Santa Maria del Popolo
Opening time: 7-12 and 16-19.
This church owes its name to a first chapel built by Pope Pasquale II (1099) with the contributions of the Roman people to celebrate the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre at the end of the crusade in 1099. Tradition claims it has been built on the Roman tombs of the Domiti family where Nerone was buried and where his ghost believed to have infected the area until it was transformed into a church.
The church has been enriched with several works.
Bernini carried out alterations to the 14th century facade. It has a very refined porch, attributed to Andrea Bregno: in the lunette of the gable there is a Madonna with child; from Piazza del Popolo you can admire the octagonal dome, first sample ever built in Rome, its bell tower with its conical cusp covered with flakes of cotto and four angular Gothic pinnacles.
The interior has three navades and four bays divided by pillars with semicolumns. Each aisle contains a chapel. The central navade has been altered by Bernini by placing stucco-worked statues, scarved by some sculpturers of his workshop, on the 14th century arcades.
The high Altar vaunts a byzantine style panel dated 1927, “La Madonna del Popolo”.
All chapels are full of masterpieces painted by masters like Pinturicchio (La Navità), Caravaggio (“La crocifissione di San Pietro” and the “Conversione di San Paolo”), Andrea Bregno and Annibale Carracci.
