Santa Maria in Via Lata is a church on the Via del Corso

Via del Corso

The Via del Corso , commonly known as the Corso, is a main street in the historical centre of Rome. It is remarkable for being absolutely straight in an area characterized by narrow meandering alleys and small piazzas...

 (the ancient Via Lata), in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

History

It is claimed that St. Paul spent two years here, in the crypt under the church, whilst under house arrest waiting for his trial. This conflicts with the tradition regarding San Paolo alla Regola. The same was also claimed for St Peter, Paul's secretary Luke

Luke the Evangelist

Luke the Evangelist was an Early Christian writer whom Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...

, Peter's disciple Martial

Saint Martial (disambiguation)

Saint Martial may refer to:* Saint Martial, the first bishop of Limoges, in today's France* Saint Martial, the son of Felicitas, venerated in Italy* Abbey of Saint Martial, Limoges...

, St John

John the Evangelist

Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...

.

The first Christian place of worship here was a 5th century oratory

Oratory (worship)

An oratory is a Christian room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.-Catholic church:In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is a structure other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and the celebration of Mass...

 (chapel with welfare centre) in the Roman building beneath the present church. This was constructed within the remains of a large Roman warehouse, some 250 metres long, which has also been excavated. The church's upper level was added in the 9th century, and murals added to the lower level between the 7th and 9th centuries (these have been detached for conservation reasons). The cosmatesque

Cosmatesque

Cosmatesque, or Cosmati, is a style of geometric decorative inlay stonework typical of Medieval Italy, and especially of Rome and its surroundings. It was used most extensively for the decoration of church floors, but was also used to decorate church walls, pulpits, and bishop's thrones...

 pavement from this phase survives.

The church's 13th century icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

 of the Virgin Advocate, said to have performed many miracles, and relics of the 3rd century Deacon and martyr Agapitus lie beneath it. The Arcus Novus (an arch erected by emperor Diocletian

Diocletian

Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244  – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....

 in 303-304), which stood on this site were destroyed for a rebuild of the church in the late 15th century, c. 1491. Antonio Tebaldeo

Antonio Tebaldeo

Antonio Tebaldeo was an Italian poet. He figured among the writers of the time who engaged in the discussion concerning the nature of literary Italian.-Life:...

, poet and friend of Raphael

Raphael

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...

, was buried at the end of the north aisle in 1537, though his tomb was designed in 1776.

The church was renovated in 1639 by Cosimo Fanzago

Cosimo Fanzago

Cosimo Fanzago was an Italian architect and sculptor, generally considered the greatest such artist of the Baroque period in Naples, Italy.-Biography:...

, but the facade, with its corinthian columns imposing vertical emphasis, was completed (1658-1660) based on a design by Pietro da Cortona

Pietro da Cortona

Pietro da Cortona, by the name of Pietro Berrettini, born Pietro Berrettini da Cortona, was the leading Italian Baroque painter of his time and also one of the key architects in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important decorator...

. He appears to evoke a triumphal arch in the facade. The high altar Madonna Advocata (1636) is one of the few paintings in churches attributed to Bernini (perhaps by Santi Ghetti). The ciborium in the apse is made from alabaster and lapis-lazuli. The first excavations of the site also occurred at this date, as commemorated by a relief in the crypt by Cosimo Fancelli

Cosimo Fancelli

Cosimo Fancelli was an Italian sculptor of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome. He was the son of the artist Carlo Fancelli from Arezzo. Like his brother, the sculptor Giacomo Antonio Fancelli, he began his career as an assistant in the studio of Bernini...

. The families of Joseph

Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...

 and Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....

 were buried here in the 18th century.

The first altarpiece is a Martydom of Saint Andrew (1685) by Giacinto Brandi

Giacinto Brandi

Giacinto Brandi was an Italian painter of the Baroque era, active mainly in Rome and Naples.Born in Poli, in the Lazio, he was trained in Rome in the studio of Alessandro Algardi, a noted sculptor, who noted that Brandi was more suited to painting. He joined the studio of Giovanni Giacomo Sementi...

, while the second altarpiece is a Saints Giuseppe, Nicola, and Biagio by Giuseppe Ghezzi

Giuseppe Ghezzi

Giuseppe Ghezzi was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.Born in Ascoli Piceno, Marche , he was the son and pupil of the painter Sebastiano Ghezzi. He painted in the style of Pietro da Cortona. Giuseppe Ghezzi was the first secretary in perpetuity for the Accademia di...

. In the chapel to the left of the apse, is a Madonna with child and Saints Cyriac and Catherine by Giovanni Odazzi

Giovanni Odazzi

Giovanni Odazzi was an Italian painter and etcher of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.He was a pupil of Ciro Ferri, then worked under the guidance of Giovanni Battista Gaulli. He also worked with Cornelis Bloemaert...

. The second altar on the left has a Saint Paul baptizes Sabine and children by Pier Leone Ghezzi

Pier Leone Ghezzi

Pier Leone Ghezzi was an Italian Rococo painter and caricaturist active in Rome.Ghezzi was born in Rome. His father, Giuseppe Ghezzi, , also trained Antonio Amorosi, and was a secretary to the Roman Accademia di San Luca...

while the first altarpiece is a Virgin and Saints by Pietro de Pietri.