Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione at the Roman Forum

The church is located in the Rione Campitelli, near the Roman Forum and at the foot of the Tarpean Rock and owes the origin of the name to the fact that, in 1385, a condemned nobleman paid two florins to have an image of the Virgin Mary placed in this place, in order to console those sentenced to death, whose sentences were carried out on the nearby Tarpeian cliff. Built in 1470, it was then rebuilt between 1583 and 1606 based on a design by Martino Longhi the Elder.

The travertine façade, which rises on a large modern staircase, has two orders: the lower one, divided by Corinthian pilasters into five bays, and with three portals, is the work of Longhi; the upper one, completed in 1827 by Pasquale Belli in the same style, has three bays and is connected to the attic of the first order, on which there are statues of the prophets Isaiah, Zaccaria, Ezechiele and Geremia. The interior has three naves divided by pillars and has three apses and five chapels on each side.

Among the main works preserved we remember the frescoes of the Passion by Taddeo Zuccari of 1556; a Virgin and Child by Livio Agresti from 1575; a 13th century icon of Mary; the medieval altar with a fresco of the Madonna della Consolazione; a marble relief of the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine by Raffaello da Montelupo from 1530; Adoration of the Magi and Adoration of the Shepherds by Giovanni Baglione from the 17th century.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione at the Roman Forum