Sant'Ignazio, Rome

Sant'Ignazio is a Baroque church in Rome dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. Built between 1626 and 1650, it served as the chapel for the adjacent Roman College. Inside, you see a Latin cross plan with side chapels, colored marbles, stucco reliefs, and dramatic trompe-l'œil paintings that create the illusion of a dome and an open sky.

Don't miss

• Andrea Pozzo's ceiling fresco (c. 1685) showing Saint Ignatius welcomed into paradise, using perspective to make the barrel vault appear open to the sky.
• Trompe-l'œil painting of a dome on canvas at the crossing, created because funds for a real dome were lacking.
• Marble disk in the nave floor marking the ideal spot to view the ceiling illusion.
• Sculptural group 'Magnificence and Religion' (1650) by Alessandro Algardi on the nave's west wall.
• High-relief of St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Glory (1697–99) by Pierre Le Gros in the right transept chapel.
• Burial sites of Saints Aloysius Gonzaga, Robert Bellarmine, and John Berchmans.

Tickets & tours

Ways to visit Sant'Ignazio, Rome

Cheapest way inSkip the Line St Peters Basilica, Papal Tombs & Dome Guided Tour4.8★ · 263 travelers~2 hoursFree cancellationFrom$19 per personSee dates →Most bookedSkip the Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel and Basilica Guided Tour4.6★ · 4,300 travelers~3 hoursFree cancellationFrom$87 per personSee dates →Top ratedRome City, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain Walking Tour4.9★ · 407 travelers~2 hoursFree cancellationFrom$23 per personSee dates →

Know before you go

• Look for the marble disk on the nave floor; standing on it gives the best view of the trompe-l'œil ceiling.
• The dome you see is a painted illusion on canvas, not a real structure.
• The church is one of several Counter-Reformation preaching churches in Rome's historic center.

A bit of history

The church replaced an earlier Church of the Annunciation built between 1562 and 1567, which became too small for the college's 2,000 students. Pope Gregory XV, a former student, suggested a new church after Ignatius's canonization. His nephew Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi chose plans by Jesuit mathematician Orazio Grassi. The foundation stone was laid in 1626, and the church opened for worship in 1650, with final consecration in 1722.