Santa Maria Maddalena


The Santa Maria Maddalena is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, named after Saint Mary Magdalene. It is located on the Via della Maddalena, one of the streets leading from the Piazza della Rotonda in the Campo Marzio area of historic Rome.

History

The Clerks Regular, Ministers to the Sick, order established by Saint Camillus de Lellis, had a church at that location in Rome since 1586 and in the 17th century started the construction of the current church, which was completed in 1699 in the Baroque style.
In seventy years of work several architects were involved including Carlo Quadri, Carlo Fontana and Giovanni Antonio de Rossi.
It is uncertain who designed the curved main facade, which was finished circa 1735 and is Rococo, an unusual style in Roman church facades. It also displays motifs reminiscent of Borromini. Early guide books credit Giuseppe Sardi with its design. Between 1732 and 1734, however, as architect of the order, the Portuguese architect Manuel Rodrigues dos Santos directed the completion of works at the church. The historian Alessandra Marino believes that it is to Dos Santos, rather than Giuseppe Sardi, that the design for the highly unusual façade decoration should be attributed. The architectural historian Nina Mallory has also maintained that Sardi is unlikely to be the designer of the façade.
To the left of the church is the monastery, constructed circa 1678, by Paolo Amato from Palermo and completed by Carlo Francesco Bizzacheri in the early 1680s.

Interior

The interior is architecturally complex, it has a Borrominesque elongated octagonal nave, with two chapels at each flank.
The Cappella di San Nicola di Bari, financed by Paolo Girolamo della Torre, was begun in 1690 by Mattia de Rossi and finished from 1694-96 by Bizzaccheri whose choice of colour tones would determine the colour scheme of the rest of the church in the mid-18th century. In this chapel is the painting Christ, Virgin, and San Nicola di Bari by Baciccia.
To the right is the chapel dedicated of Saint Camillus with the vault frescoed by Sebastiano Conca.
In the church is also has a painting of San Lorenzo Giustiniani with Infant Jesus by Luca Giordano.
The rococo sacristy is elaborately painted, stuccoed, and decorated with polychrome marble.