Italian artworks

Michelangelo did not have the satisfaction of seeing it completed: construction of the dome had reached the drum by the time he died in 1564. The work was restarted in 1588 by Giacomo Della Porta and Domenico Fontana and completed in 1589 with the construction of the double-shell dome. Between 1592 and 1605, during the pontificate of Clement VIII, the lantern was completed and the dome was covered with lead plates. In 1593, the large golden bronze sphere surmounted by the cross, by Sebastiano Torrigiani, was placed on the top of the lantern. Flooded with light and impressive on the inside too, the dome is set on four grandiose arches and as many pillars. In the spandrels, in mosaic, are the evangelists (St Mark and St Matthew based on a design by Cesare Nebbia, while St John and St Luke bear the signature of Giovanni De Vecchi). The six-tier mosaic decoration is by Cavalier d'Arpino (1605). The four large niches at the base of the dome's pillars contain 5-metre-high statues commissioned by Urban VIII (1643). Above them, four ornate balconies by Bernini serve to display the church's most distinguished relics. You can ascend to the top of the dome from the entrance on the right-hand side of the basilica portico, climbing about 550 steps or covering half of the route with a lift to the terrace roof of the basilica: from here, you have a good view of the dome, the square and the city. Two ramps lead to the circular corridor and the top of the lantern, from where a spiral staircase leads to the external gallery, from which you can admire the splendid panorama of the city as far as the Castelli Romani region and the sea.

The abbey basilica of Santa Giustina has changed its appearance many times since the 5th century, when the first version of this church was built. At first, it was only a small oratory built on a necropolis, where St Justina Martyr had been buried, in an area outside the city threatened by the marshes of the lower Veneto region. It is hard to believe it when faced with the grandeur of the present-day basilica, 122 metres long and crowned by 8 domes, and the spacious elegance of the square that leads to it: Prato della Valle, a vast late-eighteenth-century space that includes a green islet surrounded by a canal and about eighty statues, dedicated to the illustrious men of Padua and its University. From the 8th century, the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Giustina, to whom the church is still dedicated, grew up next to the basilica and houses an important library. After the earthquake that struck Veneto in 1117, the basilica was rebuilt in Romanesque style. It was rebuilt again, between 1532 and 1579, this time with monumental Renaissance forms, but the façade remained unfinished. Among the masterpieces of art housed there, the highlight is the rear altarpiece of the Martyrdom of St Justina by Paolo Veronese (from around 1575). Religious focal points include the ark of St Luke the Evangelist (1316), the ark of St Matthias the Apostle and the small shrine of St Prosdocimus, a remnant of the first early Christian complex, with a marble iconostasis from the 6th century. The relics of St. Luke and St. Matthias and the connection with the figures of St. Justina and St. Prosdocimo make this basilica a key stop along the Romea Strata, the pilgrimage route that goes down to Rome from north-eastern Europe via Friuli and Veneto. Among the tombs of so many saints and blesseds, the tomb of the Venetian Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia is also worth a stop for (secular) veneration: she was the first woman to receive a university degree, in 1678.

The panorama around the Mount Lussari sanctuary takes your breath away. The small church, built in around 1360 to house a statuette of the Madonna, stands atop a 1776-metre-high mountain and overlooks the majestic Julian Alps: a terrace from which one can admire the rock faces of the Jôf di Montasio, the Jôf Fuart and the Mangart, much of which rise above an altitude of 2600 metres. It is difficult to say where religious faith ends and where the natural sacredness of the mountain begins. But there is also another element with a strong emotional impact, and that is the sacredness of the war memories and of the lives that the First World War shattered, over a century ago, on these disputed mountains: we are very close to a double border, with Austria and Slovenia. The sanctuary itself was destroyed by cannon fire and had to be rebuilt in 1924. Today, Mount Lussari is a symbol of peace and of the newfound European harmony between Slavic, German and Italian-speaking peoples. A place of encounter and dialogue between different cultures, it is visited by pilgrims travelling along the Romea Strata, which descends towards Rome from north-eastern Europe, and by those following the Celestial Way, an itinerary connecting various places of worship in Slovenia, Italy and Austria. The desire for justice and peace among peoples is also behind the interior decoration of the sanctuary, the work of Catholic painter Tone Kralj. A Slovenian with an Italian background, Kralj worked here from the 1930s until 1960. Although the most devout climb on foot along the Pilgrim's Trail, tackling a change in altitude of over 900 metres, nothing stops you from reaching the sanctuary in comfort and making the most of the modern cable car that sets off from Camporosso in Tarvisio. After all, there is winter skiing in these parts: the key attraction is the Prampero piste, for experienced skiers.

Nonantola has ancient Roman origins but owes its fortune to the Lombards, who founded the Abbey of San Silvestro here in 752 A.D.. More precisely, it was St Anselm, the Lombard Duke of Friuli, who decided that in the Roman colony of Nonantula there should be a "twin" monastery to the one he had just founded in Fanano. Anselm acted on behalf of the Lombard king Astulf, his relative, who aimed to create a stable link between the Lombard lands of the North East and those of the South, bypassing the Byzantine territories. It is no coincidence that both the monasteries founded by Anselm are on the road to the Croce Arcana pass, an Apennine pass of strategic importance. Thus was born the communication route that today we call Via Romea Nonantolana Longobarda. Thanks to royal protection and the ability of Anselm, who chose it as his home, Nonantola Abbey soon established itself as one of the most powerful in northern Italy and became a leading cultural centre, with its own scriptorium. It consolidated its prestige by acquiring important relics, above all the remains of Pope Saint Sylvester and the Relic of the True Cross, and becoming a stopping place for the papal entourage during the pontiffs' journeys. In the Middle Ages, it promoted land reclamation in the Modenese plains, eventually managing some 400 square kilometres of land, including pastures, cultivated land and vineyards, rivers and fishing valleys. The abbey basilica, dedicated to St. Sylvester, has Lombard Romanesque forms dating back to the 11th century, clearly evident in the apse area. The façade has been reconstructed but the portal is original, with a lunette sculpted by artists from the Wiligelmo area. Beneath the raised presbytery is a vast crypt with 64 columns and capitals from the 8th-12th centuries. On the high altar is the ark of St. Sylvester. On the south side of the basilica is the monastery, with frescoes from the 11th-12th centuries in the refectory and a 15th-century courtyard with a double loggia from the 15th century. The complex houses the Benedictine and Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art and the Abbey Archives, with thousands of parchments and documents dating back to before the year 1000.

The basilica of Santa Cristina preserves the most ancient and spiritual soul of Bolsena, creating a contrast with the pleasantly carefree atmosphere of the village's lakefront and marina, crowded with small restaurants and bars. The Renaissance façade conceals a Romanesque interior and a much older foundation: the church was consecrated in 1077 by Pope Gregory VII, but its roots go back to even earlier times. In fact, it stands above the catacombs where, according to tradition, Saint Christina martyr was buried between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century. For centuries, pilgrims travelling along the Via Francigena stopped here to pray in the Grotto of Santa Cristina, a portion of the ancient catacombs that was enlarged and converted into the basilica's crypt, with the saint's tomb. In 1263, it was here in the grotto that what the Church describes as the Eucharistic Miracle took place: drops of blood allegedly trickled from the consecrated host, testifying to the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist and disproving the doubts nurtured by the officiating Bohemian priest. This is recalled by the fresco on the arch leading to the hypogeum, dating back to the 13th century: it is the oldest iconographic evidence of the miracle. Other important works of art adorning the basilica include a wooden Crucifix by the Umbro-Senese school from the 16th century, the 15th-century frescoes in the Rosary Chapel and its large tabernacle by Benedetto Buglioni (1493-97), and in the presbytery, a 15th-century polyptych attributed to the Sienese Sano di Pietro and Benvenuto di Giovanni.

The façade of the Basilica of Sant'Agostino in Campus Martius is majestic and sober, but it has allowed itself two side volutes. It thus reveals both its Renaissance origin and the 18th-century evolution of the church, completed in 1420, rebuilt sixty years later by Giacomo da Pietrasanta and Sebastiano Fiorentino, who enlarged it and "raised" it above the road to protect it from the flooding of the Tiber, and then restructured in the 18th century. In all cases, the work was commissioned by the Order of St Augustine, which previously officiated in the church of San Trifone in Posterula; this explains the double title, "Basilica of San Trifone and Sant'Agostino", sometimes used to refer to this church. The façade, today one of the symbols of the Sant'Eustachio district, was made using travertine recovered from the Colosseum, or so it is said. The interiors, on the other hand, are the result of a mid-18th-century redesign by Luigi Vanvitelli, who, in the same period, added the two side volutes to the façade, rebuilt the dome and bell tower, and redesigned the convent annexed to the basilica, which is still the headquarters of the Order of St. Augustine. At least three masterpieces have survived from the basilica's first season of life: the Prophet Isaiah frescoed by Raffaello on the third left pillar, from 1512; below it, the Madonna with Child and Saint Anne, a contemporary sculpture by Andrea Sansovino; and the highly venerated statue of the Madonna del Parto by Jacopo Sansovino (1521), on the counter façade next to the main portal. Three other fundamental works preserved in this basilica date back to the 17th century: the high altar, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1627 and made by Orazio Torriani, with a Byzantine Madonna from the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; the altarpiece with St.Augustine between Saints John the Baptist and Peter the Hermit by Guercino (1637); and above all, the altarpiece of the Pilgrim's Madonna (or the Madonna of Loreto) by Caravaggio (1603–04, in the first left chapel), considered scandalous because of the appearance of the Virgin, who has the features of a model well known in Rome at the time for her courtesan activities, her popular clothing and the realism with which the adoring pilgrim, whose feet are bare and swollen, is depicted. Caravaggio is said to have donated this painting to the basilica as a personal thank you to the Augustinian convent: here, in fact, he had found hospitality after wounding a man out of jealousy in nearby Piazza Navona, thereby avoiding arrest.