The monumental series of frescoes featuring stories from the life of the Virgin Mary and the Old Testament, created between 1858 and 1868 by Pietro Gagliardi, is only one of the treasures that patrons were lucky enough to admire on Sunday, August 28, in La Basilica di Sant’Agostino in Rome’s Campo Marzio. For the occasion of the eponymous saint’s day of celebrations, an extraordinary opening was scheduled from 9 p.m., during which a series of guided tours organised by the Special Superintendence of Rome took place.
The basilica’s walls and nave vault have been the subject of restorations by the Special Superintendence of Rome which recently concluded. It boasts a true heritage of art and history, and will now gradually be returned to the community. Many valuable works are present, such as one of the 14 images of the ‘Marian cycle’ by Gagliardi, where the immaculate conception of Mary is depicted - among the first works to address this theme, composed after the proclamation of the dogma by Pius IX in 1854.
The Prophet Isaiah in a fresco located in the Basilica di Sant'Agostino, an early Renaissance church in Rome. It is an Italian Renaissance painting by Rapahel (Rafaello), 1512. (Photo: AAP)
“The Basilica of St. Augustine is an art history book,” explains Daniela Porro, Special Superintendent of Rome, “with masterpieces by Raphael, Caravaggio, Jacopo and Andrea Sansovino, Lanfranco, Guercino, Bernini and many others.”
The guided tours inside the church, curated by architect Alessandro Mascherucci and restorer Chiara Scioscia Santoro, also provided an opportunity to admire the completion of the restoration of the nave, a key stage in the complex restoration of the Basilica that began eight years ago. Visiting shifts took place every half hour with a maximum of 20 visitors, with the last entry permitted at 11:30 p.m.
