History

It was built 1645-50 with funds given by Olimpia Aldobrandini Pamphili, who (like St Francis) had roots in Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

. It was designed by Gioan Pietro Morandi, given to the Minim Friars, and became the national church of the Calabrians. The late Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 high altar was made by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi c. 1655 (who is also credited with the church's wooden tabernacle

Church tabernacle

A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....

, set into a sculptured entrance of a military pavilion). No new bell tower

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 was built for the church - instead the 12th century Torre dei Margani was used, preserving its medieval coat-of-arms on the tower has been preserved.

However, the church as a whole was not consecrated until 10 July 1728, by Pope Benedict XIII

Pope Benedict XIII

-Footnotes:...

. The lower part of the façade was refinished in plaster in the 18th century, and the whole church was then restored about a century later by Pope Leo XII

Pope Leo XII

Pope Leo XII , born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiore Girolamo Nicola Sermattei della Genga, was Pope from 1823 to 1829.-Life:...

. The church is now often closed, but you may ask to be admitted at the monastery.

The present titular cardinal-deacon of the church, since 21 October 2003, is Renato Martino.

Chapels

The church contains an icon of Francis said to be a copy of a portrait, along with scenes from the life and miracles of the saint which can be seen in the sacristy

Sacristy

A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...

 and examples by Giuseppe Chiari in the second chapel on the south side.

The ceiling of the sacristy was painted by Sassoferrato

Sassoferrato

Sassoferrato is a town and comune of the province of Ancona in the Marche region of Italy.-History:To the south of the town lie the ruins of the ancient Sentinum, on the Via Flaminia...

, with a motif of "The Blessed Virgin appearing to St Francis of Paola". On the side wall is the Crucifixion and St Francis of Paola by Francesco Cozza

Francesco Cozza

Francesco Cozza may refer to:* Francesco Cozza * Francesco Cozza...

.

By the door to the presbytery are the tombs of Lazzaro Pallavicini and Giovanni Pizzullo, both with busts by Agostino Corsini.

• South side

1. dedicated to Saint Anne
   Saint Anne
   Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
   
   , Joachim
   Joachim
   Saint Joachim was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions. The story of Joachim and Anne appears first in the apocryphal Gospel of James...
   
    and the Madonna, with an altarpiece by Filippo Luzi and ceiling frescoes by Onofrio Avellino
   Onofrio Avellino
   Onofrio Avellino was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.Born in Naples, Giulio died in Ferrara or Rome, where he painted for the last twenty years of his life. He initially trained underLuca Giordano, but in 1692, he entered the studio of the Neapolitan Francesco Solimene...
   
   .
2. Francis, with paintings of Francis
3. frescoed by Antonio Grecolini, and has a depiction of Sts Francis of Paola and Francis of Sales, patrons of the Order.

• On the north side

1. chapel with a painting of St Michael the Archangel by Giacomo Triga and relics of Blessed Nicola of Langobardi in a porphyry
   Porphyry (geology)
   Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
   
   urn.