A Church worthy of an Aria

Rome's church Sant'Andrea della Valle is as famous for its role in as a major setting in the Puccini opera Tosca as it is for its baroque art and architecture

The first act of

Puccini's opera Tosca

is set inside this 17th-century baroque edifice whose dome is second in size only to St. Peter's.

The

dome,

like the facade, was designed by

Carlo Maderno,

and it was frescoed by Lanfranco (the central Assumption of the Virgin) and

Domenichino

(the Evangelists on the pendatives and the Scenes from the Life of St. Andrew in the coffers of the choir).

The famous humanist Piccolomini popes from Siena,

Pius II and Pius III,

are buried inside.

Corso Vittorio Emanuele II

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