If you’re on a tour of Rome’s historic centre, you’ve surely thought of strolling along Via del Corso all the way to Piazza del Popolo. This important square lies on the opposite side from the Colosseum and the Altare della Patria, and hosts some of the most beautiful monuments in Rome, including the lovely church of Santa Maria del Popolo.
Almost no one knows it, but Santa Maria del Popolo was built on a very peculiar plot of land, one of the most macabre places in Rome.
You should know that right here, before the church, stood the ancient tomb of Nero’s family (the mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi), the emperor remembered as the greatest persecutor of Christians. According to legend, an enormous walnut tree grew over his tomb, forever circled by black ravens, where evil spirits and witches were said to gather.
The population was so frightened that, in 1099, Pope Paschal II had the tree cut down, exorcised the site and built a first chapel there; a proper church followed, enlarged in Gothic forms in 1227.
There are two theories about the name: according to some it comes from the donations of the Roman “people” (popolo) who funded the church; according to others, Santa Maria del Popolo and Piazza del Popolo come precisely from that ancient wood (in Latin populus also means “poplar”). If so, the church would be “of the Poplar”, not “of the People”.
Strange, isn’t it?
Whatever the truth, this church today holds priceless masterpieces by some of the most important Italian artists, and even an ancient Byzantine icon.
Want to know more?
Let’s go!
Piazza del Popolo in its origins
If this information about Piazza del Popolo surprised you, know that this part of Rome also has a long, macabre tradition: right here, until the mid-19th century, capital executions took place. And even the famous “muro torto” (crooked wall) that borders the square was long considered demonic, because of its “crooked” shape.
And the church of Santa Maria del Popolo?
After the medieval chapel, the church of Santa Maria del Popolo was rebuilt in Renaissance forms in the late 15th century, under Pope Sixtus IV (1472), and then transformed in a Baroque sense around 1655-1660 by Bernini, who redesigned its façade and interior: it’s the building you can still see today.
A historical curiosity: the church and its attached convent have been entrusted to the Augustinians for centuries, and it was right here, during his 1510-11 trip to Rome, that a young Augustinian friar destined to change the history of Europe is said to have stayed: Martin Luther.
Inside it, some of the most important artists and architects in the history of Italian art worked, including Raphael, Bernini, Caravaggio, Annibale Carracci, Pinturicchio, Andrea Sansovino and Bramante.
Read on to discover the masterpieces held in Santa Maria del Popolo!
The Cerasi Chapel: two Caravaggio masterpieces and one by Carracci
In the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo, to the left of the high altar, three incredible canvases are kept, by two contemporary yet utterly different great artists: Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci. The chapel takes its name from Tiberio Cerasi, treasurer-general of Pope Clement VIII, who commissioned its decoration shortly before dying, in 1601.
On the side walls you’ll find the two princes of the apostles, Peter and Paul, at two key moments of their lives: the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter, both by Caravaggio and painted in 1601.
In the Conversion of Saint Paul, the saint has fallen from his horse, eyes closed, arms flung open as he receives the divine bolt that will lead to his conversion. Caravaggio’s mastery, as always, lies in his use of light, concentrated on the saint’s body: you barely notice the servant and the horse framing the miracle. The horse doesn’t crush Paul, by divine intervention, and is shown with a raised hoof.
In the Crucifixion of Saint Peter, instead, Caravaggio shows off his raw realism. The light is all on the saint, about to be crucified upside down; the executioners are faceless, portrayed straining to raise the cross in a complex play of pushes and pulls. Note, once again, the dirty feet of one of them in the foreground: Caravaggio took people from the streets as models and portrayed them, often to great scandal, in all their realism.
A curious fact: Caravaggio painted a first version of both canvases, which according to his biographer Giovanni Baglione were rejected. The first Conversion of Saint Paul, far more crowded and theatrical, is now in the Odescalchi Balbi collection in Rome.
And the third canvas?
At the centre is the Assumption of the Virgin by Annibale Carracci: the Madonna rises victorious from the tomb, held up by little angels carrying her towards heaven, while the apostles look on, astonished.
But if you think these three works are the only ones held in Santa Maria del Popolo, you’re greatly mistaken!
The Chigi Chapel: Raphael’s genius and Bernini’s forms
The Chigi Chapel, along the left aisle, was designed by Raphael for the banker Agostino Chigi. He designed the mosaic decoration of the dome (the Creation of the World), executed by Luigi de Pace, and conceived the Chigi tombs as pyramids, a symbol of eternity.
Left unfinished at Raphael’s death (1520), the chapel was completed over a century later by Bernini for another Chigi, Cardinal Fabio Chigi, the very man who, once he became Pope Alexander VII, ordered the Baroque restoration of the whole church. Bernini enriched it with two splendid sculptures, Habakkuk and the Angel and Daniel and the Lion, which converse with the two older statues from Raphael’s day, Jonah and Elijah. The statue of the prophet Habakkuk is especially theatrical, with the angel urging him to help Daniel, in the lions’ den right across from him: the two statues, set diagonally, are part of the same story.
On the floor is an inlay of a winged death: all readers of Angels & Demons will remember it, but it was actually devised by Bernini with the inscription Mors ad caelos, whose capital letters spell out the year of execution, MDCL, that is 1650.
An icon painted (they say) by Saint Luke
On the high altar of Santa Maria del Popolo there’s also one of the most beautiful Byzantine icons in Rome, the Madonna del Popolo. Attributed to none other than Saint Luke, it was brought from the Lateran around 1231 by Pope Gregory IX.
It was much imitated in the Renaissance and beyond, but it’s perhaps itself a copy of an older Byzantine icon.
We’ll probably never know.
Not only that: the church’s other treasures
Before you leave, look up at the Della Rovere Chapel, frescoed by Pinturicchio (who also painted the choir vault), and at the apse choir designed by Bramante, with stained glass by Guillaume de Marcillat (rare in Rome) and the tombs of cardinals Ascanio Sforza and Girolamo Basso della Rovere, masterpieces by Andrea Sansovino. In a single church you cross two centuries of Italian art, from the early Renaissance to the full Baroque.
Practical information for visiting Santa Maria del Popolo
The church faces Piazza del Popolo and is a short walk from metro line A, Flaminio stop. Entry is free and it can be visited during church opening hours (usually from morning to evening, with a lunch break); bring some coins to light up the Caravaggio and Raphael chapels, and remember it’s a place of worship, so dress respectfully.
Since the two Caravaggios in the Cerasi Chapel are also a stop on the tours dedicated to the painter, if you’d like to dig deeper with a guide you might consider a tour of Caravaggio’s masterpieces in Rome’s churches, which also takes in San Luigi dei Francesi and Sant’Agostino.
Among the most beautiful churches in Rome
In short, Santa Maria del Popolo is one of the most beautiful churches in Rome and of great historical importance.
And yet it’s perhaps the least known and least visited: few people know of the treasures it hides, so it goes unnoticed next to the nearby Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di Spagna or a walk on the Pincio.
And if you want to keep following Caravaggio and Bernini? Take a look at the Galleria Borghese and the Vatican Museums.
What do you think? Have you ever stepped into this beautiful Roman church?
