Chiesa di San Melchiade

Labaro arose after the reclamation of the Agro Romano (1878) north of Rome, near the place where, on 28 October 312, the Battle of Ponte Milvio between Constantine I and Maxentius took place. In this area, on 16 May 1959, a parish dedicated to San Melchiade, pope at the time of Constantine's victory over Maxentius, was erected with the decree of the Cardinal Vicar Clemente Micara Quo uberius bonis. The community initially met in a temporary place of worship until a real church was built; the construction of the latter began on a project by Giuseppe Spina in 1974 and ended in 1977. The church of San Melchiade and the adjoining parish complex stand on the side of the Labaro hill facing the Grande Raccordo Anulare; form a single building that is divided into several levels, of which the highest is the place of worship. The facade of the liturgical hall consists of the large entrance, protected by a protruding and curved canopy on the front and closed by a wooden portal. On the right of it there is a metal bas-relief depicting San Melchiade. Isolated in the square in front of it is a tall stele in reinforced concrete, without decorations and surmounted by a cross. The entire hall is characterized by two semicircular lateral exedras and a dome-shaped glass window that illuminates the presbytery from above; all the ceiling beams, in wood and bent steel, converge towards the latter; the wall facing is in exposed reinforced concrete and the flooring is made of travertine slabs. The latter presbytery is raised a few steps above the assembly level and is made up of marble furnishings, such as the high altar (placed in the center), the pulpit (located on the right), the tabernacle (with metal case), and the seat (between the altar and the pulpit); behind the latter there is a large bronze Crucifix. Behind the presbytery, at a lower level than the rest of the church, is the weekday chapel, housing a statue of the Madonna and Child, whose back wall is made up of a large glass window that acts as a backdrop to the presbytery. In the exedra on the right of the hall, there is the church's pipe organ, built in 1978 by the organ-building company Krengli of Novara. The instrument, with electric transmission, has a display composed of pipes of the main register arranged in two converging cusps, with miter mouths. The console, located near the organ body, has a single 61-note keyboard and a 32-note concave-radial pedalboard.