ROMA -- Chiesa di sant'Ignazio di Loyola

Dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the second Jesuit church in Rome (after the Gesù) is strongly Baroque in style. The church was built in 1626 by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV, to celebrate the canonization of Ignatius, founder of the Jesuit order. Designed by Carlo Maderno, its construction was carried out by Orazio Grassi, a Jesuit mathematician. As soon as you cross the threshold of the church, you can admire the unique geometric patterns of the marble on the floor, leading to the center of the nave where they form a circle. From this precise point, raising one's eyes to the sky, one can admire the fantastic fresco with the Glory of Saint Ignatius (1685), also by Andrea del Pozzo, which through the "breakthrough" or "squaring" effect of the ceiling makes it appear twice as high as it actually is, offering the spectator's eyes the perspective simulation of a second three-dimensional church that "rests" directly on the real one.