The major restorations of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. Great architects and artists such as Bramante, Raphael, Caravaggio and Bernini worked here – Carlo Franza’s blog

The complex restorations just completed in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, one of the most representative religious buildings of the Roman Renaissance and Baroque, are the result of the fruitful collaboration between Special Superintendence of Rome – Ministry of Culture, the Cult Buildings Fund – Ministry of the Interior – which owns the church – and two important private sponsors. The works, which began in 2022 and ended in November 2024, involved the architectural surfaces, paintings and sculptures that decorate the central nave and the transept of the Augustinian church, built in the fifteenth century by order of Sixtus IV on a previous chapel built under Pope Pasquale II at the expense of the Roman people, from which the name of the basilica derives. Over the centuries, Santa Maria del Popolo was enriched and modified by the hands of great architects and artists such as Bramante, Raphael, Caravaggio and Bernini, giving rise to one of the most important examples of the mix between Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture. The interventions – financed by Cult Buildings Fund and the technical sponsorships of Urban Vision SpA and Mecenati Roman Heritage – were conducted by the Special Superintendence of Rome, and curated by officials Carlo Festa, restorer, Alessandra Lanzoni, art historian, and Alessandro Mascherucci, architect. A collaboration between public and private that has returned one of the most important churches in the capital to its own citizens, visitors from all over the world and pilgrims of the next Jubilee. The first tranche of work, financed by the FEC, concerned the gold and stucco arch of the central altar, the Bernini choirs and organ, and a rare, important example of a two-tone terracotta floor from the beginning of the 17th century in the Cerasi Chapel, designed by Carlo Maderno and known for Caravaggio’s masterpieces: the Crucifixion of Saint Peter and the Conversion of Saint Paul. In the left nave, the intervention affected the funeral monument of Flaminia Odescalchi Chigi, eighteenth-century work by the architect Paolo Posi and the swan song of the late Roman Baroque. Next to the tomb, it opens the famous Chigi Chapel, an architectural work by Raphael, of which Bernini’s bronze crown has been restored, mistakenly believed in the past to be a lantern. Large parts of the building were financed by Urban Vision SpA: the works involved the central nave, with the vaults, the lunettes and the stucco decorations, created by artists close to Bernini and depicting Augustinian saints and the Alessandro coat of arms VII, promoter of the baroque renovation of the basilica. The original polychromy of the coats of arms of Sixtus IV della Rovere has been restored on the cross vaults and under the arches of the central nave. The fifteenth-century travertine pillars and their stucco-covered capitals have been restored, as have the vaults and apse basins of the transept. On the outside, the interventions concerned the roofing, with the verification of the dome drum. The design of the two marble altars that close the transept can be traced back to Bernini, completely restored thanks to the contribution of Roman Heritage patrons, starting from the four statues of angels holding the frame sculpted by Bernini’s students, affected by cleaning and consolidation operations, including the integration of some damaged or missing marble parts. The two altarpieces by Bernardino Mei and Giovanni Maria Morandi were also the subject of conservative interventions, reserving one discovery: the one on the left, “The Sacred Family”, during the cleaning phases revealed the signature of the painter “B. MEI SENEN. F. 1659”. The intervention was completed by the twin doors that symmetrically flank the two altars, where the original trompe l’oeil has re-emerged.

Ministry of Culture Special Superintendency of Rome Santa Maria del Popolo the restorations High Surveillance and Restoration Management. Special Superintendency of Rome Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Daniela Porro, Special Superintendent Carlo Festa, restorer Alessandra Lanzoni, art historian Alessandro Mascherucci, architect Simona Sansonetti, photographer

INTERVENTION 1 Conservative restoration works of the central nave, the transept and the triumphal arch, the fifteenth-century pillars, verification of the roofing in the areas adjacent to the dome drum. Designers and works management: Darc Studio, Cristiana Bigari restorer. Contracting company: Acanto Srl Technical sponsorship Urban Vision SpA 1,445,000 Euros

INTERVENTION 2 Restoration of the arch of the main altar, of the choirs, of the organ, of the tomb of Flaminia Odescalchi Chigi, in the Cerasi chapel of the floor and of the fresco of the vision of Saint Paul in the vault and of the bronze crown by Bernini of the Chigi chapel. Director of Works: Alessandro Mascherucci, architect with the collaboration of Carlo Festa, restorer and Alessandra Lanzoni, art historian. Contracting companies: Consorzio Arké, for the Claudio Pinchi organ. Programming funds for the Buildings of Worship Fund. 530,000 Euros

INTERVENTION 3 Restoration of the marble altars of the right and left transept, of the twin side doors, of the altarpiece by Bernardino Mei depicting the Holy Family, and of the altarpiece by Giovanni Maria Morandi depicting the Visitation. Director of Works: Alessandro Mascherucci, architect with the collaboration of Carlo Festa, restorer and Alessandra Lanzoni, art historian. Contracting companies: Artificia Consorzio, for the Susanna Sarmati altarpiece. Technical sponsorship Mecenati Roman Heritage Onlus. 79,000 Euros

Carlo Franza