A small Baroque set piece, with its own tiny piazza to set it back from the bustle of the Corso . . .
. . . The result is one of the most original and sophisticated Baroque facades in the entire city.
Visually, the facade can be split into two separate compositions, constructed one in front of the other. The first, and smaller of the two, is the portal surrounding the front door . . .
The second composition, echoing and enveloping and incorporating the first . . .
The upper story reverses the visual pattern of the lower . . . exhibiting its weaker elements (the flat pilasters) in the center rather than on the sides. Such a reversal might be considered an arbitrary excercise in rule-flouting, but in fact it serves a crucial visual purpose . . .
So where is the sculpture? Sadly, the frame has been empty ever since the facade was constructed. Visually and thematically, the resulting void is one of the most exasperating decorative lapses in all Rome, for it robs the facade of its central focus, and offers up an enfeebling absence just at the point where the entire composition should achieve maximum presence.