Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
This elaborate Baroque monument set against the third pillar of the south aisle has several peculiarities. It is crowned by the coat-of-arms of Pope Nicholas IV (Girolamo Masci) but this medieval pope was buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The monument in Santa Maria del Popolo was built for his late descendant, Count Masci-Ferracuti from Ascoli Piceno who was appointed to the Bishop of Vieste by Pope Sixtus V in 1589. He died in Rome in 1613 at the age of 60 years. He was buried with solemn pomp in a marble tomb in the basilica. The tomb was built by her niece, Anastasia Mascia and her husband, Marzio Elefantucci, a nobleman from Bologna. Under the pretense of honouring their uncle they built a monument for the most illustrious member of their family, Pope Nicholas IV whose name is mentioned twice in the funerary inscription.
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.