le pitture a fresco nella gran volta sono del Cav. Conca, dipinte nell' ultima ristaurazione fatta dal Card. Francesco Acquaviva.
Il gran vaso di marmo, che si vede vicino al portico, era dell'anticha chiesa, postovi per ornamento, come in oggi vi sono state poste le lapidi con iscrizioni antiche nel portico.

Next plate in Book 8: Chiesa e Monastero di S. Giuseppe
Next step in Day 6 itinerary: S. Giovanni Battista dei Genovesi