Santa Maria del Popolo
The Parish Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo () is a titular church and a minor basilica in Rome run by the Augustinian order. It stands on the north side of Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The church is hemmed in between the Pincian Hill and Porta del Popolo, one of the gates in the Aurelian Wall as well as the starting point of Via Flaminia, the most important route from the north. Its location made the basilica the first church for the majority of travellers entering the city. The church contains works by several famous artists, such as Raphael, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Caravaggio, Alessandro Algardi, Pinturicchio, Andrea Bregno, Guillaume de Marcillat and Donato Bramante.
Santa Maria del Popolo
What is certain that the journey was connected to a feud between the Observant and the Conventual monasteries of the Augustinian Order in the Holy Roman Empire and their proposed union. According to the traditional dating Luther arrived in Rome between 25 December 1510 and January 1511. His biographer, Heinrich Böhmer assumed that the young observant friar stayed in the monastery of Santa Maria del Popolo. This assumption was disputed by newer biographers who argued that the tense relationship between the Lombardian Congregation and the administration of the Augustinian order made the monastery of Santa Maria del Popolo an unsuitable lodging for Luther who tried to win a favour at the leaders of his order. Be that as it may, Luther, who spent four weeks in Rome, certainly visited the only observant Augustinian monastery in the city and its famous pilgrimage church that was the favourite of the reigning pope.