Chiesa di San Salvatore in Campo

The present church derives from an older one, already attested in the first half of the 10th century, and called S. Salvatoris de domno Campo. The name goes back to dominus Campo, the abbot of Farfa who erected or restored the church; over time, the expression de domno was dropped, and S. Salvatore in Campo remained (so in a bull of Pope Urban III of 1186). Other hypotheses trace the name back to the unpaved square, then called Campo, that was in front of it: in fact, in the Middle Ages the large squares of Rome were called campi (fields), which, because they were unpaved and often green with grass, had the appearance of a countryside.

The medieval church (which in 1551 had become the first seat of the confraternity of the Trinità dei Pellegrini founded by Filippo Neri) was demolished in the 17th century for the construction of the Palazzo del Monte della Pietà. In 1639 Pope Urban VIII had the present church built, which retained the name of the previous one, although topographically not in the same location.

The building was constructed by architect Francesco Peparelli and has a very simple and linear façade. The interior has no particular artistic relief, and the church as a whole is in urgent need of restoration. On the choir loft on the counter façade was the pipe organ (built by Luigi Vasconi in 1820), which was transferred to the Church of St John Mary Vianney at Borghesiana in 2008.

The church, now home to the Eritrean Coptic Orthodox community, received a restoration in 2008, during which the entire perimeter was entirely repainted, leaving only the original fresco on the gable intact.