Chiesa del Suffragio

The Church of the Suffragio, dedicated to Santa Maria della Visitazione, occupies the west side of Piazza Aurelio Saffi in Forlì. Fra Giuseppe Antonio Soratini designed its elliptical plan in 1723, drawing on Bernini’s Santa Maria al Quirinale; the church was completed in 1933.

Why it matters

The church’s long construction history spans more than two centuries. Its dome was raised in 1784 and frescoed by the Venetian painter Guarana and the Bolognese artist Serafino Barozzi. The building serves as a subsidiary place of worship within the parish of San Mercuriale.

What to notice

The curved façade is framed by giant Ionic pilasters and a projecting tympanum. Inside, the oval plan leads the eye to the dome and its frescoes. The first chapel on the left contains Antonio Fanzaresi’s Death of Saint Joseph. Above the entrance is an organ built by Gaetano Callido.

Context and history

Soratini’s project of 1723 set the church’s distinctive geometry in motion; the dome was completed in 1784, while the building’s final completion is recorded in 1933. A restoration followed in 2001. Its form brings an eighteenth-century elliptical design into the urban setting of Piazza Aurelio Saffi.