The church of San Carlo Borromeo is on piazza Damiano Chiesa, formerly piazza San Carlo, in Rovereto. It was commissioned in 1618 by the Rovereto nobleman Paolo Trentini, on the site of a small sixteenth-century church dedicated to Santa Maria del Giglio. With the convent built beside it, it belonged to the Poor Clares, whose founder in Rovereto was the Venerable Giovanna Maria della Croce, born Bernardina Floriani. In 1782, by order of Joseph II, the order was suppressed, the convent closed and its property sold at auction. The church long lay abandoned, until in 1845 it was restored and partly rebuilt.
What to see
The building has a four-sided plan. The façade, in the form of a classical temple, has an architraved marble portal and, above it, a lunette window. The bell tower, not very tall, stands in the south-western part.
Inside is the urn with the remains of the Venerable Giovanna Maria della Croce. On the right, set apart from the nave, you can make out the space reserved for the nuns, who attended services separately from the other faithful.
Visiting
Opening and service times should be checked on the spot or with the diocese.
Our editors' tip
On the land of the suppressed Poor Clares, a few years later, the Fedrigotti built their palace on corso Bettini. And in the archpriest's church of San Marco there is a bust of the Venerable, sculpted by Fausto Melotti in 1936.
