Built on the site of three pagan temples, including one dedicated to the goddess Minerva, this Dominican basilica is Rome’s only Gothic church with a soaring lapis-colored ceiling studded with stars. Superb Renaissance frescoes by Filippino Lippi decorate the Cappella Carafa, to the right of the altar, and pious painter Fra’ Angelico is buried here alongside St Catherine of Siena and two Medici popes.
Left of the high altar is one of Michelangelo’s lesser-known sculptures, Cristo Risorto (Christ Bearing the Cross; 1520), depicting Jesus carrying a cross while wearing some jarring bronze drapery. The latter wasn't part of the original composition and was added after the Council of Trent (1545–63) to preserve Christ's modesty.
Behind the statue to the left, you'll find the tomb of Fra' Angelico, the talented Dominican friar who painted the iconic Annunciation in Florence’s Convent of Marco and the jewel-box Niccolini Chapel in the Vatican. Known affectionately as Beato Angelico (Blessed Angelic One), he was blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1984 and is considered the patron of Catholic Artists.
The body of St Catherine of Siena, minus her head (which is in Siena), lies under the high altar, while the tombs of two Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII, are in the apse.
