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Cappella della Scuola Anna Micheli is a later 20th century school chapel with a postal address at Via Ludovica Albertoni 41 in the Gianicolense quarter. The locality is called Monteverde Nuovo. The chapel overlooks the Largo Carlo Grigioni, peeping over a revetment wall.

History[]

The "Little Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary" (Piccole Figlie dei Sacri Cuori di Gesù e Maria) were founded at Parma in 1865 by the priest Agostino Chieppi. He was giving spiritual direction to a group of five young women, led by Anna Micheli, and this became the nucleus of a new active sisterhood. It received diocesan approval in 1905, and final papal approval in 1949. The latter was in response to missionary outreaches, which has established the sisters in Chile and Peru in Latin America, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa as well as in Turkey. In Europe, they are only known outside Italy in Switzerland.

The fashion in the mid 20th century was for active sisterhoods with international commitments to establish their Generalates (headquarters) in Rome, and this was encouraged by the Holy See. Perhaps wisely, the Daughters have kept theirs at Parma. However, they did build a huge convent at Rome in 1963 and one wonders if this was an abortive Generalate project. The architect was Massimo Battaglini.

The convent is now a well-regarded school, with a wide age range beginning with kindergarten and continuing to Media inferiore (Lower Middle). It advertises itself as a "Bilingual School", since modern Italians value the ability to communicate in English.

Appearance[]

The school occupies an ugly set of buildings, three multi-storey flat-roofed wings connected in a zig-zag and typical of the period.

The large, church-sized chapel stands apart from the main complex. The plan is that of a pentagon, stretched along the major axis and with its front angle very obtuse. The fabric comprises a reinforced concrete frame, with bright red brick infill. The side walls each have six bays, divided by concrete support piers which are flush with the brickwork. A thin window strip runs along the top of each wall, below the roof eaves.

The roof has a strongly angled pitch, with a central ridge-line running downwards from the frontage. It is in a pale grey composition. In front, it drops down in a steeply sloping hood canopy over the entrance façade and this has a central angle matching that in the façade.

The back wall has an inwardly pointing angle (strictly speaking, this makes the floor plan of the church an irregular hexagon) and is all in white. The roof gable here is occupied by a huge window, as is that beneath the entrance canopy.

External links[]

Official diocesan web-page for congregation

Congregation's website

School website

Info.roma web-page

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