Cappella del Casale della Merluzza is a 17th century farmstead chapel at Via della Merluzza 6 in the Cesano zone.
This is a completely rural location near the city boundary, but is next to the Via Cassia which here is a major highway.
History[]
The Casale della Merluzza is an old fortified farmstead which, apparently, was remodelled for the Chigi family in the 17th century. The project involved the provision of an unusual circular chapel -most country farmstead chapels around Rome are (or were) simple rectangular buildings.
The Casale is now part of a hospitality centre called Borgo della Merlozza, which is popular for weddings. However, the chapel seems not to be used for these -presumably because it is too small.
Appearance[]
The chapel is a low-walled cylinder with a conical shallowly pitched and tiled roof in ten sectors, There is no lantern, but a ball finial instead. The roof eaves project substantially.
There is an entrance portico on a transverse rectangular plan, having its own lower singly-pitched roof and which makes the plan of the chapel keyhole-shaped.
On the main roof behind the portico is a bell-cote or campanile, proportionally rather large, with a high round-headed opening containing a single bell and a gabled top.
The fabric seems to be in brick.