Italian Writer's Guide to Unknown Rome - Church of St. Silvestro al Quirinale

The entrance through an elegant staircase and archway conveys the illusion
that you are entering the magnificent palazzo of an aristocratic family,
with their private chapel sumptuously decorated with marbles and works of art.

At all appearances, the lofty gate facing Via XXIV Maggio gives access to the superb palace of some distinguished Roman family. You are invited to a ceremony, so you climb the two flights of imposing stairs concluded by an arched passageway. In ascending the steps, you can smell the aromatic flavour of incense. Then you enter the church, and the richness bedazzles your eyes.
This is a church fully open to public attendance, yet you may fancy to be the guest of a lordly host. Before you the splendour of the marbles and frescoed decorations is overwhelming. To the left, the magnificent Cappella Bandini houses painted works by Domenichino and a moving replica of Michelangelo Buonarroti's "Pietà". In 1536 the great sculptor was actually in this church, as his close and passionate friend Marchioness Vittoria Colonna had established her abode in the adjoining convent. A human and artistic bond that is being celebrated today by the presence of the divine masterwork.

When divine Art conceives a form and face,
She bids the craftsman for his first essay
To shape a simple model in mere clay:
This is the earliest birth of Art's embrace.
From the live marble in the second place
His mallet brings into the light of day
A thing so beautiful that who can say
When time shall conquer that immortal grace?