Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie

Santa Maria delle Grazie in Marino preserves the history of a Marian confraternity and the Augustinian community that later cared for its church. Its restrained exterior gives way to a single vaulted hall and a devotional image of the Virgin.

Why it matters

The church connects two forms of religious life in the Castelli Romani: the lay confraternity of the Gonfalone and an Augustinian foundation. The confraternity's medieval origins precede the friars' arrival in 1580.

What to notice

Pilasters articulate the facade, while side chapels open from the barrel-vaulted interior. A fifteenth-century fresco of the Madonna delle Grazie forms the devotional focus and is associated with Florentine painting. A wooden image of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino recalls the Augustinian presence.

Context and history

The facade belongs to the seventeenth-century remodelling of the church, with its design attributed to Vincenzo della Greca. Augustinian care continued over several centuries, interrupted by the Napoleonic suppression of 1807 and ending in 1954. Later restorations added further layers to a building whose religious identity developed from confraternal worship into monastic custody.