I capolavori | La facciata

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The current facade was designed by Ferdinando Fuga and completed between 1741 and 1749, but the original appearance of the ancient prospect is unknown. It's known that during the pontificate of Niccolò IV (1288 - 1292) a series of works were carried out in the church, including the still visible mosaic decoration in the Loggia delle Benedizioni and the rose window. Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Martino Longhi the Elder to build a new portico, which was completed between 1572 and 1575, but no physical evidence remains. Between 1605 and 1608 Flaminio Ponzio worked on the design of the sacristies, so he is responsible for the right side of the current prospect, developed on two registers and vertically divided by columns. Fuga's intervention resolved the definitive composition of the ensemble, with the creation of a five-opening portico and the upper loggia with three openings, and the realization of the canonica (left side) designed in the image of the 17th-century intervention of Ponzio.