Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli

Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli is a Baroque church on the small Piazza di Campitelli, built in the 17th century as a shrine for a tiny, much‑venerated icon of the Virgin that was believed to have stopped a 1656 plague. From the square the church looks grand but nicely scaled to the street, with a two‑level travertine façade, a dome, and a lantern; its plan cleverly leads the eye from the wide nave into the domed shrine that holds the miracle image. The building grew from older Christian and Roman remains on the site, so it feels like one of those Roman places where many layers of the city sit together.

Inside, the real draw is the glittering little icon of the Madonna del Portico set in a gilded “gloria” of angels and rays above the high altar, housed in a sculptural setting designed by Rainaldi and finished by artists like Giovanni Antonio de’ Rossi and Ercole Ferrata. The side chapels contain notable Baroque paintings by artists such as Luca Giordano, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Baciccia), and Sebastiano Conca, plus impressive funerary monuments (like the Altieri chapels) and a small reliquary chapel with older relics and a Byzantine‑style mosaic.

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