San Marcello al Corso is a church in Rome, devoted to Pope Marcellus. It is located in via del Corso, the ancient via Lata, connecting Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo.

While the tradition holds that the church was built over the prison of Pope Marcellus (d. 309), it is known that the Titulus Marcelli was already present in 418, when Pope Boniface I was elected here. The "Septiformis" litany, commanded by Pope Gregory I in 590, saw the men moving from San Marcello.

Pope Adrian I, in the 8th century, built a church on the same place, which is currently under the modern church.

The history of San Marcello saw many lows. It held for three days, in the apse, the hanged body of Cola di Rienzo, in 1354. On 22 May 1519 a fire destroyed the church. The money collected for its rebuilding was used to bribe the landsknechts, pillowing the city during the Sack of Rome (1527). Antonio da Sangallo the Younger rebuilt the church, but a Tiber flood damaged it in 1530. It was only in 1592 that the church was completed, and later Carlo Fontana built the facade.

Under the main altar, decorated with 12th century opus sectile, are kept the relics of several saints, among which Pope Marcellus.

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Marcelli is Édouard Cardinal Gagnon. Among the previous titulars was Pope Gregory XII.

References

• "San Marcello al Corso", Chris Nyborg.

Churches in Rome