A slender white dome, spiraling upward toward the sky like a dollop of cream among the rooftops of Rome. Anyone strolling between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona will surely have noticed it, especially on a sunny day: it is Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza.
The small church, nestled at the end of the courtyard of the Palazzo della Sapienza (now the State Archives of Rome)—a masterpiece of Roman Baroque architecture by Francesco Borromini—is now open to the public after many years of closure and a lengthy restoration that has restored it to its former splendor.
The University Church
In 1632, Francesco Borromini was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to design a church for the new university building of La Sapienza, Rome’s oldest university, founded in 1303 by Boniface VIII (the very same pope whom Dante placed in Hell in the Divine Comedy).
The project proved more complicated than expected, as the young architect found himself having to complete an existing building with very little space available. It took over twenty years to complete the construction, which was consecrated by Pope Alexander VII in 1660.
The floor plan is triangular—a highly unusual feature for a church—with concave spaces carved out to create the chapels and the choir. The building rises vertically to symbolize humanity’s ascent toward God, featuring a dome that rises from a very tall drum and a lantern that spirals upward, though from the inside it appears perfectly round.
After the unification of Italy, the small church became part of the university archives, but in the 1920s, the priest Giovanni Battista Montini insisted on reopening it for worship, becoming its pastor alongside another priest who had arrived from the province of Bergamo, Angelo Roncalli. The latter would become pope under the name John XXIII, and Montini would become his successor, under the name Paul VI.
How to Visit Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza
Starting October 27, visitors will be able to tour the church free of charge; its interior was restored by the Superintendency of Rome to restore the original white hues of the stucco work chosen by Borromini.
Sant’Ivo, along with the spaces of the Cortile della Sapienza, will be open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with reception services and free guided tours organized by the Italian Touring Club. The church thus becomes part of the Touring Club’s “Aperti per voi” project.
With its reopening to the public, Sant’Ivo once again serves as a place of worship; therefore, visitors are asked to respect the silence of the faithful at prayer and any liturgical events that may take place inside.
