Monumental complex of San Michele a Ripa Grande | |
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Complesso monumentale di San Michele a Ripa Grande | |
General information | |
Location | Rome, Italy |
Coordinates | 41°53′06″N12°28′31″E / 41.8849°N 12.4752°E |
Current tenants | Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities |
Construction started | 1686 |
Completed | 1834 |
Owner | State ownership |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Carlo Fontana, Mattia De Rossi, Giacomo Recalcati, Nicola Michetti, Ferdinando Fuga, Nicolò Forti, Luigi Poletti |
The Ospizio di San Michele a Ripa Grande (Hospice of St Michael) or Ospizio Apostolico di San Michele in Rome is a complex represented by a series of buildings in the south end of the Rione Trastevere, facing the Tiber River and extending from the bank of Ponte Sublicio for nearly 500 meters. It stands across the river from the Rione Ripa and the area known as the Porto di Ripetta, once in the Aventine neighborhood of Rome. The Porto di Ripa Grande was the river port that served those coming up from the Mediterranean port of Ostia. This area was once a main port of Rome. While large seafaring ships could not forge easily up the Tiber river to Rome; smaller boats frequently brought supplies from the coast to the city and offloaded at the Porta.
The buildings of the Ospizio di San Michele were built during the 17th and 18th centuries and served a number of purposes including an orphanage, a hospice for abandoned elderly, and jails for minors and women. In 1679, a nephew of the new Pope Innocent XI (reigned 1676–1689), Monsignor Carlo Tommaso Odescalchi commissioned architect Mattia de Rossi to design, and within five years had built an hospice to house and train orphan children to manufacture of woven carpets and tapestries. [1] To this building were added in 1693, the Ospizio dei Poveri Inabilito (disabled poor), and in 1709, Pope Clement XI commissioned the architect Carlo Fontana to extend the complex even further and transferred the elderly residents here from the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, located where the Via Giulia reached the Ponte Sisto. Later additions to the building were the prison for minors and an art school. In 1735, Pope Clement XII commissioned architect Ferdinando Fuga to design a woman's prison and a barracks for customs officers.
The Chiesa Grande, also known as the San Salvatore degli Invalidi, follows a design (1706) of Carlo Fontana, but construction was completed only in 1834 by Luigi Poletti. [2] It has been reconsecrated. The church has an aedicula with a statue of the Saviour by Adamo Tadolini.
The smaller ancient church of Santa Maria del Buon Viaggio, on the south east end of the complex, was dedicated to sailors, who were embarking from here to travel down the Tiber. Initially, the church incorporated part of the walls of the city, then was incorporated by the complex. It remains closed.
The complex was most active as a charitable institution in the early 19th century. The factory manufacturing tapestries, the Arazzeria Albani, existed for centuries until 1910.
After the unification of Italy, the property was confiscated and given to the city of Rome. The buildings fell in great decay. During the Second World War, it was used for barracks by both German and Allied armies. In 1969, the complex was bought by the state, and offices of the Ministero dei Beni Culturali were housed there. The complex now houses the Ministry of Cultural Assets and the Environment, which uses the large rooms once belonging to the tapestry factory for restoration of artworks. [3]
Trastevere is the 13th rione of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin trans Tiberim, literally 'beyond the Tiber'.
The Tor di Nona is a neighborhood in Rome's rionePonte. It lies in the heart of the city's historic center, between the Via dei Coronari and the Tiber River. Its name commemorates the Torre dell'Annona, a mediaeval tower which once stood there and was later converted into one of the city's most important theatres, the Teatro Tordinona, later called the Teatro Apollo.
Ponte is the 5th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. V, and is located in Municipio I. Its name comes from Ponte Sant'Angelo, which connects Ponte with the rione of Borgo. This bridge was built by Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD to connect his mausoleum to the rest of the city. Though Pope Sixtus V changed the rione limits, so that the bridge belongs now to Borgo, not to Ponte anymore, the area has kept its name and a bridge as its coat of arms.
Regola is the 7th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. VII, and belongs to the Municipio I. The name comes from Arenula, which was the name of the soft sand that the river Tiber left after the floods, and that built strands on the left bank.
Sant'Angelo is the 11th rione of Rome, Italy, located in Municipio I. Often written as rione XI - Sant'Angelo, it has a coat of arms with an angel on a red background, holding a palm branch in its left hand. In another version, the angel holds a sword in its right hand and a scale in its left.
Ripa is the 12th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. XII, and it is located in the Municipio I.
Borgo is the 14th rione of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIV and is included within Municipio I.
Testaccio is the 20th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. XX, deriving its name from Monte Testaccio. It is located within the Municipio I.
Campo Marzio is the 4th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. IV. It belongs to the Municipio I and covers a smaller section of the area of the ancient Campus Martius. The logo of this rione is a silver crescent on a blue background.
Carlo Fontana (1634/1638–1714) was an Italian architect originating from today's Canton Ticino, who was in part responsible for the classicizing direction taken by Late Baroque Roman architecture.
The Via Giulia is a street of historical and architectural importance in Rome, Italy, which runs along the left (east) bank of the Tiber from Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti, near Ponte Sisto, to Piazza dell'Oro. It is about 1 kilometre long and connects the Regola and Ponte Rioni.
Mattia de Rossi was an Italian architect of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome and surrounding towns.
Porta Portese is an ancient city gate, located at the end of Via Portuense, where it meets Via Porta Portese, about a block from the banks of the Tiber in the southern edge of the Rione Trastevere of Rome, Italy.
Ponte Sublicio, also known as Ponte Aventino or Ponte Marmoreo, is a bridge linking Piazza dell'Emporio to Piazza di Porta Portese in Rome (Italy), in the Rioni Ripa, Trastevere and Testaccio and in the Quartiere Portuense.
The Porto di Ripetta was a port in the city of Rome. It was situated on the banks of the River Tiber and was designed and built in 1704 by the Italian Baroque architect Alessandro Specchi. Located in front of the church of San Girolamo degli Schiavoni, its low walls with steps descended in sweeping scenographic curves from the street to the river. The port no longer exists but is known from engraved views, drawings and early photographs.
Lungotevere is an alley or boulevard running along the river Tiber within the city of Rome. The building of the Lungoteveres required the demolition of the former edifices along the river banks and the construction of retaining walls called muraglioni.
Porto di Ripa Grande was the river port of Rome, just downstream the former Pons Sublicius, where the wares, going up and down the Tiber towards the dock of Fiumicino, were handled. The building of the muraglioni has erased its existence and function, just keeping a trace in the toponymy and in the two ramps giving access to the quay of the river.
Lungotevere Ripa is the stretch of Lungotevere that links Ponte Palatino to the Port of Ripa Grande in Rome (Italy), in the Rione Trastevere.
The Fontana or Fontanone di Ponte Sisto, once known as the Fontanone dei Cento Preti, is an early 17th-century, monumental fountain now located in Piazza Trilussa, facing the south end of the Ponte Sisto, in Trastevere, Rome, Italy. It was reconstructed here in the late 19th century, originally erected across the river, attached to the former building of the Collegio Ecclesiastico.
Borgo Santo Spirito is a street in Rome, Italy, important for historical and artistic reasons. From a historical point of view, it is considered the most interesting street in the Borgo district. Of medieval origin, it is linked to the foundation of the ancient fortified hospice for pilgrims from England, the Burgus Saxonum. The street houses the oldest Roman hospital, the Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Saxia, which gave it its name. Heavily altered during the works for the opening of Via della Conciliazione, it nevertheless avoided the fate of the two parallel streets of Borgo Nuovo and Borgo Vecchio, both destroyed.