Santa Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci fuori Porta Cavalleggeri

Santa Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci fuori Porta Cavalleggeri is a Baroque style, Roman Catholic parish and titular church located at Piazza di Santa Maria alle Fornaci, south of Vatican City and north of the San Pietro train station in the Aurelio quarter.

It was made a cardinalate deaconry by Pope John Paul II on 25 May 1985, and assigned it to Cardinal Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

[1] It was originally built in the 14th century, and served a small suburban parish which became important as a site for preparing materials for the building of the new St Peter’s.

A campanile was built on the right hand side of the apse in the 20th century, a square Baroque tower with pale yellow walls and white architectural details.

The interior is decorated in the first altar on the right with a stucco statue by Giovanni Battista Maini and lateral paintings by Francesco Scaramucci; the second chapel has a Holy Trinity with Saints of the Order of the Reformed friars of the Rescue by the Neapolitan Onofrio Avellino; the third chapel has a San Giovanni di Matha by Francesco Fusi; in the chapel dedicated to the Virgin is an image painted by the Flemish Aegidius Alet ; the first altar on the left was decorated with a Sacred Family by Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari and lateral paintings by Niccola Ricciolini, on the left by Pietro Bianchi; and lunettes by Marco Benefial.

Engraving of the church, 1756 ( Giuseppe Vasi )