Restoration of landmark church completed in time for Vatican's Jubilee Year.

Rome's Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, a jewel of the Roman Renaissance and Baroque, has reopened following extensive restoration works that began in 2022.

Built in the late 15th century on the site of an earlier church, Santa Maria del Popolo contains works by masters including Bernini, Bramante, Caravaggio, Pinturicchio and Raphael.

The newly completed restoration, undertaken in a public-private collaboration, has returned the church's masterful examples of architecture and art to their original splendour.

The two-year project was overseen by Rome's special Superintendency and the Fondo Edifici di Culto (the trust for the protection and conservation of ecclesiastical buildings under the care of Italy's interior ministry), with the financial contribution of media company Urban Vision and the Mecenati Roman Heritage association.

The restoration involved both the interior and exterior of the basilica, incorporating the central nave, transept, roof and decorative features including stuccoes and the marble coat of arms of Pope Sixtus IV under whose pontificate the church was reconstructed between 1472 and 1477.

The restored masterpieces include the Cerasi Chapel, designed by Carlo Maderno and renowned for Caravaggio's masterpieces: the Crucifixion of Saint Peter and the Conversion of Saint Paul.

Other notable works to be restored include the Chigi Chapel, designed by Raphael and enriched by Bernini's bronze lamp which forms a Marian crown, and the funerary monument of Flaminia Odescalchi Chigi, an example of the late Roman Baroque.

The restoration of the landmark Roman church was completed in time for the Vatican's Jubilee Year 2025 when more than 32 million pilgrims and tourists are set to arrive in the Eternal City.

Photos Simona Sansonetti.