The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican City, or simply Saint Peter's Basilica, is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initially planned in the 15th century by Pope Nicholas V and then Pope Julius II to replace the ageing Old St. Peter's Basilica, which was built in the fourth century by Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
Andrea dal Monte Sansovino or Andrea Contucci del Monte San Savino was an Italian sculptor active during the High Renaissance. His pupils include Jacopo Sansovino.
The Church of the Gesù, officially named Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù, is a church located at Piazza del Gesù in the Pigna rione of Rome, Italy. It is the mother church of the Society of Jesus. With its façade, described as "the first truly baroque façade", the church served as a model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in Central Europe and in Portuguese colonies. Its paintings in the nave, crossing, and side chapels became models for art in Jesuit churches throughout Italy and Europe, as well as those of other orders. The Church of the Gesù is one of the great 17th-century preaching churches built by Counter-Reformation orders like the Jesuits in the Centro Storico of Rome – the others being Sant'Ignazio, also of the Jesuits, San Carlo ai Catinari of the Barnabites, Sant'Andrea della Valle of the Theatines, and the Chiesa Nuova of the Oratorians.
The Basilica della Santa Casa is a Marian shrine in Loreto, in the Marches, Italy. The basilica is known for enshrining the house in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed by some Catholics to have lived. Pious legends claim the same house was flown over by angelic beings from Nazareth to Tersatto, then to Recanati, before arriving at the current site.
The Parish Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo is a titular church and a minor basilica in Rome run by the Augustinian order. It stands on the north side of Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The church is hemmed in between the Pincian Hill and Porta del Popolo, one of the gates in the Aurelian Wall as well as the starting point of Via Flaminia, the most important route from the north. Its location made the basilica the first church for the majority of travellers entering the city. The church contains works by several famous artists, such as Raphael, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Caravaggio, Alessandro Algardi, Pinturicchio, Andrea Bregno, Guillaume de Marcillat and Donato Bramante.
The Basilica of Saint Augustine in Camp Martius, commonly known as Basilica of Saint Augustine is a Catholic titular minor basilica in the Campus Martius area of Rome, Italy. Dedicated to Saint Augustine of Hippo it serves as the motherhouse of the Augustinian Friars.
Santa Maria della Pace is a Catholic church in Rome, Italy, not far from Piazza Navona. The building lies in rione Ponte. It is part of a conventual structure that includes the Chiostro del Bramante formerly home to Canons Regular of the Lateran and later the Order of Preachers. The monastery is now used for secular purposes while the church has become one of Rome's national churches, devoted to the people of Chile.
Assisi Cathedral, dedicated to San Rufino, is a major church in Assisi, Italy. This stately church in Umbrian Romanesque style was the third church built on the same site to contain the remains of bishop Rufinus of Assisi, martyred in the 3rd century. The construction was started in 1140 to the designs by Giovanni da Gubbio, as attested by the wall inscription visible inside the apse. He may be the same Giovanni who designed the rose-window on the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore in 1163.
Genoa Cathedral or Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Lawrence is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Italian city of Genoa. It is dedicated to Saint Lawrence, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Genoa. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope Gelasius II in 1118 and was built between the twelfth century and the fourteenth century as fundamentally a medieval building, with some later additions. Secondary naves and side covers are of Romanesque style and the main facade is Gothic from the early thirteenth century, while capitals and columns with interior corridors date from the early fourteenth century. The bell tower and dome were built in the sixteenth century.
Gesù Nuovo is the name of a church and a square in Naples, Italy. It is located just outside the western boundary of the historic center of the city. To the southeast of the spire, one can see a block away the Fountain of Monteoliveto and the piazza of the church of Sant'Anna dei Lombardi. The square is a result of the expansion of the city to the west beginning in the early 16th century under the rule of Spanish viceroy Pedro Alvarez de Toledo. The square of Gesù Nuovo contains three prominent landmarks:
The Basilica of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica that is part of the Augustinian monastery in the hill-town of Tolentino, province of Macerata, Marche, central Italy. The church is a former cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tolentino, suppressed in 1586.
The Spanish National Church of Santiago and Montserrat, known as Church of Holy Mary in Monserrat of the Spaniards is a Roman Catholic titulus church and National Church in Rome of Spain, dedicated to the Virgin of Montserrat. It is located in the Rione Regola, at the intersection of alleyway of Via della Barchetta and the narrow Via di Monserrato, with the facade on the latter street, about three blocks northwest of the Palazzo Farnese.
Padua Cathedral, or Basilica Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, is a Catholic church and minor basilica located on the east end of Piazza Duomo, adjacent to the bishop's palace in Padua, Veneto, Italy.
San Francesco della Vigna is a Roman Catholic church in the Sestiere of Castello in Venice, northern Italy.
Santa Maria di Nazareth is a Roman Catholic Carmelite church in Venice, northern Italy. It is also called Church of the Scalzi being the seat in the city of the Discalced Carmelites religious order. Located in the sestiere of Cannaregio, near Venezia Santa Lucia railway station, it was built in the mid-17th century to the designs of Baldassarre Longhena and completed in the last decades of that century.
The Abbey of Santa Giustina is a 10th-century Benedictine abbey complex located in front of the Prato della Valle in central Padua, region of Veneto, Italy. Adjacent to the former monastery is the basilica church of Santa Giustina, initially built in the 6th century, but whose present form derives from a 17th-century reconstruction.
The Sacro Monte di Graglia is one of the numerous devotional places around the Italian Alps and it houses the Santuario di Nostra Signora di Loreto, one of the four major sanctuaries of the Biellese territory. Set in the Valle Elvo at 690 m on the sea level, the sanctuary is built near the Lauretana water industry.
Santa Caterina d'Alessandria or Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a Roman Catholic church with a main facade on Piazza Bellini, and a lateral Western facade facing the elaborate Fontana Pretoria, in the historic quarter of Kalsa in the city of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. In front of the main facade, across the piazza Bellini, rise the older churches of San Cataldo and Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, while across Piazza Pretoria is the Theatine church of San Giuseppe and the entrance to the Quattro Canti. Refurbished over the centuries, the church retains elements and decorations from the Renaissance, Baroque, and late-Baroque (Rococo) eras. This church is distinct from the Oratorio di Santa Caterina found in the Olivella neighborhood.
The Church of Santa Maria Primerana is a Roman Catholic church located in the Tuscan town of Fiesole. It encloses the eastern end of Piazza Mino, next to the Praetorian Palace.
