The church was built on the remains of a circular tower, which marked a corner in the southwestern perimeter wall of the Baths of Diocletian (its pendant is today part of a hotel building, 225 meters southeast from San Bernardo alle Terme). These two towers flanked a large semicircular exedra; the distance between the towers attests to enormous scale of the original structure.
In 1598, under the patronage of Caterina Sforza di Santafiora, this church was built for the French Cistercian group, the Feuillants, under the leadership of Giovanni Barrreiro, abbot of Toulouse. Later, after the dissolution of the Feuillants during the French Revolution, the edifice and the annexed monastery were ceded to the Congregation of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, after whom the church is named.
The structure of San Bernardo alle Terme is similar to the Pantheon, since it is cylindrical, with a dome and an oculus. The edifice has a diameter of 22 meters. The octagonal dome coffers recalls that of the Basilica of Maxentius. The interior is graced by eight stucco statues of saints, each housed in wall niches, the work (c. 1600) of Camillo Mariani. These are a good example of the Mannerist sculpture.
Several memorials have been affixed to the wall below the statues, of various ages and interest. The large and intricate neo-Renaissance one under the statue of St Catherine of Alexandria, to the left of the apse, is to the sculptor Carlo Finelli who died in 1853. It is by Rinaldo Rinaldi, who was from Padua.
The present sanctuary is a vaulted space lit by a pair of windows high up on each side, which are inserted into lunettes. The vault itself is merely whitewashed. This space used to be the rather cramped monastic choir, separated by a screen from the main church. Until this barrier was removed, the main altar stood in a shallow niche like the altars in the side chapels.
The back of the sanctaury has a curved apse. This has no conch above, but stops at a large arch into which the church's organ is inserted.
The Chapel of St Francis is an addition to the ancient rotunda, and contains a sculpture of St Francis by Giacomo Antonio Fancelli. The large canvases in the lateral altars are by Giovanni Odazzi.
The church is open from 6:30 to 12:00 and 16:00 to 19:00.
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