Overview

San Filippo Neri, known as the "Apostle of Rome", was canonised in 1622 and his figure is historically linked to the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. Affectionately called "Pippo buono", in 1548 he created the Confraternity of Pilgrims and Convalescents with the aim of assisting needy pilgrims on their way to Rome. To thank him for his work, Pope Gregory XIII gave him the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, which dated back to the 12th century. In 1575, Pietro Bartolini of Città di Castello began reconstruction work on the church, which was continued in 1583 by Martino Longhi the Elder. In 1599, the church was consecrated and its façade was completed in 1605, based on the model of the Chiesa del Gesù, with two orders marked by Corinthian pilasters, a central portal flanked by columns and two smaller portals at the sides, in the upper order, a balustraded window between columns on which a curved tympanum rests and two niches with statues of San Girolamo and San Gregorio Magno. The three-nave, vaulted interior features a large central hall flanked by interconnecting chapels, adorned with frescoes by Pietro da Cortona in the dome, ceiling and apse. The altar is decorated with Rubens' masterpiece "Angels in Veneration of the Madonna" (1608), a painting that covers an ancient image of the Virgin and Child, and the two side paintings depicting "Santi Gregorio Magno, Mauro and Papia" and "Santi Domitilla, Nereo e Achilleo" (1608). To the left of the presbytery is the chapel dedicated to San Filippo Neri, decorated with precious marble, semiprecious stones and mother-of-pearl. Lastly, in the sacristy, built in 1629, there is artwork by Pietro da Cortona, Alessandro Algardi, Guido Reni and Guercino.