Basilica Parrocchiale San Giuseppe al Trionfale

Its construction was under the impulse of Fr Luigi Guanella, who could count on the support of Pope Pius X, a great devotee of Our Lady's holy husband. In 1909, thanks to some private funds raised by Fr Guanella and the financial support of the Holy See, the construction of this imposing building, located near the Vatican walls in the populous Trionfale district, was begun, based on a project by Aristide Leonori.In addition to its architectural aspects, the church also has value in the field of town planning because, together with others in the neighbourhood and the adjacent Prati district (partly contemporary), it tells of a widespread anticlerical tendency at the end of the 19th century in the newly-born Italian state, which wanted, by contrasting with the Vatican, to minimise the importance of places of worship, by assigning them in the future neighbourhoods any building lot in alignment with even secondary roads and not, as one would expect, a lot facing the main square or street of the neighbourhood (again, where the Piazzale degli Eroi is really close by and already has civil and service buildings such as the elementary schools and the ophthalmic hospital).The church was opened for worship on 19 March 1912 and on 24 May 1912, with the apostolic constitution Cum incolarum, it was erected as a parish, obtaining the income of the church of San Marcello al Corso (suppressed in 1909). The first parish priest was Fr Aurelio Bacciarini, later appointed Apostolic Administrator of Ticino and declared venerable in 2008.At the same time, the construction of the adjacent Residenza San Giuseppe was started, which became the site of the most important nursing school in Rome with a religious imprint: today it is part of the Segesta Group.The church of San Giuseppe al Trionfale, which since its foundation has been entrusted to the priests of the Congregation of the Servants of Charity - Opera Don Guanella, has been the seat of the Cardinal's diaconate of the same name since 1967 and was then awarded the title of minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1970.In 1967 the pipe organ (opus 886) was built by the Mascioni company; with electric transmission, it has 45 registers and is divided into two bodies located on the two opposing choir lofts on either side of the presbytery. Its console is independently mobile and has 2 keyboards and pedal board and is located to the right of the high altar.The bell tower houses a concert of 8 bells in E3; it consists of an original nucleus of five bronze bells in F#3 made by Angelo Bianchi in 1911, modified in 1954 by Daciano Cobalchini by recasting the third bell in A3 and adding three new bronze bells.