San Francesco di Paola ai Monti, Baroque church in Monti district, Rome, Italy
San Francesco di Paola ai Monti is a Baroque church in the Monti district of Rome, with a two-level facade built in travertine and plaster. The interior is a single nave with six side chapels, three on each side.
Work began in 1624 under architect Orazio Torriani and was only completed about a century later under Barattoni. This long construction period shows how the project moved through several phases and hands before reaching its final form.
The church is dedicated to Francis of Paola, a hermit from Calabria whose following spread widely among ordinary people in Rome. The frescoes inside showing scenes from his life are still part of active devotion in the parish today.
The church sits on Via di San Francesco di Paola, a side street in Monti that is easy to reach on foot from Via Cavour. Like most parish churches in Rome, it is generally open during morning and late afternoon hours, so timing your visit accordingly works best.
The bell tower of the church incorporates the medieval Torre dei Margani, a 12th-century tower that still shows the original Margani family coat of arms on its outer wall. It is rare for such an early tower to be absorbed into a Baroque building while keeping its original appearance.
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