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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 della SS. Annunziata (Book 8) (Day 2) (Rione Monti)

In this page:
The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
Today's view
Coat of arms
The Borghese Chapel
Palazzo Imperiali Borromeo

The Plate (No. 157)

Chiesa e Monastero della SS. Annunziata

The four Basilicas deserve more than one view. Thus Vasi makes use of another subject (an inconspicuous nunnery) to show us a lateral view of S. Maria Maggiore and chiefly of the Borghese Chapel or Cappella Paolina. The plate also is used to show scenes of everyday life. The plate shows also the back of Monastero delle Religiose Filippine. The view is taken from the green dot in the 1748 map below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) S. Maria Annunziata; 2) Back of Monastero delle Filippine; 3) Back of S. Maria Maggiore. 2) and 3) are shown in other pages. The small map shows also 4) Palazzo Imperiali Borromeo.

Small ViewSmall View

Today

The nunnery today

Rome under the Church State had a large population of nuns, which substantially decreased when the city became the capital of the new Italian Kingdom. In this case the nunnery became a barrack. In my background to this page you can see the windows which did not allow the occupant to see out, or the outsider to see in.
However not all the flavour of the past is lost: in the courtyard there is a very fine fountain.

The fountain today

The Coat of Arms

The coat of arms

S. Maria Maggiore has many coats of arms of Pope Paulus V. Most of them have been erased like this one outside the Borghese Chapel, built to host an ancient and miraculous picture of the Virgin, painted according to tradition by St. Luke, as the inscription says. The eagle on the capital on the other hand survived.

The Borghese Chapel

The Borghese Chapel - Paulus VThe Borghese Chapel - Clemens VIII

The Borghese Chapel or Cappella Paolina built by Flaminio Ponzio in 1611 twinning the Sistine (Pope Sixtus V) Chapel has an incredibly rich decoration. On the left the statue of Paulus V and on the right that of Pope Clemens VIII, both by Silla da Viggiù.

Palazzo Imperiali Borromeo

XVIIth century buildings

Most of the buildings around S. Maria Maggiore were erected in the late XIXth century. At the corner with Via di S. Maria Maggiore (leading to Via Panisperna) two XVIIth century palaces survived. The one on the corner was for more than twenty years the house of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (he then moved to Via della Mercede, near Palazzo di Propaganda Fide), the other one retains some interesting details. It is known as Palazzo Imperiali-Borromeo but it had belonged to the Rospigliosi (in the main hall there is a coat of arms of Pope Clemens IX Rospigliosi). Its XVIIth century appearance was modified in 1873 when the street level was lowered by approximately 12 feet, so the upper part of the portal became the decoration of the balcony.

Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:


Monastero delle Turchine
Circa l'anno 1675. fu eretto questo monastero, le cui religiose, per il colore, che vestono, diconsi le Turchine; la loro chiesa è dedicata alla ss. Vergine Annunziata, e li quadri, che vi sono, furono dipinti da Giuseppe Ghezzi.

Next plate in Book 8: Monastero delle Religiose Filippine
Next step in Day 2 itinerary: Tribuna di S. Maria Maggiore
Next step in your tour of Rione Monti: Monastero delle Religiose Filippine