Chandlery, Peter Joseph; Gerard, John: Pilgrim-walks in Rome: a guide to the holy places in the city and its vicinity (New York: Fordham University Press, 1908)

CHAPTER XII.

To the Island in the Tiber and to S. Cecilia in
Trastevere.
Following the street Via di Ara Cali that leads from the
Gesu towards the Capitol, and turning up the second side street
on the right (Via Margana} we reach a small irregular piazza
with some ancient buildings, the remains of the mediceval
palace Margana. There is a richly-sculptured gateway of the
thirteenth or fourteenth century, and a low tower known as
Torre di Margana. The place has a religious interest all its
own, for in a house close to this square lived St. Ignatius of
Loyola and his first companions from the autumn of 1538 till
February, 1541.1
254. — RESIDENCE OF st. IGNATIUS AND COMPANIONS NEAR
THE TORRE DEL MELANGOLO.
This was the third house occupied by the Saint and his
companions in Rome, the first being on the Pincio (1537), the
second in the Rione dei Monti, probably near the Church of
St. Bernardine of Siena (1538). Father Simon Rodriguez, one
of the Saint’s companions, tells us that the house near the
Torre del Melangolo2 had been for some time untenanted,
owing to a report that it was haunted ; for this reason the
Saint may have got it at a reduced rent. St. Francis Xavier, in
his letters, mentions this Torre del Melangolo; and Blessed
Peter Faber, writing to St. Ignatius from Germany, in 1539,
1 It is thought that the house was in the Via Delfini, just beyond
the tower, and in the part of the street near the Church of S. Caterina
dei Funari.
2 This Torre del Melangolo no longer exists. According to
Buffalini’s map (1550), it was in the Via Delfini, on the left as one
goes towards S. Caterina dei Funari.