Chiesa di Santa Maria del Popolo

The Chiesa di Santa Maria del Popolo, next to the Porta del Popolo, is one of Rome’s earliest, richest Renaissance churches. The first chapel was built here in 1099 to exorcise the ghost of Nero, who was buried on this spot and whose ghost was said to haunt the area. It was overhauled in 1462, after which Pinturicchio painted his beautiful frescoes. In Raphael’s Cappella Chigi (most of which was completed by Bernini some 100 years later) you’ll find a famous mosaic of a kneeling skeleton. In the Cappella Cerasi, to the left of the altar, are two unforgettable Caravaggio masterpieces: the Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter (both 1600–01).