Collegio de' Neofiti (Book 9) (Day 3) (Map B3) (Rione Monti) In this page:
The College (as the name says Neofiti = Neophytes) was founded to host those who had just been converted:
apparently and according to Vasi, Jews, Turks and Moors were hosted here. The view is taken from the green dot in the 1748 map below.
In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) S. Maria ai Monti; 2) Collegio de' Neofiti;
3) S. Salvatore ai Monti; 4) Small alley leading to a Franciscan nunnery (today lost).
The area is untouched since Vasi's time; also the minor buildings seem exactly the same. S. Maria ai Monti was built under Gregorius XIII and retains the original coat of arms of the pope. It was designed by Giacomo della Porta. The Collegio (designed by Gaspare de' Vecchi) was built by Cardinal Antonio Barberini and the family symbols (the bees and the sun) can still be seen over the entrance (in the background) and under the roof. The cardinal and his brother Maffeo (pope Urbanus VIII) are portrayed in the relief above the dedicatory inscription. The College has also a little chapel: S. Salvatore ai Monti (image on the left). Innocentius XI added a section for women on the back of this building with a separate oratory (image on the right). A little shop for motorbike repairs is under the protection of his many heraldic symbols (six lamps, the lion, the eagle). Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to this page:
Next plate in Book 9: Palazzo dell'Accademia di Francia Next step in Day 3 itinerary: Piazza alli Monti Next step in your tour of Rione Monti: Piazza alli Monti Go to or to Book 9 or to the Plan of my site or to my Home Page on Baroque Rome or to my Home Page on Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth century traveller. |