Spend two hours exploring four of central Rome's outstanding Renaissance churches and their original chapels. The walk begins at Santa Maria del Popolo, one of Rome's earliest Renaissance churches, where the Chigi Chapel bears Raphael's design and Pinturicchio's frescoes sit alongside Bramante's choir vault. In the Cerasi Chapel you will see two dramatic Caravaggio canvases — the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter — positioned as they were intended, in direct dialogue with the architecture.
Moving south through streets laid out in the sixteenth century, the route reaches Sant'Agostino with Raphael's fresco of the Prophet Isaiah, Sansovino's Madonna del Parto and Caravaggio's controversial Madonna of Loreto. A short walk further brings you to San Luigi dei Francesi and the Contarelli Chapel, home to Caravaggio's three masterworks on the life of Saint Matthew. The tour concludes at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the city's principal Gothic church, where Michelangelo's Risen Christ and Filippino Lippi's Carafa Chapel frescoes provide a compelling finish. Throughout the walk your guide explains the artists' commissions and how the chapels relate to Rome's evolving urban and religious fabric, emphasising the unique experience of seeing masterpieces in situ.
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