Sant’Antonio da Padova a Via Salaria is a 20th century Fascist-era parish church at Via Sant’Antonio da Padova 6 in the suburb of Settebagni in the Marcigliana suburban zone, on the Via Salaria north of the Grande Raccordo Anulare (Circonvallazione Settentrionale).
The address is for the parish office. The church's main entrance faces onto the Via Salaria.
The dedication is to St Anthony of Padua.
History[]
The parish was erected in 1938, and put in charge of the Franciscan Friars Minor. The church was completed in the same year. It looks very much like something by Tullio Rossi or a disciple of his.
The Franciscans have given up the parish. In 2015 a priest of the Diocese from Peru was inducted, whose name is Don Ruben Eduardo Gallegos Ribera.
Exterior[]
Layout and fabric[]
The church has an unusual plan for Rome, having a nave of five bays with a single side aisle to the right (the Italians call this arrangement "two naves"). The first two bays of the nave have a side chapel each to the left, and the first bay of the aisle is taken up by an entrance loggia leading into the aisle.
Then comes a sanctuary of the same width as the main nave, which is flanked by two large side chapels. There is no apse. The left hand sanctuary side chapel has an entrance antechamber leading off the left hand side of the last bay of the nave.
A tall slab campanile stands on the line between this antechamber and the chapel of the sanctuary on that side. It has two vertical rectangular openings at the top for the bells, which are closed by a flat tiled cap.
The walls are rendered in a cream colour overall. Each bay of the nave or side aisle has a square window, except those bays with side chapels. The sanctuary has a row of four such windows below its roofline on each side. The far wall of the sanctuary is windowless, and there is no apse.
The main nave and side aisle are housed under a single pitched and tiled roof (this arrangement is called in English a "cat slide". The aisle loggia has its own little, slightly lower roof. The two near nave side chapels have their own double-pitched roofs, while the sanctuary and far nave chapels have single-pitched roofs. The sanctuary itself has its own roof, slightly higher than that of the nave.
Façade[]
The church is set well back from the road, and is fronted by a cobbled courtyard protected by a low wall with metal railings. The entrance is approached by a flight of stairs.
The gabled entrance frontage is rendered in a cream colour, with a low plinth in limestone. There is a large single round-headed main entrance, with doors in coffered panelling that fit into the arch (there is no tympanum). Above is a round-headed window, and to either side is a recessed square notice board. All these features have flush frames in grey. There is no other decoration.
The aisle entrance has a little porch or loggia, entered through a round-headed portal protected by a railing gate.
Interior[]
The interior is simple, mostly in a cream colour. The aisle arcade has arches on square piers with imposts, the piers themselves being done out in dark crimson.
The windows have stained glass, which give a welcome touch of colour to an otherwise cool décor. The round window over the entrance has a flame motif in red on blue, very bright.
The sanctuary is dominated by an enormous, vaguely Impressionist mural on the blank far wall, showing The Apotheosis of St Anthony. The side walls here are stencilled in a cross-on-circle pattern in pale grey.
Liturgy[]
There is no parish website.
The Diocese advertises Mass times here, as in 2017:
Weekdays 7:00, 7:30, 17:00 (18:00 July to September);
Sundays and Solemnities 7:30, 9:30, 11:00, 17:00 (18:00 July to September).