Church of the Gesù
White stucco figures heave out of their frames while the frescoed ceiling turns solid architecture into trompe-l'oeil — the church that taught Baroque to break its own frame.
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The Jesuits' mother church, built 1568–1580 by Vignola and della Porta (consecrated 1584), raised the first truly Baroque façade and became the model copied by Jesuit churches worldwide.
What to look for
- Gaulli's ceiling fresco 'Triumph of the Name of Jesus' (1678–79), where 'white stucco and marble sculptures break out of their tectonic framing' in a trompe-l'oeil effect.
- Andrea Pozzo's St Ignatius chapel: four lapis-lazuli columns and a lapis globe billed as the world's largest (actually mortar faced with lapis).
- In the St Francis Xavier chapel, a reliquary holding part of the saint's right arm, said to have baptized 300,000 people.
Come at 17:30: triumphal music plays as a machine lowers the altar painting to reveal the statue.
Church of the Gesù is one of 40 sights worth the detour in Rome, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Rome pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Rome
- Vatican CityThe world's smallest sovereign state fits in 44 hectares — you cross its border by stepping over a white line.
- ColosseumAround 50,000 Romans packed this stone oval to watch spectacles staged over a two-level warren of cages beneath the arena floor.
- St. Peter's BasilicaThe world's largest church, built directly over the grave believed to hold St. Peter's bones.
- Sistine ChapelMichelangelo painted the ceiling standing up, not on his back — and cardinals still elect the pope in this room.
- PantheonA 1,900-year-old concrete dome with a hole punched in the top — when it rains in Rome, it rains inside too.
- Stadio OlimpicoOne 70,634-seat bowl, two cross-town tenants: AS Roma and SS Lazio both play here.