San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini, Rome

This church was built at the beginning of the 16th Century for the Florentine community in Rome as St John the Baptist is the city's patron saint. A competition was held by the Medici Pope Leo X and Jacopo Sansovino was declared the winner. The work continued by Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane, who built the foundations, and then by Giacomo Della Porta and Maderno, who built the dome. Michelangelo submitted a design but it was never used. San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini holds many works by famous artists: an altar-piece by Salvator Rosa depicting the saints Cosma and Damiano, frescoes by Pomarancio, and a lovely sepulchral monument by Borromini who is buried in this church together with his relative Carlo Maderno.

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