San Giacomo alla Lungara, Romanesque church in Trastevere, Rome, Italy

San Giacomo alla Lungara is a single-nave church on Via della Lungara in Trastevere, rebuilt in 1644 by Luigi Arrigucci from a three-nave basilica. Its flat coffered ceiling is modest and proportional, and the 1916 floor is laid in cement tiles arranged like carpets. The 12th-century Romanesque bell tower, the only medieval survival, is best seen from Lungotevere della Farnesina.

The church's medieval origin is attributed to the papacy of Leo IV in the 9th century, but the earliest documents attesting it are papal bulls of 1198 and 1228, when Innocent III declared it a branch of St. Peter's. In 1644 the Penitent Nuns had Luigi Arrigucci restore the building, which lost its three-nave basilican layout and became a single nave with a coffered ceiling. The convent was demolished in 1887 for the Lungotevere; the church, after 15 years of abandon, was renovated and in 1916 renewed at the expense of Archbishop Grasselli.

The best-known work is Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Memorial to Ippolito Merenda: a gravestone carved as a crumpled sheet, held by a winged skeleton with hands and teeth. The high altar carries a fresco of the apostle James by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli. The floor, redone in 1916, is laid in coloured cement tiles arranged like a set of carpets.

The church stands at Via della Lungara 141/A, in the Trastevere district, near Porta Settimiana. The Romanesque bell tower of the 12th century is best seen from across the street, along the Lungotevere della Farnesina. Inside, look for the coffered ceiling and the floor of coloured cement tiles laid in the 1916 restoration.

The 12th-century Romanesque bell tower, visible from the Lungotevere della Farnesina, is the only medieval element to survive the 1887 demolition of the convent and the later rebuilding. The rest of the church was reshaped in 1644 by Luigi Arrigucci into a single nave with a coffered ceiling.