Chiesa del Gesù (1562-71)

Cardinal Fulvio della Corgna called the Jesuits to Perugia in 1561, and a year later they began to build this church on the site of an the old church of Sant' Andrea (see Walk II).  They were expelled in 1773 and replaced by a community of Barnabites from Sant’ Ercolano. 

The Barnabites were expelled in 1810 and returned in 1837 to find the church in a poor state of repair.  They were expelled again in 1860, at which point their convent (to the right of the church) was incorporated into the complex that now houses the Perugian law courts and associated offices.  Bishop Gioacchino Pecci housed them in his palace in Perugia for about ten years until a few of them managed to return to il Gesù.  The Barnabites still officiate at the church.

Facade

The façade in Piazza Matteotti was completed only as far as the cornice in the 16th century.  It was finally finished in 1934, to the original design that had been captured in a painting that is now in the Galleria Nazionale [details].

Interior

The interior of the church was badly damaged by a fire in 1989, although the high altar (1613) and the original decoration of the apse survived. 

Light from the pensile apse (see below) floods down on a terracotta representation of angels in high relief, and other gilded angels suspended in the apse point the way to Heaven. 

The door at the end of the right aisle (not usually open) leads down to the three oratories described above.  

Scenes from the life of Joshua (1665-6)

These frescoes by Giovanni Andrea Carlone, il Genovese are in the apse.

Oratories

The church stands on the edge of an artificial terrace, with its pensile apse above three oratories that are built one above the other.  These can be seen from terrace of the covered market (see Walk II) or by leaving Piazza Matteotti along Via Alessi and turning right into Via Augusta. 

The oratories were used by three lay communities, each of which was defined by the social class of its members:

• Oratorio dei Nobili (1596), for nobles;

• Oratorio degli Artisti (1603), for artisans; and

• Oratorio dei Coloni (1603), for farmers or peasants.

The stairs that lead down to the oratories are reached by the door at the end of the left aisle (just before the crossing).

Bequest of Simonetto Anastagi

The following works were among those that Simonetto Anastagi bequeathed to the Collegio dei Gesuiti in 1602.  An inscription on the counter-façade of the church that was recorded in the 18th century commemorated this important bequest.

Madonna della Ciliegia (of the cherry) (1573)

This altarpiece by Federico Barocci was transferred to the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome in 1773, at the time of the suppression of the Jesuits.

Holy Family and the Rest on the Flight to Egypt (ca. 1550)

These two panels, which are attributed to Orazio Alfani, were recorded in the 18th century on the counter-façade of the church.  Cards attached to them recorded that they formed part of the Anastagi bequest.  They entered the Galleria Nazionale (Room 31) in 1863.

Presentation of Jesus (ca. 1580)

An inscription on the back of this panel by Giovanni Battista Naldini reveals that it also formed part of the Anastagi bequest.  It was recorded in the sacristy of in the late 17th century.  Although Agostino Tofanelli, the Director of the Musei Capitolini selected it for dispatch to Rome in 1812, it was subsequently decided that it would remain in Perugia.  It passed to the Accademia di Belle Arti in 1810 and is now in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 35).

Return to Walk II.