Basilica di Sant'Andrea delle Fratte

The Basilica of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte is served by the Minims of Saint Francis of Paola, who received the church in 1585. The building brings together work by Gaspare Guerra, Francesco Borromini and Mattia de Rossi, as well as two marble angels by Gian Lorenzo Bernini originally made for Ponte Sant'Angelo.

Why it matters

The basilica's layers record several centuries of religious and artistic history in Rome. Its bell tower and dome are among Borromini's distinctive works, while the church is also associated with the 1842 vision of the Virgin reported by Alphonse Ratisbonne, a French convert whose story became linked to the Madonna del Miracolo chapel.

What to notice

Bernini's marble angels, carved between 1667 and 1670 for Ponte Sant'Angelo, stand beside the high altar; his heirs later gave them to the church. Borromini's white-marble campanile rises from a square base to a circular belfry, and its movement when the great bell rings earned it the name “ballerino.” The chapel of the Madonna del Miracolo preserves the image associated with Ratisbonne's reported vision. The chapel of Sant'Anna was designed by Luigi Vanvitelli and Giuseppe Valadier.

Context and history

A church of Sant'Andrea is documented here by the twelfth century. Sixtus V entrusted it to the Minims in 1585, and rebuilding began under Gaspare Guerra in the early seventeenth century. Borromini worked on the dome and bell tower from 1653; Mattia de Rossi completed the building in 1691. On 20 January 1842, Alphonse Ratisbonne reported seeing the Virgin in the chapel, an experience that led to his conversion to Catholicism.