San Pietro in Montorio Church
Rome, Italy
project by Studio Arch. Alessandro Grassia

The church of San Pietro in Montorio is situated in one of the most suggestive places of Rome: the slopes of Gianicolo hill. According to the tradition the first pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church was crucified here. And in the cloister, where the cross was put up, an extraordinary building stands: the Bramante’s Tempietto [little temple], that is the real peculiarity of this sixteenth century Church. The main difficulty of this project is strictly connected with the various functions the church and the little temple must accomplish: first of all as places of worship and prayer, then as “containers” of art works, and finally as masterpieces of architecture they themselves. In order to guarantee the different luminous directions, Alessandro Grassia has realized an extremely versatile lighting system, able to create the right atmosphere according to the circumstances, and respect both the spirituality of the place and the enjoyment and preservation of the art works. As regard the interior of the Church, besides conceiving a basic lighting Alessandro Grassia also conceived other kinds of lighting in case of solemn or Sunday mass, marriage or visit to the church. The designer has chosen the suitable light’s tones to underline the different architectural elements and the materials they are made. Most of the 108 light sources are simply leant on the perimeter cornice, placed at eight meters and half above the trampling plane of the church. The lighting fixtures of this kind are specifically designed to be mounted without clamping holes that would have damaged the architectural works. Other fixtures are hanging from the chains above the nave, the altar and the choir. In front of the side chapels, suspended multi-lamp luminaires, evoking the votive lamps which were in times gone by inside the church, have been placed. Outside, six projectors assembled in an only prop illuminate the facade. The beautiful Bramante’s little temple, considered one of the mostly representative works of the Renaissance Italian architecture, is situated in the middle of the Church’s cloister. To illuminate this masterpiece, Alessandro Grassia has adopted an interesting design solution, especially from a technical point of view. This solution allows to correctly “read” the works’ architecture without compromising their preservation. Lighting fixtures for 6W linear fluorescent lamps with a high chromatic output have been specifically designed, produced and placed. The connection system among the fixtures has been realized with electric cables placed according to the particular geometry of the system that is in this way self-bearing. The method chosen to place the lighting fixtures has allowed to avoid any intervention on the very precious marble. In other words, neither studs nor glue nor other destructive systems.