Sacra Famiglia a Via Sommacampagna is a lost 19th century church at Via Sommacampagna in the rione Castro Pretorio.
It was on the east side of the street, near the junction with Via San Martino della Battaglia.
The dedication was to the Holy Family.
History
Edit
This is probably the most obscure church of recent times in the Centro Storico.
It was designed by Carlo Busiri Vici, who is better known for San Giuseppe a Via Nomentana, and built to serve a proposed parish in a suburban development in 1896. The instigators of the project were the Canons of the Lateran, who made a charitable appeal to pay for it.
At the end of the 19th century, Rome's suburbs were beginning their massive expansion. Those who had to think about providing churches for the new neighbourhoods initially imagined that Mass attendance would remain high. Tragically, the percentage of the total population attending Mass was in decline even before this church was built, and it was probably redundant before it opened
So, it was demolished only about half a century later.
AppearanceEdit
The façade was panelled in brick.
The church had a central nave with aisles, and three altars. The nave arcades were supported by alternate columns and piers (apparently), and the roofs were vaulted.
The apse had frescoes by Eugenio Cisterna, the main altar had an altarpiece of the Holy Family by Giuseppe Bravi (1862-1901) and the right hand altar had one of SS Augustine and Ubaldo by the same artist. The left hand altar was to Our Lady.
The nave side walls also had "sober" mosaic work.
Archive photos of this forgotten building survive (see external link), but nothing online.
