Who led in rebuilding the Basilica Santa Maria del Popolo?
Santa Maria del Popolo
Soon after its transfer to the prestigious Lombard Congregation Santa Maria del Popolo was reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 on the orders of Pope Sixtus IV. This was part of the ambitious urban renovation program of the pope who presented himself as "Urbis Restaurator" of Rome. The medieval church was entirely demolished and a new three-aisled, Latin cross shaped basilica was built with four identical chapels on both sides, an octagonal dome above the crossing and a tall Lombard style bell-tower at the end of the right transept. The result of this reconstruction was an early and excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Rome. In spite of the many later changes the basilica essentially kept its Sistine form until today.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
10. Giovanni Battista Pallavicino
Apostolic Palace
Upon returning to Rome in 1377 after the interlude of the Avignon Papacy, which saw Rome subject to civil unrest and the abandonment of several Christian monuments, the popes chose to reside first at Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and then at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. The Vatican Palace had fallen into disrepair from lack of upkeep and the Lateran Palace underwent two destructive fires, in 1307 and 1361, which did irreparable harm. In 1447, Pope Nicholas V razed the ancient fortified palace of Eugene III to erect a new building, the current Apostolic Palace.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The dome of Santa Maria del Popolo was the first octagonal Renaissance dome above a rectangular crossing erected on a high tambour. At the time of its building in 1474-75 it had no real precedent, the only comparable examples are the drawings of Filarete for the utopist city of Sforzinda which have never been carried out. As such the dome was a visual anomaly in the skyline of Rome but later became a prototype that has many followers in the city and in other Italian towns. The raison d'être of this novelty was the miraculous icon of Madonna del Popolo that was placed right in the center of the domed sanctuary.
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
The chapel was named after Bishop Giovanni Montemirabile (†1479) and it was transformed into the baptistery of the basilica in 1561. The most valuable works of art in the chapel are the aediculae of the baptismal font and the font of the holy oil. These were assembled in 1657 from the 15th-century fragments of a demolished monument which had been created by the Bregno workshop. The tomb of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini on the left wall was made by the same workshop in 1501.
Tiberio Crispo
As papal legate to Perugia, Crispo was a "driving force behind the architectural renewal of the city". For example, in 1547 Crispo commissioned Galeazzo Alessi for the construction of Santa Maria del Popolo to replace a church demolished by the construction of the Via Nuova. He also commissioned a palace in Bolsena that bears his name, "Palazzo di Tiberio Crispo" (also known as the "Palazzo Crispo Marsciano" or "Palazzo Rondanini alla Rotonda"), which was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger circa 1543; after the death of Sangallo in 1546, Raffaello da Montelupo was called in to finish the palace, which remained incomplete, however, after the deaths of both Crispo and Raffaello in 1566.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
6. Stefano Desiderio
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
1. Giovanni Battista Spada
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
3. Paolo M. Martinez
Roman Renaissance
Pope Eugene IV continued in this vein in Rome, commissioning the Florentine, Antonio Averulino, known as Filarete (1400-1469) to make the two bronze doors, or imposts, of St Peter's Basilica, completed in 1445. The six panels show Jesus the Savior and Mary enthroned, St. Paul with the sword, and St. Peter, who is giving the keys to the kneeling Pope Eugene IV. The two lowest panels show St. Paul sentenced by Nero, and the martyrdom of St. Paul. The bas-reliefs between the framed panels show scenes from the pontificate of Eugene IV, and representatives at the Council of Ferrara-Florence, summoned in 1438 to reunite the Churches of the East and of the West.
Santa Maria del Popolo
In the 15th century the friary of Santa Maria del Popolo joined the observant reform movement that tried to restore the original purity of monastic life. The general chapter of the Augustinian observants in May 1449 established five separate congregations for the observant friars in Italy. That of Rome-Perugia was sometimes named after Santa Maria del Popolo although the monastery never had the official position of a mother-house. In 1472 the friary was given over by Pope Sixtus IV to the Lombard Congregation, the most important and populous of all, and it became its Roman headquarter and the seat of its procurator general (ambassador) at the Roman Curia.
Giacomo del Duca
Giacomo Del Duca (c. 1520 – 1604) was an Italian sculptor and architect during the late-Renaissance or Mannerist period. He is most remembered for assisting Michelangelo in a number of projects in Rome, including the sculpture and construction of the tomb of Pope Julius II, completed in a highly truncated state relative to the original design, in San Pietro in Vincoli. He also modified Michelangelo's plans for buildings in the Capitoline Hill, one of the most famous and highest of the seven hills of Rome.
Ferdinando Manlio
From 1540, he led the rebuilding of the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata Maggiore, along with Giovanni Benincasa. The present church however was rebuilt after a fire destroyed Manlio's building in the 18th century. As a result of this, the viceroy of Naples, Pedro Álvarez de Toledo asked Manlio and Benincasa to design a long road connecting the Royal Palace of Naples to one of the city gates. This is now the via Toledo. The pair also redesigned the Castel Capuano, transforming it from a military building into the new Palace of Justice.
Roman Renaissance
In 1503 Julius II was elected pope after the short reign of Pius III. He was chiefly a soldier, and his fame is greatly due to his re-establishment of the Pontifical States and the deliverance of Italy from its subjection to France. But he also gained a reputation as a patron of the arts. Bramante, Raphael, and Michelangelo contributed some of their greatest masterpieces during his time. He laid the cornerstone of the Basilica of St. Peter on 18 April 1506, and united the Vatican with the Belvedere, engaging Bramante to accomplish the project. The famous frescoes of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel and Raphael in the Vatican Halls or "Stanze", the Court of St. Damasus with its loggias, the Via Giulia and Via della Lungara, even the statue of Moses which graces his mausoleum in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, are lasting witnesses of his great love of art.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The main door is more monumental that the others. Its pointed pediment is filled with a sculpture of the "Madonna and the Child" set in a scallop shell. The rim of the niche is decorated with cherubs among six-pointed stars and whiffs of clouds. The frieze has a fine carved decoration of artificial foliage, pecking birds and three putti who are holding torches and oak branches in their hands and carrying bowls of fruit on their heads. The coat-of-arms of Pope Sixtus IV on the lintel is encircled by oak branches. The carvings around the door are the only significant sculptural decorations on the façade and as a whole they summarize the iconographic program of the Sistine rebuilding. The central motif is the Madonna del Popolo surrounded by the symbols of heavenly light and paradisiacal abundance, intertwined with the emblem of the Della Rovere dynasty, and set in a perfectly classical frame.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The new high altar for the icon of the Madonna was commissioned by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, the nephew of the pope, or Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia in 1473. Another relative, Cardinal Domenico della Rovere bought two chapels on the right side. He transformed the first one into a funeral chapel and sold the other one to Cardinal Jorge da Costa in 1488. The next papal family, the Cybos furnished the second chapel on the right in the 1490s, and also the third chapel on the left, while the third chapel on the right went to another cardinal-nephew of Pope Sixtus, Girolamo Basso della Rovere. In the first chapel on the left a confidant of the pope, Bishop Giovanni Montemirabile was buried in 1479. Another confidant, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Mellini was buried in the third chapel on the left after his death in 1478. The two artists most closely associated with this period of the church were the sculptor Andrea Bregno and the painter Pinturicchio.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Doors
Porta del Popolo
The origin of the present name of the gate, as well as of the piazza that it overlooks, is not clear: it has been supposed that it could derive from the many poplars (Latin: "populus") covering the area, but it is more likely that the toponym is connected with the origins of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo ("Saint Mary of the People"), erected in 1099 by Pope Paschal II thanks to a more or less voluntary subscription of the Roman people.
Piazza del Duomo, Milan
Azzone's successor Gian Galeazzo Visconti further enlarged the piazza, ordering the demolition of the bishop's house (in 1385) and the baptistery "San Giovanni alle Fonti" (in 1387). In the following decades, nevertheless, the piazza did not develop much, but one of the two "basilicae", Santa Maria Maggiore, was demolished, as the works for the construction of the Duomo had begun. In 1458, Pope Pius II granted Francesco Sforza and the Veneranda fabbrica del Duomo di Milano (the company that was responsible for the construction of the Duomo) the authorization to demolish Santa Tecla to create a larger square that would fit the Duomo's majesty. Somewhat preposterously, the basilica was partially rebuilt in the following years, to be demolished again in the mid-16th century.
Luigi Poletti (architect)
Poletti also added a choir to the Pantheon in 1840 and built the theaters in Fano (1845–1863), Rimini (1843–1857) and Terni (1840–1848). He rebuilt the church of San Venanzio in Camerino, which had fallen in the earthquake of 1792. After the damage from an earthquake in 1832, he rebuilt (1836–40) the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi. He built the Cathedral of Montalto delle Marche on the foundations that had been started under Pope Sixtus V. He designed the church of San Filippo in the town of Nocera (disambiguate?). He completed the chapel and altar of Santissima Maria (called dell'acqua) in San Francesco in Rimini. He built a similar chapel in Fossombrone. He designed the lighthouse and arsenal in the port of Ripa Grande. He designed the Palazzo Ceccopieri in Via di Monte Catino. He designed a number of funereal monuments in and around Rome including one dedicated to Vincenzo Casciani (1832) in the Costa Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo and to the papal architect Cavalierie Pietro Bosio in the Campo Santo.
Antonio Barberini
Prior to his election, Pope Urban VIII had been a member of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Antonio Barberini was appointed prefect of the Congregation and set about commissioning a new palace, the Palazzo del Propaganda Fide. The construction was started by close Barberini family friend Gianlorenzo Bernini. In 1644, when Antonio was exiled, Bernini was replaced by Borromini who demolished Bernini's chapel and built his own design; the chapel is considered one of Borromini's masterpieces.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Furniture
Santa Maria del Popolo
The altarpiece on right side altar was painted in 1659 by Giovanni Maria Morandi, the favourite portraitist of the Chigi family. The artist got the job thanks to the good offices of his previous patron, Duke Francesco Maria Salviati in 1657. A study for the cherubs holding the wreath of roses in the lower left corner is survived in the Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig. On the canvas there are no perceptible signs of the Florentine apprenticeship of the painter, it firmly belongs to the artistic world of the Roman seicento dominated by Carlo Maratta, although Emilian influences could also be noticed.
Della Rovere Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The Della Rovere or Saint Jerome Chapel, otherwise the Chapel of the Nativity () is the first side chapel in the south aisle of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. It was dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Jerome and decorated with the paintings of Pinturicchio and his pupils. It is one of the best preserved monuments of quattrocento art in Rome.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The legend was recounted by an Augustinian friar, Giacomo Alberici in his treatise about the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo which was published in Rome in 1599 and translated into Italian the next year. Another Augustinian, Ambrogio Landucci rehashed the same story in his book about the origins of the basilica in 1646. The legend has been retold several times ever since with slight changes in collections of Roman curiosities, scientific literature and guidebooks. An example of the variations could be found in Ottavio Panciroli's book which claimed that the demons inhabiting the tree took the form of black crows. It is not known how far the tradition goes back but in 1726 in the archive of Santa Maria del Popolo there was a catalogue of the holy relics of the church written in 1426 which contained a (lost) version of the ″miracle of the walnut tree″. This was allegedly copied from an even more ancient "tabella" at the main altar. In the 15th century the story was already popular enough to be recounted by various German sources like Nikolaus Muffel's "Description of Rome" (1452) or "The Pilgrimage of Arnold Von Harff" (1497).
Palazzo dei Convertendi
In 1937, during the construction of the Via della Conciliazione, the palace was demolished, and then reconstructed until 1941 west of Palazzo Torlonia. The relocation was supervised by Giuseppe Momo, the "court architect" of Pius XI (r. 1922–39), who after 1929 reshaped the new Vatican City. Momo collaborated in the reconstruction with Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli (the designers of via della Conciliazione). The architects moved the palace to an area that, until the mid-19th century, had been occupied by the houses of Soderini, an early Renaissance complex. The accuracy of the reconstruction allows the consideration of the rebuilt Palazzo dei Convertendi not as a new building, but as another phase in the centuries-old life of the edifice.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
The monument of a Prussian painter, Franz Ludwig Catel was erected by the pillar between the Della Rovere and Cybo Chapels. Catel was a successful landscape and genre painter who spent most of his career in Rome. He lived nearby in Piazza di Spagna where his home became a favourite meeting place for young artists. He died in 1856 at the age of 78 years and left his estate to a foundation which he had set up to help young German and Italian artists in the city. His monument was designed by a fellow German sculptor, Julius Troschel. The white marble Neo-Classical aedicula is decorated with a frieze of garlands and two wreathes and it is crowned by a pediment and a cross. The realistic bust of the deceased is set in a niche in the middle. The epitaph mentions his noble intention to leave most of his fortune to the artists in need.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The nave ends with a triumphal arch that is decorated with a sumptuous stucco group which was created during the Berninian reconstruction. The papal coat of arms of Alexander VII is seen in the middle flanked by two angel-like "Victories" holding palm branches who repose on rich garlands of flowers. This group is the work of Antonio Raggi. It should be noted the nave and the transept had a more unified Baroque appearance before the purist restoration of Antonio Muñoz in 1912. He removed the thick plaster coat from the shafts of the travertine half-columns that was painted to create an appearance of cipollino marble. Another lost Baroque feature was created by Giovanni Maria Mariani whose name was mentioned regularly in the payments between 1657 and 1658. It is not possible to reconstruct his work in the basilica but he was a specialist of sumptuous ornamental friezes with great figures, festoons and grisailles. Presumably he was tasked with the seamless integration of the real and painted sculpture in the nave and the transept.
Palazzo Wedekind
On a site occupied in antiquity by the Temple of Marcus Aurelius, the medieval buildings on the site were cleared for a structure erected by the Ludovisi (1659) that became the offices of the vicegerente of the vicariate of Rome. To house the general director of the postal service for the Papal States, moved here in 1814, the palazzo was completely rebuilt by Pope Gregory XVI to designs by Giuseppe Valadier carried out by Pietro Camporese the Younger. At Valadier's urging, Camporese added a portico built with twelve elegant Roman columns brought from the ruins of Veii, supplemented with two pairs of columns flanking the main doorway, retrieved from the basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura, which burned in 1823.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Mondovì
The first bishop of Mondovì was the Dominican Damiano Zavaglia; among his successors were Percivallo di Palma (1429), Amadeo Romagnano (1497), who reconstructed the cathedral (1550); Michele Ghislieri, O.P. (1550), Grand Inquisitor and later Pope Pius V; Cardinal Vincenzo Lauro (1566), founder of the seminary, during whose incumbency the cathedral and other churches were torn down to make room for the citadel; Giovanni Battista Isnardi (1697), who restored the episcopal palace and the church of St. Dalmazaio; Carlo Felice Sanmartino (1741), founder of the new seminary, and Giovanni Tommaso Ghilardi, O.P. (1842).
Santa Maria del Popolo
The reconstruction also had a symbolic message that the evil walnut tree of Nero was supplanted by the beneficent oak of the Della Rovere. The papal coats of arms were placed on the façade and the vaults as "symbols of eternal happiness and protection from lightning", as Landucci explained praising the transposition of the two trees. Another important aspect of the Sistine reconstruction was that it made the basilica – the first church for the pilgrims arriving in Rome from the North – a dynastic monument of the Della Rovere family. This was reinforced by relatives of the pope and other personages of his court who bought chapels and built funeral monuments. "Santa Maria del Popolo became a place to unite visually the universal domination of the church with the della Rovere, a totemic symbol that would associate the della Rovere with Rome and allowed them to co-opt its magnificience and glory", claimed Lisa Passaglia Bauman.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
To the right of the entrance, on the counterfacade, is the wall tomb of Maria Eleonora I Boncompagni, the sovereign Princess of Piombino. The princess died in 1745 after visiting a hospital. Her tomb was designed by Domenico Gregorini in 1749.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The three studded wooden doors are decorated with bronze reliefs by a Calabrian sculptor, Michele Guerrisi from 1963. On the panels of the main door there are scenes from the Passion of Jesus while the reliefs of the side doors illustrate chosen Biblical phrases.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The Cybo Chapel was radically rebuilt by Cardinal Alderano Cybo (1613–1700) between 1682 and 1687 according to the plans of Carlo Fontana. For the beauty of its paintings, the preciousness of marble revetments covering its walls and the importance of the artists involved in its construction the chapel is regarded one of the most significant sacral monuments erected in Rome in the last quarter of the 17th century.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Bernini was also a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his contemporaries, the architect Francesco Borromini and the painter and architect Pietro da Cortona. Early in their careers they had all worked at the same time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially under Carlo Maderno and, following his death, under Bernini. Later on, however, they were in competition for commissions, and fierce rivalries developed, particularly between Bernini and Borromini. Despite the arguably greater architectural inventiveness of Borromini and Cortona, Bernini's artistic pre-eminence, particularly during the reigns of popes Urban VIII (1623–44) and Alexander VII (1655–65), meant he was able to secure the most important commissions in the Rome of his day, the various massive embellishment projects of the newly finished St. Peter's Basilica, completed under Pope Paul V with the addition of Maderno's nave and facade and finally re-consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on 18 November 1626, after 150 years of planning and building. Bernini's design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is one of his most innovative and successful architectural designs. Within the basilica he is also responsible for the Baldacchino, the decoration of the four piers under the cupola, the Cathedra Petri or Chair of St. Peter in the apse, the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the right nave, and the decoration (floor, walls and arches) of the new nave.
Basilica of Saint Servatius
Between 1866 and 1900 the church underwent major restorations during which some of the damage done earlier in the century was reversed. The restoration was led by famous Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers. In 1955 a fire caused Cuypers' Gothic Revival westwork spire to fall through the roof of the church, which made another thorough restoration necessary (1982–1991). During this latter restoration, Cuypers' colourful interior decoration scheme was largely removed. During this most recent restoration, extensive excavations that were carried out in the church and adjacent buildings, revealed a wealth of information about the history of the church and its predecessors.
Costa Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The chapel was originally owned by Domenico della Rovere but it was acquired by Portuguese Cardinal Jorge da Costa (the italianized name is Giorgio Costa) for 200 gold ducats in 1488. Costa was a well-known and influential person in the court of Pope Alexander VI. The Cardinal employed the same workshop of painters as the Della Rovere dynasty, the school of Pinturicchio. It is not unlikely that the patron consciously sought out the same artist. The chapel preserved its original form except one window that was walled up for the creation of a new funeral monument in 1833.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The architecture is often attributed to Andrea Bregno but without definitive evidence. According to Ulrich Fürst the architect aimed at perfect proportioning and also at masterful restraint in the detail. "In this way he succeeded in designing the best church façade in early-Renaissance Rome."
Mellini Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The appearance of the chapel was fundamentally changed when it was rebuilt by Cardinal Giovanni Garzia Mellini in the 1620s in Baroque style. The whole interior was covered with white and gold stuccos, and the vault was decorated with frescos depicting scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino by a Florentine artist, Giovanni da San Giovanni who was paid 130 scudi "as the rest and final installment of payment for the several works done" on 27 October 1627. The main altar was consecrated in 1628. The previous Renaissance tombs were dismantled to make way for the monumental Baroque sepulchres of Cardinal Giovanni Garzia Mellini in the 1630s and Cardinal Savio Mellini in the 1690s.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The organ in the right transept was originally built in 1499–1500 by Stefano Pavoni, "magister organorum" from Salerno; its case was decorated with the coat of arms of Pope Alexander VI who probably contributed to the expenses. During the Berninian reconstruction of the basilica this instrument was rebuilt by organ master Giuseppe Testa who also created a new organ for the left transept. Both organs has long since disappeared with only the organ-case in the right transept remaining in place. For the left cantoria a modern organ was made by Carlo Vegezzi Bossi which was inaugurated on 23 May 1906.
Giuliano da Sangallo
Giuliano's final work was to assist in the design and construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica. Sangallo was called upon to design the large dome atop the basilica. Pope Julius II, however, chose the design of Donato Bramante instead and construction began in 1506. The dome was influenced by the dome atop the Florence Cathedral which was designed by Bramante and Sangallo's role model, Filippo Brunelleschi. After Giuliano's distinguished career and close working relationship with Pope Julius II, Bramante's promotion left him devastated and he left Rome for Florence. After the death of Julius II and the subsequent election of Giovanni de' Medici to the papacy in 1513 as Pope Leo X, along with the death of Bramante in 1514, Giuliano was recalled to Rome from Florence to help rebuild the basilica. By this time however, Giuliano was over seventy years old and not well enough to travel back to Rome and oversee a project of such magnitude. Therefore, Pope Leo X selected another distinguished artist, Raphael, to assume control of the design of the new basilica.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The triumphal arch of the chancel is crowned with the painted stucco coat of arms of Cardinal Antonio Maria Sauli. The new main altar of the basilica and the redecoration of the arch at the behest of the Genoese cardinal was finished in 1627. The symbol of his family, a displayed eagle is set on an Italian escutcheon decorated with a cherub head and a cross. The coat of arms is supported by two angels portrayed as naked ephebes in an impeccably Classical fashion.
Santa Maria del Popolo
After the Della Rovere era, the basilica lost its prominent role as a papal church but it remained one of the most important pilgrimage churches in the city. This was shown on 23 November 1561 when Pope Pius IV held a solemn procession from St. Peter's to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo on the occasion of reopening the Council of Trent. Building works went on in the Chigi Chapel in a slow pace until the 1550s. The last important Renaissance addition was the Theodoli Chapel between 1555 and 1575 with rich stucco and fresco decoration by Giulio Mazzoni.
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II commissioned the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica, Michelangelo's decoration and full-scale painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and his discerning eye in hiring the artist Raphael as a young man brought numerous improvements to the Vatican.
Old St. Peter's Basilica
By the 15th century the church was falling into ruin. Discussions on repairing parts of the structure commenced upon the pope's return from Avignon. Two people involved in this reconstruction were Leon Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, who improved the apse and partially added a multi-story benediction loggia to the atrium facade, on which construction continued intermittently until the new basilica was begun. Alberti pronounced the basilica a structural abomination:
Santa Maria in Domnica
The basilica was rebuilt from 818-22 by Pope Paschal I, and included mosaic decoration. Pope Paschal I is credited with Rome's early 9th century age of renovation and artistic splendor.
Montemirabile Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The chapel is named after Giovanni Montemirabile (an italianized name for Jean de Montmirail), the bishop of Vaison and confidant of Pope Sixtus IV, who was buried here after the chapel had been built in the 1470s. This was the first of the original four identitcal chapels on the left side and it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The chapel was transformed into the baptistery of the basilica in 1561. After 1568 a Renaissance funeral monument was built for Cardinal Francesco Abbondio Castiglioni by the right side wall. The monumental Renaissance wall tomb of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini was transferred to the chapel in the second quarter of the 17th century, its bulk partially hiding from view or replacing the original painted decoration of the left wall. In 1657 fragments of a demolished quattrocento monument from the choir were reassembled in the chapel in the form of two aediculae by Cardinal Flavio Chigi, the nephew of Pope Alexander VII, who was Cardinal-Priest of the basilica at the time.
Della Rovere Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The chapel was bought by Cardinal Domenico della Rovere in 1477 after the reconstruction of the church by his relative, Pope Sixtus IV. The interior of the chapel with the tomb of Cardinal Cristoforo della Rovere (†1478), the marble altar and the pictorial decoration was executed in the following years. The frescoes are attributed to Pinturicchio and his school. According to the traditional dating he worked in the chapel from 1488 to 1490, at the same time when he created the frescoes of Palazzo Della Rovere (now Palazzo dei Penitenzieri) for the cardinal.
Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption
The church was rebuilt in 1669 by Giuseppe Diamante and Angelo Italia (an architect from the Society of Jesus), while the neo-classical façade was realized in 1786 by Emanuele Cardona.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Julius II granted assent to the wealthy Sienese banker, Agostino Chigi, who was adopted into the Della Rovere family, to build a mausoleum replacing the second side chapel on the left in 1507. The chapel was dedicated to the Virgin of Loreto whose cult was ardently promoted by the Della Rovere popes. The Chigi Chapel was designed by Raphael and it was partially completed in 1516 but remained unfinished for a very long time. This ambitious project created a strong connection between the basilica and the Chigis that extended well into the next century.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
A small white marble memorial stele on the same pillar was erected for Teresa Olivi Benvenuti, a woman from Chioggia and granddaughter of the naturalist, Giuseppe Olivi. She died in 1856 at the age of 40 years. Her delicate relief portrait in profile above the funerary inscription is surrounded by an ouroboros. The third monument on the same pillar is a memorial stele of Maria Anna de Magistris (1856).
Santa Maria in Porto Basilica
The construction of the new monastery took thirty years and was only completed in 1509, though the canons moved in in 1503. They hosted pope Julius II in the new buildings in 1511 when he was travelling through Romagna - the same year he commissioned Bernardino Tavella to design the canons a new monastery church, but its construction only began in 1553. The roof of the central nave was completed in 1561, but the consecration of the whole church by only occurred on 8 October 1606 - it was presided over by Pietro Aldobrandini, camerlengo and archbishop of Ravenna.
St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków
The church was completely rebuilt during the reign of Casimir III the Great between 1355 and 1365 with substantial contributions from wealthy restaurateur Mikołaj Wierzynek. The presbytery was elongated and tall windows added. The main body of the church was completed in 1395–97 with the new vault constructed by master Nicholas Wernher from Prague. However, the vault over the presbytery collapsed in 1442 due to a possible earthquake, which has never happened before nor since in Kraków.
Roman Renaissance
The last part of this century was dominated by the figure of Pope Alexander VI, from the Spanish family Borgia. He first turned his attention to the defence of the Eternal City. He changed the Mausoleum of Adrian into a fortress, likewise Torre di Nona, to secure the city from naval attacks. His Via Alessandrina, now called Borgo Nuovo, remains to the present day the grand approach to St. Peter's. Though a scandalous pope, he was a patron of the arts and sciences, and in his days a new architectural era was initiated in Rome with the coming of Bramante. Raphael, Michelangelo and Pinturicchio. He commissioned Pinturicchio to lavishly paint a suite of rooms in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, which are today known as the Borgia Apartments. In addition to the structures erected by himself, his memory is associated with the many others built by monarchs and cardinals at his instigation. During his reign Bramante designed for Ferdinand and Isabella the Tempietto, on the traditional site of St. Peter's martyrdom. Bramante, or some other great architect, built for Cardinal Riario the palace of the Cancellaria. In 1500, the ambassador of Emperor Maximilian laid the cornerstone of the national church of the Germans, Santa Maria dell' Anima, the French Cardinal Briçonnet erected SS. Trinità dei Monti, and the Spaniards Santa Maria di Monserrato. To Alexander we owe the beautiful ceiling of Santa Maria Maggiore, in the decoration of which he employed the first gold brought from America by Columbus.
Basilica of San Pietro de Dom
The central nave of the basilica was decorated by Tommaso Bona with Pietro Marone in 1581, but this work was lost with the basilica's demolition.
Palermo Cathedral
In 1767, the archbishop Filangieri had entrusted to Ferdinand the restoration of the building. The work began only in 1781, carried out not by Ferdinand but by Palermitan Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia and lasted until the 19th century.
Porta del Popolo
The present aspect is the result of a rebuilding carried out in the 16th century, when the gate had again gained a great importance for the urban traffic coming from north. The outer façade was commissioned by Pope Pius IV to Michelangelo, who in turn assigned the task to Nanni di Baccio Bigio: he erected the gate between 1562 and 1565, taking inspiration from the Arch of Titus. The four columns of the façade come from the former St. Peter's Basilica and they frame the single, great archway, overlooked by the stone commemorating the restoration and by the papal coat of arms sustained by two cornucopias; the former circular towers were replaced with two powerful square watchtowers and the whole building was garnished with elegant battlements. In 1638, two statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, sculpted by Francesco Mochi, were inserted between the two pairs of columns: the statues had been rejected by the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls and given back to the sculptor without payment.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Banker Agostino Chigi commissioned Raphael to design and decorate a funerary chapel for him around 1512–1514. The chapel is a treasure trove of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and is considered among the most important monuments in the basilica. The dome of the centralized octagonal chapel is decorated with Raphael's mosaics, the Creation of the World. The statues of "Jonah" and "Elijah" were carved by Lorenzetto. The chapel was later completed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Fabio Chigi. His additions include the sculptures of "Habakkuk and the Angel" and "Daniel and the Lion".
Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
Pope Leo XII issued a document "Ad plurimas" encouraging donations for reconstruction. It was re-opened in 1840, and reconsecrated in 1855 in the presence of Pope Pius IX and fifty cardinals. The basilica was reconstructed identically to what it had been before, utilizing all the elements which had survived the fire. The complete decoration and reconstruction, in charge of Luigi Poletti, took longer, however, and many countries made their contributions. Muhammad Ali Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt sent pillars of alabaster, the Emperor of Russia the precious malachite and lapis lazuli of the tabernacle. The work on the principal façade, looking toward the Tiber, was completed by the Italian Government, which declared the church a national monument. On 23 April 1891 the explosion of the gunpowder magazine at Forte Portuense destroyed the stained glass windows.
Giacomo della Porta
Giacomo Della Porta was born in Genova from a family of sculptors. He was influenced by and collaborated with Michelangelo, and Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, his teacher of architecture. With these two great masters he became one of the most important architects in the history of the Roman renaissance. In fact after 1563 he carried out Michelangelo's plans for the rebuilding of the Campidoglio or Capitoline Hill's open spaces where he completed the façade and steps of Palazzo Senatorio, and the "Cordonata" or the ramped steps up to the Piazza del Campidoglio.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The wall tomb of the Cypriot Cardinal Ludovico Podocataro, secretary and physician of Pope Alexander VI, is a monumental work of Roman Renaissance sculpture. The prominent humanist and papal diplomat was buried on 7 October 1504 with great pomp; the location of the tomb in the right transept was originally close to the funerary chapel of the Borgia family, Podocataro's patrons, but the chapel is no longer extant.
Pope Paschal I
Paschal rebuilt three basilicas of Rome: Santa Prassede, Santa Maria in Domnica, and Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Paschal is credited with finding the body of Saint Cecilia in the Catacomb of Callixtus and translating it to the rebuild the basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Paschal also undertook significant renovations on Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. In addition, Paschal added two oratories to Old St. Peter's Basilica, SS. Processus et Martinianus and SS. Xistus et Fabianus, which did not survive the 16th century renovation of St. Peter's.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
The wall tomb of Cardinal Bernardino Lonati is a monumental Renaissance sepulchre. Like its counterpart in the right transept, the tomb of Lodovico Podocataro, it belongs to the group of monuments from the age of Pope Alexander VI which made the basilica the shrine of the Borgia dynasty at the beginning of the 16th century.
Cristoforo di Geremia
One of the most prominent commissions that brought Cristoforo fame was the restoration of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in 1468. In 1469, he was commissioned to make medals for the restoration of the Palazzo Venezia. The pope strategically employed Cristoforo to use the antique concepts he was known for, but had him also cater to Pope Paul II's liking. Under the papacy, Cristoforo made a plethora of medals for Pope Paul II. Pope Paul II often buried medals in the foundations of buildings he was restoring. Many of these medals have since been recovered and attributed to Cristoforo di Geremia, despite the lack of a signature.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
1. Ludovico Podocataro
Santa Maria della Concordia
Santa Maria della Concordia is a baroque-style, Roman Catholic church, located on the Piazza of the same name in Naples, region of Campania, Italy.
The church was erected in 1556 using designs by the Carmelite priest Giuseppe Romano. It was restored in the 18th century by the architect Giovan Battista Nauclerio. In 1735, Nicola Tagliacozzi Canale was involved in the refurbishment of the interiors.
The 18th-century facade is elaborate, built on a high plinth of piperno dominated by two pairs of pilasters of composite order. Near the door of the sacristy, is a painting depicting a "Virgin and St Michael", attributed to Jusepe de Ribera, though some attribute it to Bernardo Azzolino. To the left of the entrance is a tomb of Gaspare Benemerino, who died in 1641, and claimed to be son of the King of Fez. As mentioned in the inscription, he converted, and joining the armies of Philip III of Spain, he fought against his former countrymen.
Renaissance Papacy
Pope Julius II become known as "the Warrior Pope" for his use of military force to increase the territory and property of the papacy. He continued the consolidation of power in the Papal States and continued the process of rebuilding Rome physically. His most prominent project among many was the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The most visible 18th century addition to the basilica is the spectacular funeral monument for Princess Maria Flaminia Odescalchi Chigi, the young wife of Don Sigismondo Chigi Albani della Rovere. It was designed by Paolo Posi in 1772 and sometimes dubbed the "last Baroque tomb in Rome". By the time the church was full of valuable tombs and artworks, and there was not much room left for the 19th century. Nonetheles there were smaller interventions: the Cybo-Soderini Chapel was restored in 1825, the Feoli Chapel was completely redesigned in Neo-Renaissance style in 1857 and the monumental Art Nouveau tomb of Agostino Chigi by Adolfo Apolloni was erected in 1915. After that only repairs and restorations happened regularly; the first important modern intervention was conducted by Antonio Muñoz in 1912 with the aim to "restore the church to its beautiful quattrocento character" and removing many of the Baroque additions in the nave and the transept.
Andrea Bregno
The attribution to Andrea Bregno and Baccio Pontelli of the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, commissioned by Sixtus IV, is traditional, as is the tradition that the two were responsible for the Palazzo della Cancelleria. Donato Bramante followed in both locations. In Santa Maria del Popolo, Bramante extended the apse, but the facade is of the earlier campaign, picked out in architectural guides as one of the finest pieces of Early Renaissance architecture in Rome. Most of the hexagonal side chapels with sexpartite ribbed vaults and balustrades preserved their original layout.
Mellini Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The oldest monumental tomb in the chapel is the funeral monument of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Mellini (died 1478), the Bishop of Urbino and the younger brother of Pietro Mellini. Giovanni Battista played an important part in the reconstruction of Saint Peter's Basilica during the reign of Pope Sixtus IV. The funeral inscription mentions his mission as papal legate to Milan in 1477. The monument was dismantled by Cardinal Savio Mellini in 1698 who appropriated the architectural frame for his own tomb and placed the effigy of his forefather in front of the new monument. This effigy lies on a bier decorated with richly handled fruits and flowers. The drapery on the figure runs in one sweep from head to foot. A 17th-century drawing in Windsor Castle preserved the original appearance of the tomb. Above the effigy there was a relief of Christ, the Man of Sorrows, being raised by angels from his tomb. The base of monument was decorated with the figures of two cherubs and the top was crowned with a shell pediment.
Mellini Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The very long funerary inscription mentions fact the Cardinal Savio has served as papal nuncio in Spain for ten years, and later he was the cardinal priest of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo. According to the inscription his tomb was erected in 1699 (i. e. during his lifetime). A will dated to 9 September 1698 states that the statues of the tomb had been completed but the monument was still unfinished at the time. The cardinal planned his own tomb and apparently lived to see it erected because he died in 1701.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
3. Samuel Rafael Globic
Santa Maria del Popolo
This naturalistic and marvelous organ-tree could have been inspired by the descriptions of tree-shaped musical instruments in Byzantium and the eastern world or the singing fountains of Renaissance gardens in Italy. The tree had a particular significance in the context of Santa Maria del Popolo where the memory of Emperor Nero's evil walnut tree was still vivid. The flourishing oak tree also represented spiritual regeneration and the restoration of the church by the pope as part of his Christian "renovatio Romae".
Santa Maria del Popolo
The decoration of the counterfaçade was part of the Berninian reconstruction of the church in the 17th century. The architecture is simple with a marble frame around the monumental door, a dentilled cornice, a segmental arched pediment and a dedicatory inscription commemorating the thorough rebuilding of the ancient church that Pope Alexander VII initiated as Fabio Chigi, Cardinal Priest of the basilica, and its consecration in 1655 as newly elected Pope:
History of Rome
Nicholas was also actively involved in Rome's urban renewal, in collaboration with Leon Battista Alberti, including the construction of a new St Peter's Basilica.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Finally liberated from the demons, that corner of Rome could be devoted to Christian worship. Paschal II, to the sound of hymns, placed the first stone of an altar at the former site of the walnut tree. This was incorporated into a simple chapel which was completed in three days. The construction was celebrated with particular solemnity: the Pope consecrated the small sanctuary in the presence of a large crowd, accompanied by ten cardinals, four archbishops, ten bishops and other prelates. He also granted the chapel many relics and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
The monument of Marquise Cristiana Duglioli Angelelli is set in the wall of the counterfaçade. This noble woman from Bologna was the widow of Senator Andrea Angelelli. After her husband’s murder in 1643 she settled in Rome where she patronized the leading artists of the era. The marquise, who moved in the highest circles of the Roman society, established a famous art collection in her palace. She died in 1669 leaving some precious relics and alms to the monastery.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The altar was executed by stonemason Gabriele Renzi around 1658. The altarpiece for the left side altar was entrusted to Bernardino Mei, a painter from Siena, who was called to Rome by Pope Alexander VII in 1657 and there he made friends with Bernini. He got 200 scudi for the commission on 11 August 1659. The painting is perfectly adapted to the Berninian ideal of «bel composto». The angel on the right is gracefully aligned with the marble angel supporting the altar. The iconography of the painting is rather complex and departs from the usual representation of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt.
Cybo-Soderini Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The chapel was first mentioned in a contemporary document in 1530 as "capella Crucifixi" when the concession was renewed for Teodorina's son, Giambattista Usodimare (Cybo), the Bishop of Mariana. The bishop made an endowment of 30 gold scudi for the maintenance of the chapel instead of the house in the Borgo which had been destroyed during the Sack of Rome in 1527. In his will, dated to 1 December 1531 the bishop expressed his wish to be buried in the chapel and left the task to his heirs to erect a decent monument. At the time the chapel contained the burials of Teodorina and her husband. The bishop also donated valuable velvet and satin hangings. In 1555 the heirs, Cesare Cybo, the archbishop of Turin and Francesco Cybo renewed the endowment of the house in the Borgo which had been restored. The altar was consecrated on 18 October 1595.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Nave
Pope Gregory IV
Gregory also contributed to the architectural development of Rome. In 833, Gregory completely rebuilt St Mark’s Basilica in Rome, adorning the walls with Byzantine-style mosaics, as well as a number of other churches which he either repaired or rebuilt. He rebuilt the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica, and within the newly decorated chapel within the basilica he transferred the body of Saint Gregory, and from the Catacombs of Rome, he moved Saint Sebastian, Saint Tiburtius, and Saint Gorgonius. He raised the altar in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, and founded a monastery close to the church.
Theodoli Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The completion of the Theodoli Chapel could be placed around 1575 because Mazzoni returned to Piacenza in the next year. The chapel was refurbished by Marquis Girolamo Theodoli about 150 years later. The large stucco cartouche above the entrance arch with the coat of arms of the Theodoli family probably belongs to this phase. The paintings were restored and refreshed by Giacomo Triga, the court painter of marquis. The 18th century redecoration is probably related to the Jubilee Year of 1725 but the intervention did not significantly alter the 16th century aspect of the chapel.
Montemirabile Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The funeral monument of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini on the left wall was made by the Bregno workshop. It was originally set up in the apse of the Old St. Peter's Basilica but a Dutch traveller, Aernout van Buchel glimpsed it in 1587 among various other discarded tombs and sculptures in the nave due to the ongoing demolition of the ancient church. According to the inscription on the sarcophagus "always having death in mind, Antoniotto Cardinal of S. Prassede, erected [this tomb] for himself while still alive, in the year 1501". The monument was restored and transferred to the choir of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo by his great-nephews in 1596 to which date the longer inscription on the base belongs. At the same time the Pallavicini family erected another tomb in the right aisle for a long deceased member of their house, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pallavicino. The tomb of Antoniotto has been moved into the baptistery at an unknown date (but later than 1629) after temporary stay in the Chigi Chapel nearby.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The urban setting of the basilica changed fundamentally between 1816 and 1824 when Giuseppe Valadier created the monumental Neo-Classical ensemble of Piazza del Popolo, commissioned by Pope Pius VII. The ancient monastery of the Augustinians was demolished, the extensive gardens were appropriated and a new monastery was erected on a much smaller footprint in Neo-Classical style. This building covered the whole right side of the basilica with its side chapels, wrapping around the base of the bell tower and reducing the visual prominence of the basilica on the square.
Virginio Vespignani
In 1869, he became the main architect of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. He was professor of architecture at the Academy of Saint Luke, and became president of the institution. He served on many boards and honorary memberships. He helped restore the Papal palace in Anzio. He helped design the layout of the Cemetery of Rome (Campo Verano). He helped design the Palazzo of monsignor Ferrari in Ceprano, the church of Santa Maria in Capranica, and the Palace of Marchese Chino Ferrari in Ceprano. He helped design the New Theaters of Orvieto and of Viterbo. He was responsible for organizing pyrotechnic spectacles and stagepieces for festivals in Castel Sant' Angelo He worked on the restoration of San Lorenzo in Damaso. He has been awarded as knight of the Order of San Silvestro, and that of the Order of Christ of Portugal, or the order of San Gregorio. He receive the Order of the Guadalupe of Mexico, a medal from Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, Charles the third of Spain. In 1855 the municipality of Rome conferred him a gold medal, for his work during a cholera epidemic.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Dome
Santa Maria del Popolo
The rose window is supported by two stucco angels sculpted by Ercole Ferrata in 1655-58 under the guidance of Bernini. The one on the left holds a wreath in her hand. On the lower part of the counterfaçade there are various funeral monuments.
San Giacomo in Augusta
A church at the location was founded along with a hospital by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna in 1339. By 1515, the hospital was in a state of abandon, but within a few decades reopened under the supervision of two religious orders, with the aim of curing those affected by syphilis. Pope Nicholas V placed it under the control of the Company of Santa Maria del Popolo. This order was under the patronage of the Florentine Cardinal Antonio Maria Salviati, and he commissioned the reconstruction of the church. The oval layout of the church at the site was rebuilt starting by Francesco da Volterra in 1592. Upon the former architect's death, the facade and most of the interior decoration completed by Carlo Maderno in 1600.
Santa Maria del Popolo
The well-known foundation legend of Santa Maria del Popolo revolves around the evil memory of Emperor Nero and Pope Paschal II cleansing the area from this malicious legacy. As the story goes, after his suicide Nero was buried in the mausoleum of his paternal family, the Domitii Ahenobarbi, at the foot of the Pincian Hill. The sepulchre was later buried under a landslide and on its ruins grew a huge walnut tree that ″was so tall and sublime that no other plant exceeded it in any ways.″ The tree soon became the haunt for a multitude of vicious demons harassing the inhabitants of the area and also the travelers arriving in the city from the north through Porta Flaminia: ″some were being frightened, possessed, cruelly beaten and injured, others almost strangled, or miserably killed.″
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
Another Renaissance monument on the same pillar is composed of a single table of inscription set in a coloured marble aedicula which is crowned by an arched pediment. The only sculpted parts are the upper frieze with the finely carved head of a winged cherub and a folded drapery in low relief between the giallo antico corbels of the lower part. The simple monument was built for Geronimo de Borgne, a priest from the Diocese of Cambrai who held the positions of cubicularius, scutifer and scriptor in the Roman Curia. He left some of his wealth to the basilica with the condition of celebrating two masses for the salvation of his soul every day. He died in 1589 at the age of 75 years.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Bell tower
Italian Baroque
In 1605, at the very beginning of his pontificate, Pope Paul V commissioned Carlo Maderno to redesign St. Peter's Basilica. It was at the age of 72, in 1546, when Michelangelo first took hold of the unfinished rebuilding project started by Bramante. When Michelangelo died, the construction of the, then, Greek-cross section surrounding the Papal altar and the tomb of Peter had been completed only as far as the top of the drum. The dome then became completed, with some modifications, by Giacomo della Porta in 1590. It was the continuous debates over the religious and aesthetic benefits of keeping the Greek-cross plan or enhancing the space by extending it into Latin-cross plan that led Paul V to boldly commission for Maderno's services. Maderno's initial projects, including the long nave addition, which created a new Latin-Cross solution upon the ground plan, the façade and the portico, became an instantly recognizable image of Rome and the heart and spirit of Catholic Christianity.
Basso Della Rovere Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The chapel was furnished by Bishop Girolamo Basso della Rovere after his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV had reconstructed the basilica from 1472 to 1477. The painted decoration is attributed to Pinturicchio and his workshop, who worked here in an unspecified period between 1484, when the chapel was fitted, and 1492, when his patron received the bishopric of Palestrina instead of that of Recanati, which is mentioned in the dedicatory inscription on the monument of his father, Giovanni Basso.
Art patronage of Julius II
The Tomb of Julius II was originally commissioned in 1505, yet was not completed until 1545 on a much reduced scale:One of Pope Julius II’s largest and most well known commissions was the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica, beginning in 1506. When Julius took the papal office, the condition of the Church was extremely poor, and he took the opportunity to expand it, modernize it, and leave his impression forever on the Vatican. Julius hired Donato Bramante to design the Basilica, a prominent architect and artist of the day. This was seen as a surprise move at the time, many thought Giuliano da Sangallo was the front runner for the commission. Della Rovere wanted the splendor of the new basilica to inspire awe in the masses, produce support for Catholicism and prove to his enemies he was a pious and devoted man. Bramante not only would fulfill these expectations with his design, but also with his character, which may explain why della Rovere chose him over Sangallo. “Bramante wanted to build a Basilica that would ‘surpass in beauty, invention, art and design, as well as in grandeur, richness and adornment all the buildings that had been erected in that city’" (Scotti, 47).
Cybo Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
The present chapel was built by Cardinal Alderano Cybo (1613-1700) to glorify the achievements of his family, the dukes of Massa and princes of Carrara. Construction works began in 1682 and ended five years later. The chapel was consecrated on 19 May 1687. The cardinal commissioned three painters, Pier Francesco Garoli, Luigi Garzi and Carlo Maratta to record his visit in the new chapel on a painting which is preserved in the Museo di Roma ("Interior of the Cybo Chapel", 1687). The entrance arch was decorated by the ducal arms of the Cybo Malaspina dynasty made of polychrome marble.
Santa Maria del Popolo
With the election of another Della Rovere cardinal, Julius II in 1503, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo again became the favourite church of the reigning pope. Julius was strongly devoted to the icon of Madonna del Popolo but he was also strongly devoted to increasing the glory of his dynasty. For these reasons he took up the work of his uncle and built a spacious new choir between 1505 and 1510 behind the main altar. The project was entrusted to his favourite architect, Donato Bramante. The choir was built in High Renaissance style, and it was decorated with the frescoes of Pinturicchio on the sail vault and the stained glass windows of Guillaume de Marcillat. It was also used as a mausoleum where Andrea Sansovino created two monumental tombs for Cardinal Girolamo Basso della Rovere (†1507), the favourite cousin of the pope, and Cardinal Ascanio Sforza (†1505), his former rival.
Lateran Palace
Two destructive fires, in 1307 and 1361, did irreparable harm, and although vast sums were sent from Avignon for the rebuilding, the palace never again attained its former splendour. The palace had Gothic architectural elements at this point. When the popes returned to Rome they resided first at Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, then at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, and lastly fixed their residence at the Vatican. St. Peter's Basilica, also built by Constantine, had until then served primarily as a pilgrimage church. Sixtus V, more concerned with rationalized urban planning than the preservation of antiquities, then destroyed what still remained of the ancient palace of the Lateran in 1586 preserving only the Sancta Sanctorum, and erected the present much smaller edifice in its place, designed by his favorite architect Domenico Fontana.
Bevilacqua dynasty
The Bevilacqua family reconstructed and dedicated Saint Peter's Church in Cantalovo of Bevilacqua to celebrate their victory. The original church was built in the early 900's, and the reconstruction was begun in 1142 and completed in 1161. The reconstruction followed the technique of early Roman buildings and it is made of bricks baked in a kiln. Several frescoes decorate the inside walls of the church which are from the late 14th century.
Over the outside door of Saint Peter's Church, a barbaric inscription is carved on a white Verona marble block which says, "This is the ancient parochial church of Porto reconstructed in 1161 by the work of Balduino, under the rule of Emperor Frederic Barbarossa". Balduino was most probably Balduino della Scala (b. - 1169) who was the founder of the della Scala dynasty and rulers of Verona. The della Scala were well known in the area hence no title to his name was necessary. In the Archives of the Capitolare of Verona, a document is still preserved from 1159 granting additional "territory to Guglielmo Bevilacqua by King Frederic Barbarossa witnessed by Balduino for loyalty and service to the della Scala family, rulers of Verona."
Cybo-Soderini Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
There is not much left of the original Renaissance interior of the chapel except the large crucifix on the altar and the slabs of the beautiful marble transenna. It is uncertain whether it had any painted decoration. The chapel was fully restored after 1636 in Baroque style by a certain Innocenzo Cybo (†1640). At the time the walls and the vault were decorated with the extant frescos of Pieter van Lint, Ionic stucco capitals were added to the half-columns of the entrance arch and the burial vault was sealed with a new tomb slab.
Santa Maria del Popolo
In the middle of the 13th century the church was given to the Order of Saint Augustine which has maintained it ever since. The Augustinians were a new mendicant order established under the guidance of Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi, probably the most influential member of the Roman Curia at the time. Annibaldi was appointed corrector and provisor of the Tuscan hermits by Pope Innocent IV in December 1243. The cardinal convened a meeting to Santa Maria del Popolo for the delegates of the hermitic communities where they declared their union and the foundation of the new order that the Pope confirmed with the bull "Pia desideria" on 31 March 1244.