Chiesa ed Ospizio di S. Galla

Chiesa ed Ospizio di S. Galla (Book 9) (Day 5) (View C9) (Rione Ripa) and (Rione Campitelli)

In this page:
The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
Today's view
New S. Galla
Portico di Monte Caprino

The Plate (No. 177)

Galla was a Roman Matron who in the VIth century hosted the poor in her house, which became eventually a church with the attached home for the poor. But the objective of Vasi is to show us a very busy street, not an elegant one, with all sorts of workers and trades. The view is taken from the green dot in the 1748 map below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) Ospizio di S. Galla; 2) Bell tower of S. Maria in Cosmedin; 3) Street leading to S. Maria della Consolazione. The small map shows also 4) Portico di Monte Caprino. The dotted line in the small map delineates the border between Rione Ripa (left) and Rione Campitelli (right).

Today

The view today

The need to link the Capitol with the southern area of Rome, plus the "Imperial" redesigning of Rome in the 1930s led to the opening of the "Via del Mare". S. Galla was sacrificed. Only the tall house we see on the left in the plate was spared and was brought back to its original medieval status. At the end of the street the Roman Temple of Portunus.

New S. Galla

A new church by the same name was erected in a new development outside the walls where many of the inhabitants of the central areas of Rome affected by the demolitions ordered by the government were transferred. The church was completed in the 1950s and a painting of the old church was moved to the new one. It shows the prodigious appearance of an image of Mary. This image was kept in S. Galla (then called S. Maria in Portico) until it was moved to a new church built to be its sanctuary: S. Maria in Campitelli.

Portico di Monte Caprino

In 1933 during the pulling down of some medieval buildings it was discovered that they had been built making use of a very old Roman portico. The portico is at the foot of Monte Caprino, the southern peak of Campidoglio, which after the fall of the ancient temples had become a pasture for goats (It. capra). The huge building on its top is the German Archaeological Institute.

Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:

Chiesa ed ospedale di s. Galla Questa chiesa dicevasi anticamente s. Maria in Portico, perchè quì fu il magnifico portico di Ottavia edificato da Augusto, ed insieme li due tempj fatti da Metello, uno ad Apollo, e l’altro a Giunone. Quivi avendo il suo palazzo s. Galla figliuola di Simmaco persona Consolare, che fu fatto morire da Teodorico, mentre la s. Donzella si esercitava in fare la carità ai poverelli, dando loro da mangiare e ricetto nella medesima sua casa, le apparve un'immagine della santissima Vergine, e fattone avvisato il Papa, che allora era Giovanni I. venne questi a prenderla, e convertendo la medesima casa in chiesa, la Santa le assegnò tutto il suo avere, ritirandosi ella in un monastero presso il Vaticano. Fu tale la devozione del popolo Romano verso quella sagra Immagine detta di s. Maria in Portico, che in ogni bisogno ricorreva a lei; perciò, come dicemmo, fu poi trasportata nel magnifico tempio, che si dice in Campitelli; e la chiesa fu dedicata a s. Galla, aggiungendovi lo spedale per li poveri, che non hanno dove dormire.

Next plate in Book 9: Collegio Ecclesiastico a Ponte Sisto
Next step in Day 5 itinerary: Ponte Quattro Capi
You have completed your tour of Rione Campitelli!
Start your tour of Rione Ripa: next step: S. Niccolò in Carcere

Go to or to Book 9 or to my Home Page on Baroque Rome or to my Home Page on Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth century traveller.