160.

Chiesa e Conservatorio di S. Pasquale di Baijlon delle Fanciulle pericolose

In spite of being named a church by Vasi, S. Pasquale Baijlon (1) does not look like one. The Nolli map shows the conservatory building for fanciulle pericolose (dangerous girls) with a wide entranceway, but no sign of a church (Nolli uses the term Zitelle or spinsters). The church we do see at the center of the print, separated by a street (suggested by the bent figure walking to the right), is that of the 15th century S. Giovanni dei Genovesi (2) the national church of the Genoese. The latter were sailors and traders, so it is not surprising to find their community near the river port of Ripa Grande, Plate 97, three blocks away. The facade of the church was redone in the early 18th century (see the contemporary photograph). In front of it is an unusual semi-walled and bollarded space (also outlined in the Nolli map), whose sole function seems to have been that of keeping carriages away from the front of the church. Via Anicia leads to the tall facade of the spedale (hospice) of S. Maria dell'Orto (3) attached to the church of the same name. Two of the latter's obelisk facade decorations are visible above the apse of S. Cecilia (4) Plate 145. The spedale was demolished in the early 1860s to make way for the new tobacco factory built under Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846-1878) in 1865, replacing the one on Piazza delle Fornaci, Plate 159.