Sant'Ignazio da Loyola, the church with perspective illusions

Walking distractedly through the streets of the historic center of Rome you might even overlook this baroque building, which instead is full of wonders to discover…

Rome is the city with the most churches in the world. There are more than 900! (we had already told you about the Churches of Rome in this article).

While walking around the city you might not even notice the Church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio.

And it would be a mistake, because inside the religious building built in 1626 as the church of the Roman College established by Ignatius of Loyola to train young people free of charge, hides an anthology of incredible pictorial virtuosity and suggestive perspective effects.

What happens once you cross the threshold of the Church? The singular geometries of the marbles that lead to the center of the nave, where they form a circle, immediately catch the eye.

Starting from this exact point, raising your eyes to the sky, you can admire the fantastic fresco with the Glory of Saint Ignatius which, through the "breaking" effect of the ceiling, makes it appear twice as tall as it really is. It seems to see a second three-dimensional church, placed directly on the real one!

It doesn't end here: further along, continuing along the central nave, towards the altar, you come across a golden roundel in the marble floor. From here, looking up again, here is the marvelous Dome, 13 meters in diameter. This time too, however, it is just an illusion: the Dome does not exist! The ceiling, in fact, is absolutely flat and a perspective painting on canvas is applied to it: it is a three-dimensional optical illusion.

Entrance to the Church of Sant'Ignazio da Loyola is free and can be accessed every day, from 9:00 to 23:30 continuously. Holy Masses are on weekdays and the day before holidays at 6.30 pm, while on holidays at 11.30 am and 6.30 pm.

If you want more information you can write to us at [email protected], we will be happy to help you.