San Gaetano, Vicenza, Neoclassical church building in Vicenza, Italy.
San Gaetano is a Neoclassical church on Corso Palladio #147 in Vicenza, built 1721–1730 to designs by Girolamo Frigimelica. Its facade, slightly set back, has eight Corinthian columns in two superimposed orders divided by a prominent entablature, echoing Palladio's Santa Maria Nova. A central portal and a niche with a statue of Saint Gaetano, attributed to Giacomo Cassetti's workshop, mark the front.
The Theatines, called to Vicenza in 1595 by Bishop Michele Priuli, lost the parish of Santo Stefano in 1720 and built this church instead. The first stone was laid in 1721 to a design by Girolamo Frigimelica, with Gaetano Farina supervising; the nave's northern half, presbytery, choir and main altar opened in 1725. The church was damaged by bombing on 14 May 1944 and rebuilt between 1948 and 1952.
The church is dedicated to Saint Cajetan Thiene, the Vicentine saint proclaimed co-patron of Vicenza in 1672 by the Council of the 150. The Theatines kept the silver statue of their founder, made in Milan in 1671 by Luigi Fiammingo, at Santo Stefano. The facade statue of San Gaetano is attributed to the workshop of Giacomo Cassetti.
The facade sits slightly back from Corso Palladio at number 147, between the Ca' d'Oro and the former Theatine library, linked to both by short projecting wings. The church is still an active place of worship, so visits are best timed around services rather than during them. The former convent's eastern wing now houses the regional tax directorate, where the refectory and monastic cells can still be made out.
The silver statue of Saint Cajetan, made in Milan by Luigi Fiammingo in 1671 at a cost of 1400 ducats to the city, was kept by the canons of Santo Stefano when the Theatines moved here. The church also preserves a Saint Cajetan painted by Francesco Solimena.
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