Santa Maria in Domnica alla Navicella: what to see and tips

The church of Santa Maria in Domnica, antique diaconia, it was probably founded during C. VII on the ruins of a Roman construction of irrelevant importance. It was then rebuilt by the order of Pope Pasquale I and remodeled around 1513 by Cardinal Giovanni dei Medici who then became Leone X. 

The name comes from the name "Dominicum" given to Christian cult places in the first centuries. The simple Renaissance façade is preceded by an elegant and wide porch, with five arcades and pilaster strips, Dorian and inspired by Bramante’s works, built by Andrea Sansovino (1513). 

The interior is divided into three naves thanks to the succession of eighteen antique columns made of grey granite, with Corinthian marble capitals. Under the wooden panelled ceiling, decorated with the symbols of the Litanie of the Vergine, from 1566, runs a nice Renaissance frieze frescoed Perin del Vaga, on a drawing by Giulio Romano, bearing heraldic motifs from the Medici family. 

At the end of the main nave, one finds the marvellous mosaic of the time under Pope Pasquale I, like that portraying the Virgin from C. IX, surrounded by angels, which holds a tissue.