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The Parish Church of St Nicholas of Bari designed by the son of the Trevi Fountain sculptor
The Parish Church of San Nicola di Bari stands at the highest point of Castelnuovo di Farfa, a village in the Sabina area in the province of Rieti, about 55 km from Rome. It was designed in the second half of the 18th century by Virginio Bracci, the son of Pietro, the sculptor who created the Oceanus group in the Trevi Fountain. The church has a turbulent history: it was closed for eleven years, then reborn thanks to a restoration, and is well worth a visit.
An important commission
The new church was commissioned by Prince Lante, then Commendatory Abbot of Farfa, who entrusted the project to Bracci. The architect conceived a late Baroque layout with a Roman flavour: an elliptical plan, a single nave, a large presbytery and six side chapels. Above the vestibule, the choir loft still houses the ancient organ, later restored in 1939 by the firm Pacifico Inzoli e Figli of Parma.
Eleven years behind closed doors
In 1915 an earthquake struck the building, which was already in poor condition. Its state worsened, until it was closed in 1928. It would only reopen in 1939, following a restoration overseen by architect Filippo Sneider of Rome and for the technical and artistic side by Angelo Salustri Galli and his wife, Donna Linda of the Theodoli Marquesses. The new frescoes were painted by Ettore Ballerini and by Alberto and Luigi Albani.
