For years, all that was seen of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza was the spiral lantern that emerged above the roofs of the centre, a stone’s throw from Piazza Navona. From Tuesday 27 October Francesco Borromini’s church is open to the public again, with free entry from Monday to Friday, from 9.30 to 1.30.
Built starting in 1643, Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza is one of the most original works of Roman Baroque. Borromini managed to transform a small space, inside the courtyard of the Palazzo della Sapienza, into a surprising architecture, where nothing seems to be left to chance. The plan of the church arises from the intersection of two equilateral triangles, which form a six-pointed star, traditionally interpreted as a reference to the Trinity. From this geometry, alternating concave and convex walls take shape, giving the environment a sense of continuous movement.
Looking up, the six-segmented dome seems to lead the eyes upwards, up to the lantern. On the outside, the famous spiral wraps around itself and culminates in a structure reaching towards the sky, often interpreted as a symbol of the rise of divine knowledge and wisdom. It is precisely this element, so different from traditional domes, that has made Sant’Ivo immediately recognizable in the Roman panorama. Even the floor, with its black and white marble inlays, contributes to the geometric game imagined by the architect.
The white rediscovered
The restoration, conducted by the Special Superintendence of Rome with funds from the Pnrr Caput Mundi, worked mainly on the colour. Borromini had not thought of a single white, but of a range of warmer or colder tones, which the restorations of the last century had turned to grey. Superintendent Daniela Porro speaks of a “virtuosic” intervention. The Superintendence’s technical sheet describes internal surfaces in an advanced state of deterioration, with areas in which entire parts had been lost. Porro indicated approximately two and a half million euros for two interventions.
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The large altarpiece by Pietro da Cortona, with Saint Ivo, defender of the poor, completed after the painter’s death by his pupil Giovanni Ventura Borghesi, has also become legible again: the canvas was covered in oxidized paint and deposits of dirt and dust.
Volunteers at the door
The church is located in the courtyard of the Palazzo della Sapienza, the ancient seat of the Roman university and today of the State Archives. The volunteers of the Italian Touring Club will keep it open with the project Open for youbased on an agreement with the Directorate General of Archives of the Ministry of Culture and the Diocese of Rome. For the minister Alessandro Giuli, Sant’Ivo is “among the most original creations of the Baroque”. With the visits the liturgy also returns, in the same church that Pope Alexander VII consecrated on 16 November 1659.
