• Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Italian Notes
  • HOME
  • PEOPLE & PLACES
    • Abruzzo
    • Basilicata
    • Calabria
    • Campania
    • Emilia-Romagna
    • Friuli-Venezia Giulia
    • Lazio
    • Liguria
    • Lombardia-Lombardy
    • Marche
    • Molise
    • Piemonte-Piedmont
    • Puglia – Apulia
    • Sicilia
    • Toscana-Tuscany
    • Trentino-Alto Adige – Trentino-South Tyrol
    • Umbria
    • Veneto
  • FOOD
    • Antipasti
    • Primi piatti
    • Secondi piatti
    • Dolci
  • PR/ADVERTISING
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Tracking Bernini in Rome - Italian Notes

Tracking Bernini in Rome

Few individuals have left as clear a mark  as the Neapolitan sculptor, painter and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Rome. His work and legacy can still be found all over the city in baroque buildings and sculptures.

I’m not a great fan of the writer Dan Brown, but he deserves recognition for having drawn international attention to the genius of Bernini. The novel ‘Angels & Demons’ has sent tourists through Rome to look for clues of a secret alliance between the apparently devout Christian, Bernini, and occult tradition or the heretic scientists.

bernini in rome

Tourists outside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where Bernini is buried.

The Four Elements

The classic ‘Angels & Demons’ tour goes from the Chigi Chapel inside Santa Maria del Popolo where Bernini’s sculpture of Habakkuk and the Angel represents Earth as one of the four elements on Brown’s ‘Altars of Science’. Water is represented by the Fountain of Four Rivers on Piazza Navona as the Trevi Fountain is not Bernini’s work. Fire is a sculpture inside the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria called the Ecstasy of St Teresa. And Air is West Ponente at Saint Peter’s Square.

Other important Dan Brown plot stops are the Pantheon which was originally built as a temple to honour the Roman gods and which has an oculus that turns the whole building into a sundial. And of course St Peter’s Square, created by Bernini as an elliptical plaza to symbolize Copernicus’ discovery that our solar system was based on ellipses – the planetary orbits around the sun.

Tracking Bernini in Rome - Italian Notes

One of the four elements as represented by Bernini in Rome.

Discover Sculptures As You Go

Personally I prefer to stroll around Rome and look out for Bernini along the way. His sculptures have a great narrative element that makes them open to interpretation, and they can be found as fountains and statues all over the city.

The tomb of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and his family can be seen just outside the Sistine Chapel in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Here he is in the company of several dead popes and important relics such as pieces of the True Cross and the Holy Crib.  The church is remarkable for a Bling Bling ceiling in pure gold, impressive mosaics and a balustrade with statues of saints inspired by Bernini’s statues on St Peter’s. The master himself has only contributed to S. Maria Maggiore with a Baptismal font of Saint Cajetan holding the Holy Child.

Other Notes on Rome

Five romantic bridges in Rome

5 Foods You Must Try in Rome

An unsuccessful daytrip from Fiumicino Airport

Colosseum as a kitsch fairground?

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail



Booking.com

Maps were disabled by the visitor on this site. Click to open the map in a new window.
5 replies
  1. Mary @ The World Is A Book
    Mary @ The World Is A Book says:
    September 7, 2012 at 5:52 am

    This was the first church we visited in Rome since we stayed a few blocks away. Is it sad that we didn’t know Bernini was buried there? We went straight to the altar and looked at the relics and were fascinated with the blinged out ceiling. My husband wanted to do that Angels & Demons tour – luckily we ran out of time :)

    Reply
  2. Sophie
    Sophie says:
    September 9, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    A bit cliche, perhaps, but I think an Angels & Demons walking tour would be fun.

    I’ve yet to visit Santa Maria Maggiore. Definitely need more time in Rome, a few days now and then is simply not enough.

    Reply
  3. Natasha von Geldern
    Natasha von Geldern says:
    September 10, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    I remember walking past Santa Maria Maggiore and seeing the tour groups – now I know Dan Brown is to blame! I’d love to explore more of Bernini’s genius in Rome.

    Reply
  4. Laurel
    Laurel says:
    September 12, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    I agree with both you and Sophie, I think an Angels and Demons tour would also be fun but it’s also fun to explore by walking around, especially if you know what you’re looking for.

    Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. Five romantic bridges in Rome says:
    December 18, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    […] Tracking Bernini in Rome […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Followon TwitterSubscribeto RSS Feed

Booking

Booking.com

Rental cars

More about food

Antipasti recipes - Italian NotesANTIPASTI RECIPES

Primi Piatti - Italian Notes

PRIMI PIATTI

Secondi piatti - Italian Notes

SECONDI PIATTI

Dolci - Italian Notes

DOLCI

Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification onlySettings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Accept settingsHide notification only