Building sights in Italy
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Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
Built on the site of an ancient temple to Minerva, the Dominican Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is the only Gothic church in Rome, although little remains of the original 13th-century design. Inside, in the Cappella Carafa (also called the Cappella della Annunciazione), you’ll find two superb 15th-century frescoes by Filippino Lippi and the majestic tomb of Pope Paul IV. Left of the high altar is one of Michelangelo’s lesser-known sculptures, Cristo Risorto (Christ Bearing the Cross; 1520). An altarpiece of the Madonna and Child in the second chapel in the northern transept is attributed to Fra Angelico, the Dominican friar and painter, who is also buried in the …
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Basilica di Santa Sabina
A genuinely spiritual spot, this solemn basilica was founded by Peter of Illyria in around AD 422. It was enlarged in the 9th century and again in 1216, just before it was given to the newly founded Dominican order – look out for the mosaic tombstone of Muñoz de Zamora, one of the order’s founding fathers, in the nave floor. A 20th-century restoration returned it to its original look. One of the few surviving 4th-century elements are the basilica’s cypress-wood doors. They feature 18 carved panels depicting biblical events, including one of the oldest Crucifixion scenes in existence. It’s quite hard to make out in the top left, but it depicts Jesus and the two thieves alt…
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Cathedral
Forming the eastern flank of Piazza del Duomo, the cathedral was originally built in 1086 but has since undergone various facelifts. The facade is 16th century, even if the central bronze door is an 1179 original; the interior is a late-20th-century interpretation of what the original must once have looked like. The pulpit is particularly striking, supported by six twisting columns set on marble lions and decorated with flamboyant mosaics of peacocks, birds and dancing lions. Note also how the floor is tilted towards the square – a deliberate measure to enhance the perspective effect. To the right of the central nave, stairs lead down to the cathedral museum and its mod…
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Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola
One of Rome’s most ornate baroque churches, the 17th-century Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola lords it over exquisite Piazza Sant’Ignazio, a small rococo square laid out in 1727 to resemble a stage set. Note the exits into ‘the wings’ at the northern end and how the undulating surfaces create the illusion of a larger space. The church, built by Jesuit architect Orazio Grassi, boasts an imposing Carlo Maderno façade and a celebrated trompe l’oeil ceiling fresco (the ceiling is in fact completely flat) by Andrea Pozzo (1642–1709) depicting St Ignatius Loyola being welcomed into paradise by Christ and the Madonna. To get the best effect, look up from the small yellow spot on…
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Cathedral
Piazza del Duomo is a baroque feast, the city’s focal point and a sudden open space amid the surrounding enclosed lanes. During times of invasion the inhabitants of Lecce would barricade themselves in the square, with its conveniently narrow entrances. The 12th-century cathedral is one of Giuseppe Zimbalo’s finest works – he was also responsible for the towering, 68m‑high bell tower. The cathedral is unusual in that it has two facades, one on the western end and the other, more ornate, facing the piazza. It’s framed by the 15th-century Palazzo Vescovile (Episcopal Palace) and the 18th-century Seminario, designed by Giuseppe Cino.
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Chiesa di SS Giovanni e Paolo
While there’s little of interest at this much-tweaked 4th-century church, the Roman houses that lie beneath it are fascinating. According to tradition, the apostles John and Paul lived in the Case Romane (06 704 54 544; www.caseromane.it; adult/12-18yr & over 65yr/under 12yr €6/4/free; 10am-1pm & 3-6pm Thu-Mon) before they were beheaded by Constantine’s anti-Christian successor, Julian. There’s no direct evidence for this, although research has revealed that the houses were used for Christian worship. There are more than 20 rooms, many of them richly decorated. Entry is to the side of the church on Clivo di Scauro. Guided tours are available in English on request.
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University
Follow Via VIII Febbraio to the Palazzo del Bò, seat of Padua’s history-making university. This institution was founded by renegade scholars from Bologna seeking greater intellectual freedom, and some of Italy’s greatest and most controversial thinkers taught here, including Copernicus, Galileo, Casanova, and the world’s first woman doctor of philosophy, Eleonora Lucrezia Corner Piscopia (her statue graces the stairs). Guided tours cover Galileo’s lecture hall and the world’s first Anatomy Theatre, a six-tiered hall built for scientific autopsy in 1594 before biohazards were understood – dissected corpses were dumped into an underground stream.
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Palazzo delle Esposizioni
This huge neoclassical palace is Rome’s premier cultural centre. Boasting cathedral-scale exhibition spaces, art labs, a bookshop, café and restaurant, it hosts everything from multimedia events and art exhibitions to concert performances, film screenings and conferences. Blockbuster events have included a Mark Rothko retrospective, a photo exhibition dedicated to Bruce Chatwin and a celebration of Charles Darwin’s centenary. In various former lives, the palazzo served as HQ for the Italian Communist Party, a mess for allied servicemen, a polling station and even a public loo.
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Museo Diocesano d'Arte Sacra
In the grand spaces that were once the Oratorio del Rosario is the cathedral museum. It houses a good collection of religious art including silverware, statuary, paintings and wood carving. A ghoulish touch is the reliquary of what is claimed to be one of the innocenti (newborn babies slaughtered by Herod in his search for the Christ child). The tiny skull is chilling, but apparently it appealed to Alghero artist Francesco Pinna, who received it from a Roman cardinal in the 16th century. The low, flat arch of the former chapel is clearly inspired by the Catalan Gothic style.
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Cattedrale di Sant’Andrea
Dominating Piazza del Duomo, the iconic Cattedrale di Sant’Andrea makes an imposing sight at the top of its sweeping flight of stairs. The cathedral dates in part from the early 10th century, although its distinctive striped facade has been rebuilt twice, most recently at the end of the 19th century. It’s a melange of architectural styles: the two-toned masonry is largely Sicilian Arabic-Norman while the less impressive interior is pure baroque. In high season, entrance between 10am and 5pm is through the adjacent Chiostro del Paradiso.
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Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Lucina
Little remains of the original 5th-century church that was built here atop an ancient well sacred to Juno. But that shouldn’t detract from the very pretty exterior, complete with a Romanesque bell tower and a long 12th-century columned portico. Inside, the otherwise standard baroque décor is elevated by Guido Reni’s Crocifisso (Crucifixion) above the main altar, and a fine bust by Bernini in the fourth chapel on the southern side. The French painter Nicholas Poussin, who died in 1655, is buried in the church.
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Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
The last resting place of Saint Cecilia (the patron saint of music), the Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere features a stunning 13th-century fresco by Pietro Cavallini in the nuns’ choir. Below the altar, Stefano Moderno’s delicate sculpture shows exactly how Saint Cecilia’s miraculously preserved body was found when it was unearthed in the Catacombe di San Callisto in 1599. Beneath the church you can visit the excavations of several Roman houses, one of which might have belonged to Saint Cecilia.
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Palazzo Reale
Empress Maria Theresa’s favourite architect Giuseppe Piermarini gave this old town hall and Visconti palace a neoclassical overhaul in the late 18th century. Its supremely elegant interiors were all but destroyed by WWII bombs; the Sala delle Cariatidi remains unrenovated as a grim reminder of war’s indiscriminate destruction. The palazzo has a small permanent art collection, but brings in the crowds with blockbuster shows from artists as diverse as Balla, Bacon and Vivienne Westwood.
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Chiesa di Santo Stefano Rotondo
‘Such a panorama of horror and butchery no man could imagine in his sleep, though he were to eat a whole pig, raw, for supper.’ So wrote Charles Dickens after seeing the 16th-century frescoes at this otherwise tranquil church. The X-rated images graphically depict the various ways in which martyrs were killed in early Christendom. The church, one of Rome’s oldest, dates to the late 5th century, although it was subsequently altered in the 12th and 15th centuries.
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Moschea di Roma
To the northwest of Villa Ada, Paolo Portoghesi’s vast postmodernist mosque sits amid the greenery of the posh Parioli district. One of Europe’s largest mosques (it extends for some 30,000 sq m), it was paid for by the Saudi royal family and inaugurated in 1995, 11 years after the first stone was laid. It’s open daily for Muslims to pray and on Wednesday and Saturday mornings for visitors. Note that visits are suspended in August, during Ramadan and on Italian and Islamic holidays.
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Basilica di SS Cosma e Damiano
Backing onto the Roman Forum, this 6th-century basilica incorporates parts of the Foro di Vespasiano and Tempio di Romolo, visible through the glass wall at the end of the nave. The real reason to visit, though, are the vibrant 6th-century apse mosaics, depicting Christ’s second coming. Also worth a look is the huge 18th-century Neapolitan presepio, in a room off the tranquil 17th- century cloisters.
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Chiesa di Santa Lucia al Sepolcro
The northern end of one of the city's biggest squares, Piazza Santa Lucia, is dominated by the Chiesa di Santa Lucia al Sepolcro. The 17th-century church is built on the spot where the city's patron saint, Lucia, an aristocratic girl who devoted herself to saintliness after being blessed by St Agatha, was martyred in 304. Underneath the church is an impressive network of catacombs (not open to the public) that are the largest in Italy after those in Rome.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria del Soccorso
On the western edge of town, perched high above the sea, the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Soccorso is a Tex-Mex vision in white. The church was originally part of a 14th-century Augustinian monastery; its side chapel and dome were added in 1791 and 1854 respectively, the latter rebuilt after the 1883 earthquake. Most beautiful are the 18th-century mismatched majolica tiles adorning the semicircular staircase out the front. From here, the views are heavenly.
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Chiesa di Santa Pudenziana
This, the church of Rome’s Filipino community, boasts a sparkling 4th-century apse mosaic, the oldest of its kind in Rome. An enthroned Christ is flanked by two female figures who are crowning St Peter and St Paul; on either side of them are the apostles dressed as Roman senators. Unfortunately, you can only see 10 of the original 12 apostles, as a barbarous 16th-century facelift lopped off two of them and amputated the legs of the others.
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Chiesa dell'Immocolata
The 18th-century Chiesa dell'Immocolata is well preserved with its Greek-cross plan and look-at-me dome studded with curved tympanum windows. Commissioned by the adjoining Convento delle Clarisse (Convent for Clarisse nuns; in town), it was left in its minimalist state after building funds ran out. When the nuns' own lives expired, they were left to decompose sitting upright on stone chairs in the macabre Cimitero delle Monache Clarisse.
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Cattedrale di San Ciriaco
Via Giovanni XXIII leads up Monte Guasco and Piazzale del Duomo, where there are sweeping views of the city and the port. Here, the Cattedrale di San Ciriaco sits grandly atop the site of an ancient Pagan temple, jimmied together with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic features. You can take bus 11, which runs from Piazza Roma to Piazza della Repubblica, or get your exercise walking up the steep hill.
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Convento delle Clarisse
The 18th-century Chiesa dell'Immocolata (in town) is well preserved with its Greek-cross plan and look-at-me dome studded with curved tympanum windows. Commissioned by the adjoining Convento delle Clarisse, it was left in its minimalist state after building funds ran out. When the nuns' own lives expired, they were left to decompose sitting upright on stone chairs in the macabre Cimitero delle Monache Clarisse.
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Nuova Fiera di Milano Rho-Pero
Billowing glass sails by architect Massimiliano Fuksas ingeniously cover the oil stains where the Agip refinery once stood, and float over 1.3 kilometres of reclaimed exhibition space. A $750-million marvel of engineering made with 100,000 glass pieces, this magical megastructure levitates the bar for the Salone del Mobile and other events held here - and Italian architecture, too.
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Palazzo Strozzi
To outshine their Medici rivals, the Strozzi – a super-rich banking family – hired Giugliano de Sangallo to design their new city home in the 1480s. He constructed a massive but elegant fortress of rusticated stone that today hosts good temporary art exhibitions. The cafe on its colonnaded courtyard provides shelter from sun, rain and foot traffic – no ticket required.
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Chiesa di Santa Restituta
In Piazza Restituta you'll find the Terme Regina Isabella and pretty-in-pink Chiesa di Santa Restituta, rebuilt after the 1883 earthquake. According to legend, the martyred Restituta was washed ashore on nearby San Montano Beach in the 4th century on a boat steered from Tunisia by a seaworthy angel. Every May, residents re-enact her arrival on the beach.
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