After a long restoration, Borromini’s Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome reopens with free entry from Monday to Friday.

The post appeared first on .

After years of closure and a long restoration, Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza reopened to the public on 27 October 2026. ‘s church, which overlooks the courtyard of Palazzo della Sapienza on Corso del Rinascimento, can be visited for free from Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 1:30pm.

Visitors are welcomed by , who, as part of the Aperti per voi project, show them around the courtyard and the church. The reopening is the result of a collaboration between the Touring Club, the State Archives of Rome and the Diocese of Rome.

The church sits at the heart of Palazzo della Sapienza, one of the most important complexes of Roman Baroque. Construction began in the mid-fifteenth century and was completed at the end of the seventeenth, with contributions from Giacomo della Porta and Borromini. For centuries the palazzo was home to the Studium Urbis, Rome’s ancient university. Today it houses offices of the Italian Senate and the State Archives of Rome with the Biblioteca Alessandrina, which holds documents from the nineteenth century to the present day.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Borromini was appointed architect of the Sapienza in 1632 by Pope Urban VIII and worked on the church from 1642 to 1660, adapting his ideas to the existing buildings. The plan is based on a six-pointed star inscribed in a hexagon, with a constant interplay of concave and convex lines that rises to the famous spiral lantern, decorated with tongues of flame and visible from many points of the historic centre. The altarpiece is by Pietro da Cortona.

INSPIRATION

Restoration and safety work on the complex, overseen by the Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma, began in 2016, after the earthquake that struck central Italy on 30 October that year. The first phase brought structural improvements, consolidating the building’s original load-bearing system without visible intrusion, along with careful conservation work.

The work covered the entire monumental complex: the lantern of Sant’Ivo; several rooms of the State Archives of Rome, including the great hall of the Biblioteca Alessandrina, built by Borromini in 1665; the offices of the Italian Senate; and the parts of the building constructed between 1595 and 1602 by Giacomo della Porta, a pupil of Michelangelo and Vignola, who designed the courtyard before Borromini’s intervention.

The final phase focused on the church. Between 2024 and spring 2026, funded by the PNRR Caput Mundi programme, cleaning, consolidation and the removal of deteriorated plaster restored the architectural surfaces of Sant’Ivo and the complex, bringing back what Superintendent Daniela Porro called “a return of Borromini’s white”, the colour the architect used to give movement to space. The next step will be a new lighting system, supported by a private sponsor.

“The restoration and structural safety work on Palazzo della Sapienza is the clearest example of the role the Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma plays in protecting Rome’s artistic and architectural heritage. It is an important intervention that has given this architectural gem back its true value, made possible only by different institutions working side by side in a harmonious and productive way,” said Daniela Porro, Special Superintendent of Rome, at the end of the first phase of work.

One of the most significant results of the restoration is the recovery of Borromini’s Corridor, a pedestrian passage between the palazzo and Piazza Sant’Eustachio built between 1659 and 1664. Located in the northern part of the building and long used as a storeroom and garage, the corridor was inaugurated at the end of September 2021, after its original walls and floor were restored, giving the complex back its historic entrance from Piazza Sant’Eustachio.

Complesso monumentale di Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza
Corso del Rinascimento, 40

The Church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza is open Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 1:30pm. Admission is free.

For opening hours and access to the State Archives of Rome and the Biblioteca Alessandrina, visit the .

The post appeared first on .