The basilica of San Lorenzo is among the oldest and most famous churches of Florence. The church is immediately recognisable by its unfinished façade and the enormous dome of the chapel behind the choir, the famed Cappella dei Principi. There is probably no church in Florence that has a closer…
Saint John the Baptist is the patron saint of Florence. Therefore is was self-evident that, when the Florentine community in Rome decided to build a large new church at the beginning of the sixteenth century, this church was going to be dedicated to Saint John. The San Giovanni dei Fiorentini…
The history of the church of San Sisto goes all the way back to the ninth century. It was founded in 874 by Engelberga of Parma, wife of King Louis II of Italy (844-875). This Louis was a grandson of Louis the Pious and therefore a great-grandson of Charlemagne. The…
The posts on this website often cover museums, churches and convents. Castles and ruins are also frequently discussed. If It is very special, I will dedicate a post to a square in a city. However, this must be the very first time that a post is all about a water…
Orvieto was once a place of refuge for popes who, for whatever reason, were temporarily unwelcome in Rome. This is still visible in many places in the city. Pope Urbanus IV (1261-1264), for instance, resided in Orvieto for a while and a cardinal he created, Guillaume de Bray, was buried…
The San Luigi dei Francesi is located slightly east of the Piazza Navona and can be found right next to the Palazzo Madama, currently the seat of Italy’s senate, the Senato della Repubblica. The church was built in the sixteenth century and is the national church of France, its primary…
It is difficult to imagine that this imposing cylindrical drum on a large square platform was once the tomb of the Roman Emperor Hadrianus (117-138), also known as Hadrian. The original decorations are all gone and the structure was turned into a formidable fortress long ago. It has also served…
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…
Being Dutch, I had a good reason to want to visit the Santa Maria dell’Anima. Here we can find the tomb of the only Dutch pope in history, Adrianus VI. I had already been to Rome many times since 1996, but somehow never found time to visit this church, which…