San Gregorio Magno

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For the commune, see San Gregorio Magno (commune).

San Gregorio Magno al Celio, also known as San Gregorio al Celio or simply San Gregorio, is a church in Rome. It is located on the Caelian Hill, in front of the Palatine.

The church was erected in the Middle Ages over the house of Pope Gregory I, where he had an oratory, dedicated to St. Andrew, erected in 575. The current edifice was built by Giovan Battista Soria in 1629-1633; Francesco Ferrari (1725-1734) designed the interior.

The church is preceded by a wide staircase rising from the Via di San Gregorio, the street separating the Caelian from the Palatine. The façade, in its style and material (travertine), resembles that of San Luigi dei Francesi. The interior can be reached by a portico including some tombs: these once included that of the famous courtesan Imperia, lover of the rich banker Agostino Chigi (1511), but later it was replaced by the tomb of a 17th century clergyman.

The church follows the typical basilican plan, a nave divided from two lateral aisles by 16 antique columns with pilasters. The decoration includes stuccoes by Ferrari (c. 1725), and a Cosmatesque pavement. At the end of the nave is the "altar of St. Gregory the Great", with three fine reliefs from the end of the 15th century. Also interesting is the Cappella Salviati, designed by Francesco da Volterra and finished by Carlo Maderno in 1600: it includes an ancient fresco which, according to the tradition, spoke to St. Gregory, and a marble altar by Andrea Bregno and pupils (1469).

To the left of the church, tightly grouped in a garden, are three oratories commissioned by Cardinal Cesare Baronio at the beginning of the 17th century, as a memory of St. Gregory's original monastery. The central one, dedicated to St. Andrew, include frescoes by Domenichino, Pomarancio and Guido Reni. To its right (as you face it) is the oratory of St. Silvia, dedicated to St. Gregory's mother: it is probably located over her tomb. The oratory of St. Barbara includes the famous so‑called triclinium, where St. Gregory hosted dinner for the poor of Rome. The massive marble table is related to an ancient legend, according to which one day an angel presented to the Pope mocked as a poor man. The grounds of the oratories also include remains of the Agapetan library, as well as some substructures of the Roman imperial period, that may merely have been tabernae, but one of which exhibits striking features and is therefore thought by some experts to be an early Christian meeting place and baptismal pool.

[edit] External links

• Media on San Gregorio al Celio in the Wikicommons.