The interior of the Church of Saint Francis Xavier features a single nave, designed with a multi-level visual structure that creates both depth and grandeur.
On the first level, you can see loggias known as matronea. In early Christian churches, these upper galleries were traditionally reserved for women, but here they serve a purely decorative and theatrical purpose, enhancing the vertical rhythm of the space.
Above them runs the clerestory, a high band of wall with windows positioned above the main arches. This architectural feature allows natural light to filter gracefully into the nave, illuminating the interior in a soft, harmonious glow.
At the far end, opposite the entrance, stands a large pipe organ built in 1888 by the Gebrüder Mayer, a renowned organ-building company from Germany’s Black Forest region.
The floor is decorated with an elegant checkerboard pattern made of pink granite from Val di Fiemme and white marble from Pila, while the walls and columns are adorned with pilasters crafted using an intricate “commesso” technique, which combines fragments of different-colored marbles to create a rich visual texture.
As you enter, take a moment to admire the frescoes by Carlo Gaudenzio Mignocchi, depicting the Nativity, the Baptism of Christ, and the Baptism of Constantine — works that introduce visitors to the church’s rich and symbolic decorative program.
Two side chapels, dedicated respectively to Our Lady of Lourdes and the Crucifixion, complete the nave, while along the interior perimeter stand statues of saints and angels carved in sandstone.
Many of the ornamental elements — such as the balustrades of the matronea and the lateral niches — are made of yellow marble from Arco, a typical local material that gives the interior a warm and luminous tone.
In the apse, you’ll find a large painting portraying Saint Francis Xavier baptizing the Indian queen Neachile — a symbolic scene celebrating the missionary zeal and spirit of conversion of the Jesuit saint.
Let me leave you with an interesting fact: the figure of Queen Neachile is not historically documented; she was inspired by the letters of Jesuit missionaries, who described the conversions that took place in India during Saint Francis Xavier’s missions, particularly in the Kingdom of Travancore in southwestern India. The artist intended Neachile to represent a universal symbol of faith opening itself to new horizons, rather than a real historical figure.
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