San Michele Arcangelo ai Corridori di Borgo was a church in Rome dedicated to St. Michael, the Archangel, important for historical and artistic reasons.
The church, traditionally linked to the legend of the appearance of St. Michael above Castel Sant'Angelo and seat of the confraternity of the same name, was founded in the Middle Ages and rebuilt in 1564.
The church was located in Borgo, a rione of Rome which until 1929 comprised also Vatican City, at the southern end of Via di Porta Castello.
According to the legend, Saint Michael sheathed his sword, stopping a plague, after a procession to implore God's help led by Pope Gregory I (r. 590–604) had reached the castle.
[2] The church and hospital were demolished in 1497, under Pope Alexander VI, and the former was rebuilt in 1564 according to a design by the Florentine architect Tiberio Calcagni.
[1] The reconstructed church was assigned again to the Confraternita di San Michele Arcangelo by Pope Pius IV (r.
[5] This avenue would have been created by widening Via di Porta Castello, the road in front of the church, which would have meant the demolition of the building.
[6] The facade was crowned with a tympanum, surmounted by two oriflammes (flaming stone standards), which framed a cartouche bearing the Latin dedication inscription: "DIVO MICHAELI ARCHANGELO" (English: To Saint Michael, the Archangel).
[6][9] The Madonna, which was later crowned under the name of Refugium Peccatorum ("shelter of the sinners"), was detached from the wall and exhibited for veneration by the faithful above the left altar of the church.
[6] Due to the merging of the archconfraternity with that of Santa Maria Annunziata, after the demolition of the church almost all of the furnishings and works of art contained there, including the Nursing Madonna and the fresco by della Marca, were moved to the nearby Nunziatina oratory.