Trinita’ dei Monti is a famous church in Rome, well known because of its location just above the Spanish Steps that descend into the Piazza di Spagna.
The church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the full name of the church is ‘Santissima Trinità al Monte Pincio’.
The first chapel has been built here at the beginning of 16th century but it was consecrated only in 1585 by Pope Sixtus V. The church has a Gothic- shape interior and neo-Classical façade projected by Carlo Maderno. The double staircase is the masterpiece whose author was Domenico Fontana.
The land where the church stands was offered by King of France Charles VIII to Order of the Minims of St. Francis of Paola, to pass in the middle of 19th century to French religious order “Religieuses du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus” (The Society of the Sacred Heart). As this order keeps it today, the church offers mass services officiated also in French.
The whole area has been under the influence of France since the 16th century, near the church has been the site of l’Accademia di Francia, and the famous steps were built to memory peace
treaty between Spain and France.Even the two clocks of the church marked the one time of Rome, the other one in Paris.
In 1543 in one of the first chapels Daniele da Volterra created a famous cycle of frescoes, including the beautiful Descent from the Cross, unanimously considered one of the vertices of Mannerism. The eighth chapel on the right (called Chapel Maximum) keeps instead a beautiful cycle of frescoes by Perin del Vaga (Stories of the Old and New Testament, 1537), completed between 1563 and 1589 by Taddeo and Federico Zuccari.
Since 1789 In front of the church stands the Obelisco Sallustiano, one of many obelisks in Rome, moved here from its position in the Gardens of Sallust. It is one of the obelisks that were created during the Roman Empire times to imitate the Egyptian art.
