Rome's church of San Ignazio di Loyola is a masterpiece of trompe l'oleil.




It is located a few minutes' walk from the Pantheon.

Inside, the sense of theater continues when you realize that the church's "dome" is actually a masterpiece of trompe-l'oeil painted on a flat surface by Andrea Pozzo in 1685.

Pozzo painted the trompe l'oeil ceiling, a false dome in the nave, on a canvas that is 17 metres wide.












The piazza in front of the church of San Izanzio di Loyola is a late baroque theater set of buildings, with two palaces from 1727-1728 by Filippo Raguzzini framing it on the other side, and is a 'good example of 18th century urban planning', so says tha guide.





Then, it was off to our still elusive Piazza di Spagna...the missing steps.

And, we walked by...

Column of Marcus Aurelius

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The Column of Marcus Aurelius, also known as the Aurelian Column, was built between AD 180 and AD 196 as a gift by the Senate and the people of Rome and erected near the emperor's own temple, the Temple of the Deified Marcus. The column is 30 meter high and formed of 28 blocks of carrara marble. It is put on a large rectangular pedestal and bears a spiraling band of reliefs depicting events during the imperial campaigns in the north. The reliefs are deeper and more expressive than those on the column of Trajan, but they are also less refined and the compositions have a lower quality. Inside the column, which has a diameter of 3,7 meter , is a spiraling staircase that leads to a platform at the top on which a statue of Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina the younger used to stand. This statue was replaced by a statue of st. Paul, the original has disappeared. source: http://www.aviewoncities.com