Church of Santa Rita da Cascia alle Vergini

The hidden treasures of the Rione Trevi

Very close to the Trevi Fountain, the church dedicated since the early 20th century to Saint Rita of Cascia is one of the small masterpieces of Roman Baroque. Its history begins in 1615, when it was built on the site of a pre-existing church with the title of Santa Maria delle Vergini and granted to the Augustinian nuns of the nearby Collegio della Madonna del Rifugio. Only a few years later, the sisters commissioned Francesco Peparelli to rebuild and enlarge the building, which was already insufficient for the needs of their community. The façade, completed in 1696, and the high altar are attributed to Mattia de' Rossi: a pupil and collaborator of Bernini, the Roman architect had taken over his professional inheritance and succeeded him in various positions, including architect of the Fabbrica di San Pietro and and prince of the Accademia di San Luca.

Impossible causes and hopeless circumstances

In 1871, with the end of papal temporal rule after the Breach of Porta Pia, the monastery was sequestered by the Italian state, and the church was deconsecrated. In 1904, however, the latter was assigned to the Arciconfraternita della Santa Spina della Corona di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo e di Santa Rita da Cascia (Archconfraternity of the Holy Thorn of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of St Rita of Cascia), which had lost its headquarters. The confraternity had been housed until then in the church at the foot of the Capitol Hill, which would be demolished shortly afterwards for the opening of the Via del Mare (the demolished church, rebuilt a short distance away in the 1940s, is now an exhibition space run by the Municipality of Rome). The church in Via delle Vergini was thus reconsecrated and dedicated to the “patron of hopeless causes”, who had meanwhile been canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900.

Gold, stucco ornament and frescoes

A graceful and simple façade leads to an interior with a Greek-cross plan and central dome, richly decorated with late 17th-century frescoes and stuccoes (by Filippo Carcani). A multitude of saints and angels populate the beautiful frescoes in the dome depicting the Glory of Paradise, attributed to the painter Michelangelo Ricciolini (ca. 1695), while the sub-arch of the main chapel with the Holy Trinity is the work of Ludovico Gimignani. On the right altar is a painting by Pietro Lucatelli, a follower of Pietro da Cortona, depicting St Augustine and St Monica. Also noteworthy is the high altar, set inside a baldachin with statues of angels. In 1912, one of the chapels to the left of the entrance (Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes) was rebuilt to reproduce the interior of a grotto. The counter façade is occupied by the monumental cantoria for the organ with finely carved and gilded woodwork: little nuns’ heads adorn the supporting brackets.

The roses of Saint Rita

On the feast day of the saint, 22 May, the church turns into a garden of roses, which are blessed and distributed to the faithful. The sacramental of blessed roses is inspired by the legend of the rose garden that the saint miraculously made bloom in the cold of January, while she was ill and close to death in the monastery.

Discover all the treasures of the Rione Trevi

Photo Turismo Roma