Santa Maria della Pace, Rome

Beyond the Piazza Navona, you'll find the church of Santa Maria della Pace, a hidden gem in Rome’s architectural collection. Built on the foundation of the pre-existing church of Sant'Andrea de Aquarizariis, St. Maria della Pace commemorates the miraculous event of a bleeding Madonna image that took place in 1480. The legend goes that one night, a drunken soldier threw a knife at an icon of the Virgin Mary which caused a wound to bleed on this holy image. 

The original structure was designed by Baccio Pontinelli and some time later Bramante, before working on St. Peter’s Basilica, created a cloister for the church 1500-04 with two floors in the style of High Renaissance. The 16th century saw Pietro da Cortona’s splendid transformation of the original building into the baroque architectural wonder it is today and several buildings was demolished to fit the church in this small piazza of the Ponte neighbourhood. Da Cortona, creating a new convex facade, architect came up with the idea of setting a semicircular prothyrum, a kind of porch, in front of it supported by two twin Doric columns. The wings of the concave facade and the protruding movement of the central block result in a harmonious undulation of concave and convex shapes.

The novelty and beauty of Pietro da Cortona's design results in an extraordinary scenic effect: in the small piazza, the church becomes the focal point of the streets in front of it and has the opposing effects of both amplifying and deepening the narrow space it faces out on.

Besides the unique architectural structure, Santa Maria della Pace hides one of Raphael’s major paintings, the Four Sibyls, or Sibyls receiving instruction from Angels’, in its Chigi Chapel as well as the Four Prophets, similar to Michelangelo's’ work in the Sistine Chapel.

S. Maria della Pace

Via Arco della Pace 5, 00186 Rome

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