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SANTA MARIA IN CAMPITELLI The church of Santa Maria in Campitelli, masterpiece by Carlo Rainaldi, a student of Bernini, was ordered by Pope Alessandro VII as the execution of a vow made to the Roman people, to treasure the image of the Madonna in Portico that the Romans, threatened by the pestilence, were used to pray; in 1656, in fact, the end of pestilence was attributed to her. The façade, all made of travertine, is on two orders with the columns that are completely detached from the bottom, for the first time in a church’s prospect. Due to the diversity of the decorations, the unusual distribution of doors and windows, she offers extraordinary chiaroscuro-effects, scenical and plastic, even though it lacks sculptural ornament. Inside the church, a very rich golden tabernacle by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi welcomes the image of the Vergine. In the nearby cloister one can see part of the basement of the Tempio di Apollo Sosiano.