Santi Domenico e Sisto is an early 17th century convent, university and titular church. It is located on Largo Angelicum on the Quirinal Hill, in rione Monti (I). The joint dedication is to St Dominic and Pope St Sixtus II.
For reference, a plan of the church is available
here.
This church was built beginning in 1569 over the site of a former a little old church called Santa Maria Balneapolis, which was built sometime before 1000. Pope Pius V (1566-1572), a Dominican himself, brought the Dominican nuns of the church of S. Sisto Vecchio and assigned them to the old monastery of S. Maria della Neve on the site of the old church, and a new convent was built for them. In 1575 the nuns, along with their treasured icon, moved into their new home and they kept the name from their old church, but also consecrated the renovated church to their Order's founder San Domenico and they called it therefore Santi Domenico e Sisto.
The construction of the new church was only completed in 1663, which meant several architects were involved.
Giacomo della Porta was in charge from 1587 to 1593, and is thought to have finished the sanctuary and campanile and to have started the nave. In 1602 della Porta died and the construction stopped until
Nicola Torriani was in charge from 1603 to 1636. Nicola's brother
Orazio Torriani took over from 1636 to 1641 after Nicola died.
Santi Domenico e Sisto was a Dominican community that included members of some of the most prestigious Roman noble families; in this context, artistic patronage could demonstrate not only a nun s piety but also her family connections and social standing. Between 1632 and 1652, the side chapels of the church were decorated by various Dominican nuns, whose prominent family connections enabled several of them to commission some of the leading artists of the time in Rome.
In 1733 there were some repairs and restorations in the church under the architect
Giovanni Battista Contini, who built a new sacristy on the right side with a new side entrance to the church. In 1749 nuns' church, "La Chiesa di dentro" was restored. The church was restored in 1850–52 when pilasters were added in the nave and the stuccowork was repaired. At the same time a new marble floor was laid.
However, in 1873 the nuns were dispossessed by the Italian government together with all other communities of consecrated religious in Rome. This convent was used as a secular school for fifty years after 1873. The dispossessed community eventually found a new home in 1931 at Santa Maria del Rosario a Monte Mario. They took with them the original icon, where it remains.
In 1874 the Via Nazionale had its gradients reduced along its length, and the work entailed the substantial reduction in the ground level of the Largo Magnanapoli. The knock-on effects were the lowering of the Via Panisperna to the left of the church, leaving an impressive revetting wall, and the substantial lengthening of the entrance stairways. Hence the lower part of the latter is late 19th century.
The church and convent now belongs to the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, nicknamed the "Angelicum", who purchased the site in 1928.
