Church of Sant'Alfonso all'Esquilino

In the heart of the most cosmopolitan Rione of the Capital stands the church dedicated to the founder of the Redemptorists, the first public example of gothic revival in Roman religious architecture.

The place of worship, also known as the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Perpetuo Soccorso, was built between 1855 and 1859 in the 17th-century Villa Caetani to a design by the Scottish architect George Wigley and significantly modified by Maximilian Schmalzl in the early 20th century.

The brick and travertine façade is preceded by a wide staircase and has three entrances and a majestic pointed arch, decorated in the centre by a large rose window. Each of the portals is surmounted by a bas-relief: Sant'Alfonso de' Liguori on the left, San Clemente Hofbauer on the right and in the centre a series of angels framing a mosaic depicting the Virgin of Perpetual Relief. At the top of the tympanum stands a marble statue of the Redeemer.

The interiors have three naves with three chapels on each side and are embellished with precious polychrome marbles and late 19th-century decorations by the Bavarian painter Max Schmalzl. On the central altar is placed the 14th-century Cretan school sacred icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, once belonging to the ancient church of San Matteo in Merulana, donated to the Redemptorists by Pius IX in 1866. The apse is decorated with an evocative mosaic depicting Christ enthroned between the Virgin and St. Joseph, made in 1964.

Photo: Perpetuo Soccorso Official Website