San Rufo is a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

-style

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church located in the town of

Rieti Rieti (; , Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region. T ...

, region of Lazio,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The piazza in front of the church is said to be the geographic center of Italy.

History

Documents recall a church of San Rufo as early as 1141. But by 1574, documents indicate that it had fallen into ruin and deconsecrated. A lay confraternity (''della Pietà'') continued to use the church for services. In 1747, the parish was conceded to a Congregation of

Clerics regular In the canon law of the Catholic Church, clerics regular or clerks regular are clerics (mostly priests) who are members of a religious order under a rule of life (regular). Clerics regular differ from canons regular in that they devote themselves ...

, and they patronized the reconstruction of the church by 1748 under designs of

Melchiorre Passalacqua Melchiorre may refer to: As first name *Melchiorre Cafà (1636–1667), Maltese sculptor *Melchiore Cesarotti (1730–1808), Italian poet *Melchiorre Delfico (caricaturist) (1825–1895), Italian caricaturist *Melchiorre Delfico (economist) (1744� ...

, and was consecrated in 1760 by Bishop Gaetano De Carli, and dedicated to Saints Ruffo, Carpoforo Martyr, and

Camillo De Lellis Camillo De Lellis (born 11 June 1976) is an Italian mathematician who is active in the fields of calculus of variations, hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, geometric measure theory and fluid dynamics. He is a permanent faculty member in ...

. While the exterior is simple, the interior has a rich baroque decoration. Among the works, is the first altarpiece on the left, depicting the ''Guardian Angel'', once attributed to

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

, but since 1943 attributed to Giovanni Antonio Galli. The main altarpiece depicts the ''Ecstasy of St Camillo de Lellis'', painted by

Pierre Subleyras Pierre Hubert Subleyras (; November 25, 1699 – May 28, 1749) was a French painter, active during the late-Baroque and early- Neoclassic period, mainly in Italy. Life Subleyras was born in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, France. He left France in 1728, ...

. Other altarpieces of the side chapels depict the ''Apparition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margherita Maria Alacoque'' (1936) in the 2nd altar on the left. The second altar on the right has a ''Madonna della Salute with the child Jesus, St Anne, and St Joseph'' by Giacomo Conti. The organ in the counterfacade was installed in the 18th century.Prefecture, Official office of the Rieti Government
entry on church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rufo Rieti Roman Catholic churches in Lazio Baroque architecture in Lazio antonio al monte