Faith and chains: from the ancient Mamertine Prison to the new church of the Carpenters

Situated on the slopes of the Capitoline Hill, the beautiful Church of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami stands on the Mamertine Prison, or Carcer Tullianum, the oldest prison in Rome, built by King Anco Marzio in the 7th century BC. 
Consisting of two superimposed rooms, the evocative monument housed the ancient Church of San Pietro in Carcere, where, according to tradition, the apostles Peter and Paul were imprisoned before undergoing martyrdom. In 1540, the Archconfraternity of Carpenters rented the site to gather and perform their religious functions.

In 1546, due to the inadequacy of the space, the congregation decided to build a new worship building - the characteristics of which, without iconographic sources, are unknown - in honour of their patron, Saint Joseph, on top of the pre-existing church. At the end of the 16th century, they decided to renovate the church, demolishing the previous structure, based on a design by the architect and carver from Milan Giovan Battista Montano, supervised by Giacomo Della Porta, at that time architect of the Roman municipality. 

In 1621, after Montano's death, Giovan Battista Soria was appointed "architect of the Company"; he directed the extension works of the Oratory and the construction of the sacristy until 1657 when Antonio del Grande was designated. He completed the work on the church, then consecrated on 11 November 1663.

The façade of San Giuseppe: a refined play of shapes and harmonies 

Designed by Montano, the church's elegant façade has a double order, with a central window surmounted by a triangular tympanum at whose base are two smaller tympanums. 

Embellished with volutes and niches, it was initially decorated with frescoes and slate paintings, probably executed by Avanzino Nucci and completed in the second half of the 17th century.

Currently, in the lower order, La Fuga in Egitto (Flight to Egypt) - above the portal framed by half-columns and tympanum - and the Saints Peter and Paul, in the side panels, are barely visible.

Sacred splendour: art masterpieces in the shadow of Imperial Rome 

The interior has a single nave flanked by two chapels on each side. The original 17th-century wooden coffered ceiling, two-thirds of which was destroyed when the roof collapsed in the summer of 2018, was faithfully reconstructed in a complex and meticulous restoration. 

An extraordinary work by Montano, the ceiling features a suggestive central relief of the Nativity, framed by angelic figures and, at the ends, two other smaller reliefs depicting St. Joseph with the Child and the Holy Family.

In the church, you can admire numerous works of art, such as the valuable painting Sposalizio della Vergine (Marriage of the Virgin) by the painter Horace Le Blanc (1605), the splendid Natività (Nativity) by the young Carlo Maratta (1651), the Sacra famiglia con Sant'Anna (Holy Family with St. Anne) by Giuseppe Ghezzi and Il transito di San Giuseppe (The Transit of St. Joseph) by Bartolomeo Colombo, preserved in the side chapels.

Between the floor and the vault of the Mamertine Prison, a room underneath houses the 16th-century Chapel of the Crucifix, whose name originates from a miraculous wooden crucifix known as "di Campo Vaccino", previously kept above the entrance to the monument.

The adjacent Oratory of St Joseph, a truly unexpected jewel, houses a beautifully carved ceiling with a superb cycle of frescoes on the Story of the Holy Family, painted by Marco Tullio Montagna in the first half of the 17th century.