SANTA MARIA IN MONTESANTO

Santa Maria in Montesanto in Rome is known as the Church of the artists, therefore  it would be the convenient place to start your visit of Rome.

Filippo Coarelli

But let's step back, back to the days of Augustus and hear what says the great archaeologist Filippo Coarelli:
“In the area of Piazza del Popolo, below the twin churches of S. Maria dei Miracoli and S. Maria in Monte Santo, there were two pyramidal tombs of great interest, similar in shape and size of the tomb of Caius Cestius and the Vatican pyramid, now destroyed.
Like those, the graves in question must belong to the Augustan period. They should also take a monumental function, similar to that now played by the two churches.”

I wonder if the memory of those pyramids inspired Bernini, when in the Chigi chapel, of the facing church of Santa Maria del Popolo, designed the tombs of Agostino and Sigismondo Chigi, according to an unusual pyramid shape.
But before Bernini's Chigi Chapel was built and before the Basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto assumed its present shape, Pope Sixtus V, the great Pope, who is par excellence for the Roman Pope Sixtus, commissioned his favorite architect Domenico Fontana, so to speak, to redesign Rome, what was done in a miraculously short time.

Pope Sixtus V	Domenico Fontana

The urbanization of Sixtus V, the "Sistine plan", is still the backbone of the historical center of Rome.
This Sistine plan has which references the obelisk of Ramses II, erected in 1589 by Domenico Fontana in front of Santa Maria in Montesanto and the obelisks erected in Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano and Piazza di San Pietro.
According to the "Sistine plan" the Trident, formed by current Ripetta Street, Corso street and  Babuino street, took on an extraordinarily and symbolic importance, as all the pilgrims, who came to Rome from the north, entered the city by the Porta del Popolo, which  faced  just with the Trident.

Pope Alexander VII Chigi

For this reason, Pope Alexander VII Chigi (1599-16667), commissioned his architect Carlo Rainaldi (1611 - 1691), to design a monumental entrance to the Trident.

Rainaldi presented a first draft in 1661, according to which would arise two churches: Santa Maria in Montesanto between Corso street and Babuino street and Santa Maria dei Miracoli between Corso street and Ripetta street.

The project by Rainaldi was approved and began the construction of Santa Maria in Montesanto, the first stone was laid in 1662, but in 1667, Pope Alexander VII came to death, the work stopped and resumed for at least four years, conducted by Carlo Fontana (1638 - 1714), thanks to the patronage of Cardinal Jerome Gastaldi, in view of the Jubilee of 1675.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

In 1674, Bernini (1598 - 1680), succeeded to Fontana, assisted by Mattia De Rossi (1637 - 1695).

In conclusion today is difficult to distinguish the contribution of Rainaldi from that of Fontana, and that of Bernini and De Rossi.

Certainly that was the last work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The twin churches are not really twins, for the good reason that the two trapezoidal areas on which they are located have different dimensions.

To maintain the illusion of symmetry, Santa Maria in Montesanto, that insists on the bigger area, has an elliptical plan, while the "twin" has a circular plan.
Santa Maria in Montesanto was inaugurated for the holy year of 1675, but was open to the believers in 1679.

The pronaos

The façade is punctuated by the pronaos formed by four massive columns.

The history of these columns is related to a mishap in which Bernini fell, were in fact destined to the bells of St. Peter, who would have had to frame the dome designed by Michelangelo and built with some modifications by Giacomo Della Porta, but for static problems the first tower collapsed, Bernini's project was abandoned and the columns found use in the pronaos of the "twins".

On the pediment we read "HIER S.E.R.PR. CARD. GASTALDUS ",to remember that the construction is due to the munificence of Cardinal Jerome Gastaldi.

The attic of the church is crowned by statues of eight Carmelite saints, carved by Bernini's aids. The dome sits on a dodecagon drum in which there are twelve windows. The edges of the dome are accented by ribs.

The lantern

For reasons of symmetry the side of the drum that ovelooks on the square has the same size as that of the "twin".

In 1825 the dome (and that of her twin), was covered with slate scales that give the characteristic gray so rare in Rome.

The lantern that stands up to the dome has an elliptical section.

The bell tower is on the right of the church.

For a thorough tour of the interior, we suggest you serve the clickable map below: