The Via di San Dorotea in Rome gets its name from the Dorotea and Silvestro Church that is located in this street.
Dorotea and Silvestro Church Rome
Address, opening hours and entrance fee
Address: Via di Santa Dorotea, 23 – Rome. Phone: +39 06 5806205. opening hours: Unknown. Entrance fee: Free.
History and description
The original name of the church, which was built in the 11th century, is San Silvestro ad Portam Septimian (at the Porta Settimiana). In the 16th century, when Santa Dorotea was buried in the church, it got its present name.
Santa Dorotea was beheaded during the reign of Emperor Diocletian in Cesarea di Cappadocia, in the 4th century.
The present church and its adjacent convent were constructed by the architect Giovan Battista Nolli between 1750 and 1756. Its slightly concave facade is framed by 4 big pilasters that support the tympanum. The interior consists of a single nave with six side-altars and a deep apse. The central part of the nave is covered by a long, octagonal vault. This vault is split up into 4 parts, each one of which in 1936 was embellished by Giacinto Bochetti with paintings showing episodes from the lives of Santa Dorotea and other Franciscan saints.
Nolli is buried at the foot of the church’s main altar, while Santa Dorotea‘s remains are buried underneath this altar.
In 1497 the Ospedale degli Incurabili was founded in the Ss. Dorotea and Silvestro church and exactly one century after that the first free school in Europe was opened in the rooms beside the sacristy.