S. Lucia della Tinta, Catholic church in Campo Marzio, Rome, Italy

S. Lucia della Tinta is a small Catholic church at via di Monte Brianzo 61, in the Campo Marzio rione, not Banchi Vecchi. Its facade dates from about 1711; the interior was altered in 1728, when the high altar was changed, and the floor was redone in 1911. In front of the high altar lie remains of a Cosmatesque pavement from 1290, found during the 1911 works.

The earliest record of the church is an inscription of 1002, found inside the building in the 17th century and now lost. A bull of Nicholas IV mentions it during the reconstruction of 1290, when a Cosmatesque floor was laid, remains of which were found in 1911 before the high altar. The Compagnia dei Cocchieri restored it in 1580; Prince Borghese had it rebuilt in 1664 at the request of the parish priest Francesco Sordi, and in 1728 the high altar was changed, as the entrance plaque records.

The name comes from the tintori, the dyers who worked in this quarter; the church was also called Santa Lucia delle Quattro Porte after the posterula santa Lucia, a small gate in the old riverside wall facing it. It is dedicated to Lucia, a Roman noblewoman martyred under Diocletian with Geminiano, her husband or son, not to the saint of Syracuse. A 1659 letter of the parish priest Francesco Sordi records that their bodies were kept here.

The church stands at via di Monte Brianzo 61 in Campo Marzio, a short walk from the Tiber and Ponte Sant'Angelo. Since 1970 it has been run by the Fraterna Domus, the community of sisters whose guesthouse adjoins it, so visits may coincide with their activities. The interior is small; dress respectfully and keep quiet if services are under way.

The 1911 floor restoration uncovered remains of a Cosmatesque pavement from 1290, laid under Nicholas IV; the fragments now lie in front of the high altar. A marble plaque inside records the same pope's bull for the 1290 rebuilding.