042.

S. Pietro in Carcere

While there are three churches clearly visible in this print, S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami (3), SS. Martina e Luca (5), and S. Adriano (6), the "church" in Vasi's title is not easy to find. That is because S. Pietro in Carcere (2) refers to a chapel beneath S. Giuseppe, entered by the ground-level doors framed by the double stairway. The chapel was built over the ancient Mamertine prison which is revered as the place where St. Peter was imprisoned. The church of S. Giuseppe was built over chapel and prison between 1597 and 1663. Vasi's "Vico Mamertino" (4) is listed in the Nolli index as "Strada di Marforio," which was part of the Via Papale in medieval times when the papal processions passed around the base of the Capitoline hill on their way to the arch of Septimius Severus and the Forum. In the Renaissance the processions went over the hill and came down the cordonata (1) (the stair-ramp at far left), which also appears on one of Vasi's Forum prints, Plate 31. The church of SS. Martina e Luca is considered to be Pietro da Cortona's major architectural work in Rome, built in 1635-65. It replaced a modest medieval church founded on the ruins of the ancient Senate annex, and was attached to the Accademia di S. Luca which was the guildhall for Rome's painters, sculptors and architects. In 630 A.D. the ancient Curia (Senate house) was converted into the church of S. Adriano (6) at the far right. In the 1930s it was restored to its ancient condition.