Santa Maria in Aracoeli

The 13th century Santa Maria in Aracoeli is a favourite church for Bill and me. It is on the Capitoline Hill, beside the famous Capitoline Museums.

These stairs were built early in the 14th Century by the survivors of the Black Death, the plague that killed half the population of Europe. Steep and no bannisters. Not for me!

We took the stairs Michelangelo built 200 years later, and ascended grandly to the Campidoglio: the public square he put between the Capitoline museums.

We slipped around the back of the building our our left, the Palazzo Nuovo. These stairs leading up to a side door of the Aracoeli, took us into the church near the altar.

We walked away from the altar, then looked back for this view of with the floor and ceiling of "Saint Mary of the Altar of Heaven".

The Aracoeli has some wonderful chandeliers. Would love to see these lit at night.

Beside the central altar is this side altar.

Midway along the nave we find a large wooden pulpit.

My Catholic upbringing did not bring me anyone delivering a sermon from such a pulpit. The priest must have been quite a sight up there.

Bill showed me this 15th century fresco by Pinturicchio.

At the opposite end of the nave from the altar we found an intriguing complex of tombs.

Here is a closer look at the group on the left. Not sure who is lying on his back. So much to see in this church!

Bill and I are fond of depictions of St George and the Dragon. Bill once painted me a Valentine with these two figures. He made himself the dragon.

Our visit drew to an end as the promise of lunch approached. I decide to document the amazing cosmatesque floor, as I have learned to call it.

Might be able to do something with these details someday.

As I walked around with my nose to the ground, Bill slipped out a nearby door and got this view of the Campidoglio.

He gazed down the famous 14th century stairs for a moment, then we escaped around the back and crossed town for lunch.