SS. Carlo e Biagio ai Catinari

The early-Baroque church dedicated to the Saints Biagio and Carlo ai Catinari is in Piazza Benedetto Cairoli, close to both Largo di Torre Argentina and Piazza Campo de’ Fiori. The name, Catinari, derives from the ancient presence of many dishmaker shops, called “catinari”, in that area. Commissioned by the Order of the Barnabites in 1612 and realised by the architect Rosato Rosati, together with San Carlo al Corso and San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, it is one of the three Roman churches dedicated to San Carlo; in fact Cardinal Borromeo, better known as Saint Charles Borromeo, protector of the Barnabites, had been just canonized in 1611. Because of a lack of money, the church was completed in 1638, when Giovanni Battista Soria realised the travertine façade. The church boasts several important works of art and sacred relics, Domenichino frescoes in the pendentives of the dome representing the four Cardinal Virtues and the skull of St. Febronia of Nisibis visible in fenestella confessionis altar, for instance.