Sant'Andrea in Via Flaminia () is a Roman Catholic

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy. The edifice is also known as ''Sant'Andrea del Vignola'', after its

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola ( , , ; 1 October 15077 July 1573), often simply called Vignola, was one of the great Italian architects of 16th century Mannerism. His two great masterpieces are the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Jesuits' Chu ...

History

It was commissioned by

Pope Julius III Pope Julius III (; ; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1550 to his death, in March 1555. After a career as a disting ...

, in completion of a vow relative to his escape following the Sack of Rome, 1527. The small church on the

Via Flaminia The Via Flaminia () was an ancient Roman roads, Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had f ...

, scarcely more than a chapel, was designed by

"Chiesa di Sant'Andrea del Vignola (detto anche Tempietto di Sant'Andrea a Via Flaminia)", Turismo Roma, Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion Department
/ref> in 1552 and completed the following year, while Vignola was also employed by Julius nearby at the

Villa Giulia The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It is named after Pope Julius III, who had it built in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan ...

. Sant'Andrea was the first church with an

elliptical dome An elliptical dome, or an ''oval dome'', is a dome whose bottom Cross section (geometry), cross-section takes the form of an ellipse. Technically, an ''ellipsoidal dome'' has a circular cross-section, so is not quite the same. While the cupola c ...

and the first step toward the

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 ...

world of elliptical forms. The interior space is vividly expressed on the exterior. The ''tempio'' as it was long called, is an unadorned cube with a dentilled

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

without a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

, surmounted by an elliptical low

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

masked by a high plain

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

with a comparable frieze, all in the gray pietra serena more usual to

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

than Rome. Applied to the street front is an extremely flat

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

ed temple front, whose unadorned frieze is continued alone round the sides of the building, dividing the cube in the proportions 2:3. Very flat Corinthian pilasters, doubled at the corners, divide the applied facade in three bays, with shell-headed niches flanking the door. The façade is divided into pilaster strips with a central portal open between two grated windows.

Interior

Inside there are frescoes by

Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521 – c. 1580) began his career as an Italian Mannerist painter but later adopted the reformist naturalism of Girolamo Muziano in the 1560s and 70s. He was active in Rome in the mid 16th century. Nativ ...

and

Pellegrino Tibaldi San Sebastiano (Milan) Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527, Valsolda - 27 May 1596, Milan), also known as Pellegrino di Tibaldo de Pellegrini, was an Italian mannerist architect, sculptor, and mural painter. Biography Tibaldi was born in Puria di Valsolda ...

. Julius had the church engraved, plan, elevation and in perspective (G. Vasi 1761). After being long neglected, the unadorned geometry of the structure began to have an appeal to the popular

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

. The church was refurbished by the neoclassic architect

Giuseppe Valadier Giuseppe Valadier (April 14, 1762 – February 1, 1839) was an Italian architect and designer, urban planner and archaeologist and a chief exponent of Neoclassicism in Italy. A teacher of architecture at the Accademia di San Luca, Valadier was a ...

, during the Napoleonic occupation of Rome, 1805.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Official website of the Vicariate of Rome
following the Itinerary of G. Vasi, 1761. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sant'andrea In Via Flaminia Andrea in via Flaminia Mannerist architecture in Italy 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Rome Q. I Flaminio 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Neoclassical church buildings in Italy

History

Interior

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links