Santa Maria della Consolazione
Santa Maria della Consolazione is a Roman Catholic church in Rome at the foot of the Palatine Hill, in rione Campitelli.
History
The church is named after an icon of the Virgin Mary which was placed on this site to console criminals who were tossed down off the cliff above the church, thought to be the Tarpeian Rock from where condemned Roman criminals were tossed to their death in Roman times. In 1385 a condemned nobleman, Giordanello degli Alberini, paid 2 gold florins for the icon to provide consolation for criminals facing death[1].
Architecture and art
The first church was built here in 1470, and rebuilt during 1583-1600 by Martino Longhi the Elder, during which time the Mannerist façade was installed. The tympanum was completed in 1827 by Pasquale Belli.
The first chapel on the right has frescoes of Scenes of the Passion (1556) by Taddeo Zuccari. The second chapel has a Madonna with Christ-child and Saints (1575) by Livio Agresti. The third chapel has a Story of Jesus and Virgin by Giovanni Baglione. The chapel the the right of the presbitery has an icon of mary from the 13th century. The altar, designed by Martino Loghi, has a fresco copy of the 14th century Madonna della Consolazione repainted by Antoniazzo Romano. The walls of the presbitery are frescoed with a Nativity and an Assumption by Niccolò Circignani (il Pomarancio), who also painted the Scenes of the life of Mary and Jesus in the fifth chapel. The 4th chapel to the left has Life of St. Andrew frescoes by Marzio Colantonio Ganassini. In the 3rd chapel on the left, are frescoes of Scenes from the life of the Virgin by Francesco Nappi; the 2nd chapel on the left has a St. Francis receives the stigmata del XVII century; the 1st chapel has a Mystical marriage of St. Catherine (c. 1530), a marble relief by Raffaello da Montelupo.