Rome - Monti Neighborhood

Written on 08/02/2024
EWTN Vatican


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About this Neighborhood

In Italian, Monti means "Hills".  It's the first of Rome's 22 Rioni, or neighborhoods, and it's just steps away from the Colloseum. In this video, we share some beautiful hidden gems in the neighborhood and introduce you to significant, yet lesser known churches.   

Locations in this Video

  1. Piazza della Madonna

  2. Church of Santa Maria ai Monti

  3. Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti

  4. Villa Aldobrandini



Piazza della Madonna

Sip and Stroll: Enjoying Rome’s Piazza Santa Maria ai Monti

This piazza is adjacent to the church from which its name belongs, Church of Santa Maria ai Monti. The fountain at its center was designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1588 and finished by Battista Rusconi, a stonemason. Its side bears the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus V.

It also is commonplace for local Romans and visiting tourists to assemble here in the early and late evenings for a drink or an aperitivo.

 


Church of Santa Maria ai Monti

A Marvelous Church in the Monti District built on the site of an ancient Poor Clare monastery 

Comissioned by Pope Gregory XIII and designed by Giacomo della Porta, the church's construction began in 1588 following a miracle at this location where a blind woman was healed in the presence of a Marian icon, which today can still be seen above the main altar. 

On the vaulted ceiling is a fresco by Cristoforo Casolani in the 17th Century showing the "Ascension, between angels and doctors of the Church," and to the left in a side chapel is the tomb of St. Benedict Joseph Labre, a French mendicant who came from a wealthy family but chose to live as a beggar and died in a house adjacent to the church in 1783.  



Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti

Dedicated to the wold famous martyr, St. Agatha, home of the Benedictines

This church is dedicated to the martyr, St. Agatha. Although the exact date of construction is unknown, this church is thought to have been built in the middle of the 5th Century.  The first known restorations occurred during the pontificate of Pope Leo II at the beginning of the 9th Century.

As is common among paleochristian churches, one enters a colonnaded atrium first before walking into the church. Among other artworks illustrating St. Agatha's life, the most notable is the 17th century fresco titled the "Glory of St. Agatha" claimed to have been painted by Perugino on the apse behind the main altar.  

 

 



Villa Aldobrandini

The Aldobrandini Gardens: From Papal Estate to Public Oasis

After possession changed hands multiple times, the villa and gardens was sold to Pope Clement VIII who was Roman pontiff in the late 16th-17th Century. He then gave it to his nephew, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, who hired Giacomo dell Porta to landscape it and add various architectural elements. Today, only the the garden is open for public access.

After being for a time the estate of the French governor of Italy, complex passed to the Italian state.