According to tradition, the church of San Girolamo della Carità was built on the site of the house where the saint lived in 382. Having passed into the hands of a charitable congregation in the 16th century, it is linked to the memory of St Philip Neri, who founded his Institute there and lived in a neighbouring house from 1551 to 1583. The church was rebuilt around 1655 by Domenico Castelli. The two-storey Baroque façade is by Carlo Rainaldi (1660). The interior has a Latin cross plan, with a single central nave and a richly decorated wooden coffered ceiling. 

Inside is the splendid Spada Chapel, designed and built in collaboration with Francesco Borromini

it is an exceptional work of art from the Baroque period, featuring polychrome marble and walls with marble inlays.

Near the high altar, designed by Carlo Rainaldi, hangs *The Communion of St Jerome*, a copy by Camuccini of the original by Domenichino, which is housed in the Vatican. 

Also on the left is the Antamoro Chapel (1708), Filippo Juvarra’s only work in Rome, adorned with a marble statue of Saint Philip Neri by Pierre Legros. On the right-hand side of the church is the Speziali Chapel, with its wooden crucifix, where Saint Philip Neri used to celebrate Mass.

Current Situation

The existing lighting system was obsolete, inefficient and visually intrusive. The installed light sources did not provide adequate colour rendering or proper glare control, with an estimated total power of 8–9 kW and illuminance levels that were not consistent with liturgical requirements or the need to showcase the building’s artistic features.

The Project 

To develop the project on a sound basis, we carried out a complete 3D scan of the church, capturing data up to a height of 12 metres and reconstructing a three-dimensional model exported in DWG and 3DS formats for simulations, lighting calculations and the precise positioning of the luminaires.

The concept covered the nave, chancel, altar, wooden ceiling and side chapels, defining a solution capable of balancing visual quality, cost-effectiveness and the enhancement of the artworks.

The detailed design was developed with comprehensive technical drawings and a Casambi control system for regulating and dimming the lighting scenes.

Technical Information

For general and accent lighting, Formalighting’s Tictok spotlights were used, with power ratings ranging from 4 W to 18 W and featuring 12° Spot, 30° Flood and Oval Flood beam angles, as well as asymmetrical optics, selected to suit the various architectural geometries and the features to be illuminated.

For the indirect lighting of the ceiling and vaults, various linear ‘Cobra’ luminaires with asymmetric elliptical optics and wallwashers were used.

The standard colour temperature adopted is 3000 K, with a CRI exceeding 97 to ensure high colour fidelity and accurate rendering of surface textures.

Dedicated solutions were adopted for the Spada Chapel, the Antamoro Chapel and the organ, with colour temperatures ranging from 2700 K to 4000 K to create visual hierarchies and targeted accents.

Some luminaires were customised with RAL finishes, double joints and anti-glare accessories to improve visual concealment, adjustability and perceptual comfort.

The new solution has reduced the installed power to approximately 3.2 kW, significantly improving energy efficiency, lighting control and the architectural enhancement of the entire complex.