Discover Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo

The Parish Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo is a titular church and a minor basilica in Rome run by the Augustinian order. It stands on the north side of Piazza del Popolo, at number 12.

It was reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 on the orders of Pope Sixtus IV, and is an early and excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Rome. Its interior is a Latin cross of three naves, vaulted with cross vaults, and it houses numerous works of art and funerary monuments.

What is in it is out of proportion to its reputation. The Cerasi Chapel holds two masterpieces by Caravaggio; the Chigi Chapel was designed by Raphael and completed by Bernini; the chapel built by Andrea Bregno carries frescoes attributed to Pinturicchio and his workshop; Andrea Sansovino made two monumental cardinals' tombs here; and the oldest stained glass window in Rome, by the French artist Guillaume de Marcillat, is in the choir.

No admission charge and no opening hours are published by any authority. Turismo Roma states that for mass times and visiting arrangements you should contact the numbers given.

A Renaissance church wearing a Baroque remodelling, and the seam is visible. The basilica was reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 under Sixtus IV and is an early and excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Rome. The interior is a Latin cross of three naves, vaulted with cross vaults, and the façade was built in early Renaissance style in the 1470s.

Then Alexander VII had Bernini go through it. In March 1658 the pope inspected the work in the company of the architect: a significant rebuilding that altered the character of the quattrocento basilica. The façade was changed, larger windows were opened in the nave, statues, frescoes and stucco decorations were added in the interior, and a new main altar was erected. What you walk into is a fifteenth-century plan read through seventeenth-century eyes.

The Chigi Chapel is the architectural set piece. Designed by Raphael for Agostino Chigi from 1513, it is a centralised octagonal chapel whose dome carries Raphael's own mosaics, the Creation of the World. It was finished only between 1652 and 1656, with Bernini adding Habakkuk and the Angel and Daniel and the Lion — two sculptures set diagonally across the space so that each figure gestures towards the other.

The choir is a High Renaissance room in its own right. Built for Julius II, decorated with Pinturicchio's frescoes on the sail vault and the stained glass of Guillaume de Marcillat — including the oldest stained glass window in Rome — and used as a mausoleum, with Andrea Sansovino's two monumental cardinals' tombs.

And the Cerasi Chapel is a designed viewing problem. Carlo Maderno built it between 1600 and 1601; Caravaggio then filled its two side walls, which means the paintings are seen at a sharp angle from the nave rather than face-on. That is not an accident of the architecture — it is the condition the pictures were composed for.

It was built to put something holy on a spot people were frightened of. In the legend attached to the site, Nero was buried in his paternal family's mausoleum here, and on the ruins grew a huge walnut tree "so tall and sublime that no other plant exceeded it in any ways", which became the haunt for a multitude of vicious demons harassing travellers. On the Thursday after the Third Sunday of Lent in 1099, the Pope organised the entire clergy and populace of Rome in one impressive procession, performed an exorcism, and Paschal II placed the first stone of an altar at the former site of the walnut tree. Everything here stands on that gesture.

The building you see is a papal rebuild, not the medieval church. Soon after the church passed to the prestigious Lombard Congregation it was reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 on the orders of Sixtus IV, in what became an early and excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Rome. The façade went up in the same decade, in early Renaissance style.

After that it was built in pieces, by patrons rather than by a plan. That is the real answer to how this church acquired what it has. Andrea Bregno built a chapel at the turn of the sixteenth century and Pinturicchio's workshop frescoed it. Julius II granted the banker Agostino Chigi assent in 1507 to replace the second side chapel on the left with a family mausoleum, and Raphael designed it. Julius II's own choir went up in High Renaissance style with Pinturicchio on the sail vault and Guillaume de Marcillat's glass in the windows. Andrea Sansovino carved two monumental tombs into it for cardinals who died in 1505 and 1507.

And a patron could simply buy the right to one. On 8 July 1600 Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi purchased the patronage right of the old Foscari Chapel, had Carlo Maderno design a new one between 1600 and 1601, and commissioned Caravaggio for the walls. That transaction is why two of the most famous paintings of the seventeenth century are in a side chapel of a parish church rather than in a palace.

The unfinished parts waited for the right patron to come back. Raphael's Chigi Chapel was only partially completed by 1516 and then neglected for well over a century. Fabio Chigi became cardinal priest of the church in 1652 and immediately began reconstructing the family chapel, which Bernini embellished with Habakkuk and the Angel and Daniel and the Lion. It was finished between 1652 and 1656 — a hundred and forty years after it was begun, by a descendant of the man who commissioned it.

Then the same family rebuilt the whole church around it. Fabio Chigi became Alexander VII, and in March 1658 inspected Bernini's work in person. The result altered the character of the quattrocento basilica: the façade changed, larger windows opened in the nave, statues, frescoes and stucco added throughout, and a new main altar erected. The church was finished by being overwritten.

When is it open? Nobody publishes that. Turismo Roma states that for mass times and visiting arrangements you should contact the numbers given; the Augustinians who run the basilica publish no hours; and smariadelpopolo.com returned an HTTP 500 error when checked on 1 October 2026. Ring before you travel.

Which number do I ring? Two are published and they differ: Turismo Roma gives 06 45675909 and the Augustinians give 06-3610836. Try either.

Is it free? No admission charge is published by any authority, and none is expected — it is a parish basilica run by the Augustinian order, not a ticketed monument. Bring coins for the chapel lights.

Which Caravaggios are here? The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, painted around 1601, and the Conversion of Saint Paul, both in the Cerasi Chapel, on facing walls either side of an Annibale Carracci altarpiece.

Can I see them properly? Only with the lights on. The chapel has no natural light, and the canvases are on side walls seen at a sharp angle from the nave — which is the viewing condition Caravaggio composed them for.

What is the Chigi Chapel? A mausoleum for the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, designed by Raphael from 1513 and completed only between 1652 and 1656 with the intervention of Bernini, who added Habakkuk and the Angel and Daniel and the Lion. Raphael's own mosaics, the Creation of the World, are in the dome.

What else is in here? Frescoes attributed to Pinturicchio and his workshop with an autograph Pinturicchio altarpiece; the Julius II choir with Pinturicchio's vault; the oldest stained glass window in Rome, by Guillaume de Marcillat; and two monumental cardinals' tombs by Andrea Sansovino.

Why is the church here at all? Legend says Nero was buried on this spot and a huge walnut tree grew on the ruins, becoming the haunt of a multitude of vicious demons harassing travellers. In 1099 the Pope led the whole clergy and populace of Rome in a procession and exorcism, and Paschal II laid the first stone of an altar where the tree had stood.

How long does it take? Allow forty-five minutes. Pair it with San Luigi dei Francesi for three more Caravaggios, also free.