Italy Traveller Guide

Daily 7.45am-noon & 4-7.30pm. To the northeast of Piazza Navona, crossways Piazza delle Cinque Lune and through an arch, is the Renaissance deception of the church of Sant’Agostino , which takes up one side of a drab piazza of the same name. It’s not much to look at from the outside, but a handful of art treasures might draw you in. Just inside the door, the serene statue of the Madonna del Parto, by Sansovino, is traditionally invoked during pregnancy, and is accordingly surrounded by photos of newborn babes and their blissful parents. Further into the church, take a look also at Raphael’s vibrant fresco of Isaiah, on the third pillar on the left, beneath which is another work by Sansovino, a craggy St Anne, Virgin and Child. But the biggest crowds gather around the first chapel on the left, where the Madonna and Pilgrims by Caravaggio (L500 to switch on the lights) is a characteristic work of what was at the time almost revolutionary realism, showing two peasants with dirty limbs and clothes praying at the feet of a sensuous Mary and Child.