Oratory of Santissimo Crocifisso

For the small oratory hidden among the narrow streets and squares of the Rione Trevi it all began in 1519, when the nearby local parish church of San Marcello al Corso burned down. A wooden crucifix from the 15th century miraculously survived the fire when everything else was destroyed and, for understandable reasons, it immediately became an object of veneration. And the popular devotion became even more intense when, carried in procession through the streets of Rome for 16 days during an outbreak of plague, it was credited with the miracle of having stopped the epidemic in 1522.

From that moment, on Holy Thursdays the Cross was the protagonist of a solemn procession going from San Marcello to the Vatican, retracing the same route that took place on the occasion of the miracle, to remove all evil and negativity from the city. The processions were organized by the newly created Confraternity of the Most Holy Crucifix, approved by Pope Clement VII and dedicated to assisting the poor and pilgrims. And it was the confraternity that decided in 1562 the construction of a headquarters where they could hold their meetings. The project was entrusted to the architect Giacomo Della Porta, who completed the works in 1568 thanks to the rich donations of Cardinals Ranuccio and Alessandro Farnese, nephews of Pope Paul III and members of the confraternity.

Simple and sober on the outside, the oratory has an elegant façade that freely reinterprets the traditional two storey structure: in the first storey, divided by Doric pilasters, there is a portal preceded by a flight of stairs and surmounted by a triangular pediment. On either side is a low window, and over this is an empty round-headed niche with a molded frame and a segmental pediment. A strongly projecting cornice divides the first storey from the second. A large inscription on a marble tablet commemorates the financial contribution from the Farnese family, with their coat-of-arms in a large recessed lunette. On top of this lunette is a crowning triangular pediment containing a winged putto’s head.

The biggest surprises are inside the oratory. The interior, a simple rectangular box without any side chapels, is in fact completely frescoed: the paintings on the walls depict the Legend of the True Cross, inspired by the medieval text of the Dominican friar Jacopo da Varazze, while those on the counter-façade the history of the confraternity. The complex pictorial cycle was conceived by Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, a sculptor and man of letters as well as a friend of Michelangelo, and by the painter Girolamo Muziano. Some of the most representative artists of late Roman Mannerism contributed to its creation in the last quarter of the 16th century: Giovanni de’ Vecchi, Cesare Nebbia, Niccolò Circignani, Baldassarre Croce, Cristoforo Roncalli and Paris Nogari. According to the theatricality of the time, the panels in which the different scenes are divided are embellished with perspective fictions with representations of kings, princesses, knights and pages.

However, the oratory became famous not only for its frescoes but also for its contribution to the new forms of religious music. Musical concerts were performed especially during Lent and for the feast of the Cross. And here the Latin oratorio was born, spiritual music of a dramatic nature in the form of dialogue, on subjects taken from the Bible, in recitative style and on Latin texts. Pierluigi da Palestrina, Giacomo Carissimi, Alessandro Stradella and Alessandro Scarlatti were some of the great masters who collaborated on the music of the oratory.