You may have visited this magnificent church several times, but if by chance you pass by it, you cannot resist its charm without entering inside once again.
The church takes its name from the temple of Minerva Chalcidica on whose remains it was believed it had been built in the early Middle Ages.
On the site currently occupied by the Basilica and the adjoining Dominican convent, in ancient times there were some Roman buildings of great importance: the temples dedicated to Isis and Serapis, the main sanctuary of the Egyptian cults in Rome, as well as the one erected in honor of Minerva Chalcidica, built by Domitian and from which the name of the current Church comes.
It was rebuilt between the 1200s and 1300s by the Dominicans, modifying a previous church that belonged to the Greek nuns of Campo Marzio. In the 16th century the architect Giuliano da Sangallo modified the choir and in the 17th century Carlo Maderno enlarged the apse. In the mid-19th century, the Gothic forms, now irreparably lost with the Baroque interventions in the interiors and on the façade, were restored. In addition to the great masterpieces, the church preserves the tombstone of the painter Beato Angelico.
It is the best-known Dominican Church in Rome, as well as one of the very few examples of Gothic architecture in Rome, a place rich in historical and artistic memories.
In it you can admire the extraordinary beauty of unique masterpieces, belonging to different styles and historical periods, in one building that is a treasure chest.
Located a short distance from the Pantheon, the Basilica is also famous because it houses the remains of various characters illustrious, including St.Catherine of Siena and the painter Beato Angelico.
Thanks to the financial support of Pope Boniface VIII and many faithful, construction of the large three-nave Gothic church began in 1280. The source of inspiration was the basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, the church which is the supreme symbol of the Dominican order, but with a more simplified scheme compared to the original model. The construction was finally finished with the façade only in 1725 thanks to the intervention of Pope Benedict XIII.
Although the exterior appears extremely sober, with a linear and simple façade, it is the interior of the Church that houses numerous works of art of immense value, an example of which are "the Christ of Minerva", a marble statue by Michelangelo Buonarroti, created in 1519-1520, the work in memory of Maria Raggi, a sculptural monument designed and executed by the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1647 as well as the Bust of Giovanni Vigevano from 1617-1618.
Other famous artists such as Baldassarre Peruzzi, Giovan Battista da Sangallo and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, protagonists of Renaissance architectural culture, worked in the basilica in the first half of the 16th century in the reconstruction and expansion of the apse to place the funerary monuments of Leo VII, the Popes of the Medici family.
Another monument worthy of note is the Aldobrandini Chapel, where you can admire not only the precious works carried out by eminent architects and sculptors such as Giacomo Della Porta, Girolamo Rainaldi and Carlo Maderno, but also and above all the altar canvas. In fact it preserves inside the canvas depicting the "Institution of the Eucharist", also known as "The Last Supper" (oil on canvas, dating back to around 1603-1607) by the painter from Urbino Federico Barocci known as il Fiori, while on the sides of the altar there are the marble statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (dating to around 1600-1604) by the Vicenza sculptor Camillo Mariani.
Finally, one cannot fail to mention in relation to Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the Carafa Chapel with its very famous cycle of frescoes by Filippino Lippi, considered one of the highest examples of late fifteenth-century art present in Rome.
Located on the right side of the basilica and dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Thomas Aquinas, symbolic figure of the Dominicans, it was built towards the end of the 15th century at the behest of the charismatic Cardinal Carafa and is truly an admirable work of great refinement.
With reference to the history of this church: for those who don't know yet, on 22 June 1633 the Italian astronomer ans physicist Galileo Galilei, accused of heresy, abjured his astronomical theses in the convent adjacent to the church, for centuries the seat of the Holy Inquisition.
Splendid.