The Santa Maria della Vittoria is just a small church, but it is also one of the most lavishly decorated Baroque churches in all of Rome. It is best known for a sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) called the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. The church and statue play an…
The San Lorenzo in Lucina is one of many churches in Rome dedicated to Saint Lawrence. Lawrence was a church deacon who was martyred in 258 during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Valerianus. He can very well be considered historical, much unlike the many legends that surround him. Tradition…
My first visit to Siena was in 2010. It was a rainy day and we got lost on the way to the city centre (which is quite an achievement: Siena is not that big). We had lunch at a mediocre restaurant that served factory-made tiramisu, which really should be a…
The San Francesco is small church in Trastevere, located near the western shore (ripa) of the river Tiber. It is of course dedicated to none other than Saint Franciscus of Assisi, one of the best-known and most important saints in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. His preaching was…
The Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the richest churches in Rome. There is so much to see and so much to tell about the history of this church and its treasures, that one could easily write multiple dissertations about it. I will just stick to what I usually…
The church of San Pietro in Montorio is located on the Gianicolo, an ancient hill north and west of Trastevere which was named after the Roman god Janus. The church is dedicated to Saint Peter, the apostle who needs no further introduction. An old tradition dictates that Peter was crucified…