Via della Luce Apartments

I've never found it open, not even at the times the website said it should be.

This somewhat tucked-away church serves expatriate Latin Americans.

A lovely Mass, with everyone there taking part so fervently.

I was surprised by how much this church mixes old and new, finished and unfinished. It has medieval structure and 18th-century alterations, with origins going back to the 4th century, like San Salvatore alla Corte, commissioned by Pope Julius I. It was built in the 1500s and restored repeatedly in the 17th and 18th centuries. There are a few possible clues behind the name of the alley. It was once called "delle rimesse" because carriages were parked there, or "dei morticelli" because of a small cemetery, and the name has changed since then. According to legend, a blind man standing before an image of the Virgin and Child heard rocks falling. When he turned around, his sight had returned, and he saw the painting surrounded by a great light. After this miracle, the fresco was moved into the church. From 1730, donations from the faithful funded a full rebuild so the church would be worthy of housing the precious image. Gabriele Valvassori designed the interior and began the work; Bartolomeo Candussi finished it in 1821 and created the simple facade. An inscription above the portal's oculus records this. Inside, stucco decorates the three naves. Along with several precious paintings, the church holds the Madonna della Luce icon on the high altar and a beautiful Conca fresco in the apse. It now serves the Latin American community and is a lively center of faith and activity in historically multiethnic Trastevere. If you spot it, and find it open, it's a lovely visit that may surprise you. For useful info, leave a like and see my other reviews of Rome and beyond.