Genoa, the churches and the "common sense": S. Maria delle Vigne

In recent months, our attention was drawn to the ancient abbey of S. Stephen, where monthly (first Friday), and for other occasions, occasionally, we celebrate the Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (third church in Genoa, after St. Charles and Fegino, and the second is located centrally); on that occasion had been noticed the perfect orientation of the apse to the east ("orient", "guidance" , exactly ...);

The curiosity to see if other churches had the same peculiarity has been great and is easy to use Google Earth ... then we will present the other churches of "common sense" (where "sense" means the direction of the apse ...), some 'at a time.

This Sunday we begin with S. Maria delle Vigne, in Piazza delle Vigne (old town).

The name of the basilica of Santa Maria delle Vigne is due to the vision of Our Lady by a child (X - XI century) who had gone to play in the Vineyards of the area, then outside the walls. On the site of the vision was immediately created a small dome, which gradually expanded to become the largest basilica in the historic center of Genoa, second only to the cathedral of San Lorenzo. It was modified several times since the thirteenth century, with the first injection of roof trusses that still retains over the seventeenth century when the nave.

Elements of the original Romanesque architecture are still present, as well as in time, even in the walls and under floors, even though the only part remaining intact from the time of its construction appears to be to the left of the transept, the only tower located between the outer walls of the church and cloister. The bell tower is open at the base, and crossed by a broad arc that allows the transit road, the upper is lightened by elegant pairs of mullioned windows and pentafore.

The monastery - built, like the church of San Siro Struppa around 1025 - is on two floors that enclose a courtyard square structure. It is accessed from the left side of the road that runs alongside the tower. It too has undergone major changes over time while maintaining their archaic style characterized especially by the shape of squat columns and capitals.

The current main facade of the basilica - long remained unfinished - dates back to 1842. Of late neoclassical style, is the work of Ippolito Cremona. The heavier and more complex changes to the original Romanesque basilica of Santa Maria delle Vigne have taken place since the end of the 500 when it was decided the extension of the apse to the area behind the cemetery. Simultaneously, the two side apses were expanded with the implementation of existing chapels flanking the altar. The expansion was financed by the family of Agapito Gaspar Grillo and designed by the Court. The Chapel of the Crucifix has a coating of marble 1587, by Taddeo Carlone.

Only fifty years after these works, just before the half of '600, Cardinal Stefano Durazzo, a pastoral visit, he observed a degradation of the complex providing new jobs.

A document of 1642 shows how these works, in particular concerning the opening of three semicircular windows, refurbishment of the interior columns and capitals, were entrusted to the sculptor and architect Daniel Box White John the Baptist. It was under these circumstances that were totally restored by the brotherhoods and noble families of the chapels and side altars, enriched with paintings and sculptures (the times will be painted only in the later eighteenth century).

I have made many changes in the basilica of Santa Maria delle Vigne a completely different from the original Romanesque style, which remained in effect, in addition to the bell tower, the only plan of a basilica and a column that, according to tradition, would belong to the original Romanesque columns and on which there is a painting of the Madonna.

The replacement vessel in the central system to eight columns of the temple with four Romanesque twin columns of greater height and consequent reduction of the bays from nine to five, has completely broken the Roman sense of spaciousness. Opening windows has given then a different distribution of light sources so as to set the structure of the temple only large hall in which the lateral and central areas are almost devoid of detachment

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