Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome

Santa Maria del Popolo is the church beside Porta del Popolo on Piazza del Popolo, and its travertine façade bears Sixtus the Fourth’s arms in the pediment. Notice the pilasters and the trio of portals; the lunette over the principal entrance contains a Madonna and Child from Bregno’s workshop. A small chapel was founded here by Pope Paschal the Second in the year ten ninety-nine, and Gregory the Ninth enlarged it in the following century for a revered Marian image.

The building was reconstructed during the reign of Sixtus the Fourth, acquiring its Renaissance character, while later interventions brought Baroque richness into that earlier structure. The Augustinian order has cared for this church since the medieval era. Its setting explains its importance.

Beside the city gate that began the Via Flaminia, it greeted many travellers arriving in Rome from the north. Beyond the portals, the church gathers an extraordinary succession of patrons and artists. The Cerasi Chapel holds Caravaggio’s Conversion of Saint Paul and Crucifixion of Saint Peter, with an Assumption altarpiece by Annibale Carracci.

Raphael designed the Chigi Chapel, later reshaped by Bernini; Bramante reworked the choir, where Pinturicchio painted the vault and Guillaume de Marcillat supplied stained glass. This compact church becomes a passage through Roman art across centuries.