Chiesa Nuova – Santa Maria in Vallicella

Santa Maria in Vallicella, known as the Chiesa Nuova, is the principal church associated with the Oratorians of Saint Philip Neri. Rebuilt from 1575, it is distinguished by its broad interior and Pietro da Cortona's expansive Baroque frescoes.

Why it matters

In 1575 Pope Gregory XIII approved the Congregation of the Oratory and assigned it the medieval church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. The Oratorians chose to replace the earlier building, giving rise to the name Chiesa Nuova. The church became a major expression of the devotional and artistic culture associated with Philip Neri and his community.

What to notice

The façade, completed in 1606 to a design by Fausto Rughesi, presents a broad two-storey front. Inside, Pietro da Cortona and his workshop decorated the dome, pendentives, apse and nave vault between 1648 and 1666. The nave fresco recalls Philip Neri's reported dream in which the Virgin held up a failing roof beam. A fourteenth-century fresco of the Madonna and Child, moved inside in 1535, preserves the site's earlier Marian devotion.

Context and history

A medieval church of Santa Maria in Vallicella is documented by the twelfth century. The Oratorians laid the first stone of the present building in 1575; Matteo di Città di Castello began the work, and Martino Longhi the Elder directed later stages from 1586 to 1590. The bell tower was added in 1666. The church was expropriated by the state in 1873, and Pope Pius X re-established the parish in 1905, entrusting it again to the Oratorians.