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.
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.