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A look at some church facades this afternoon has sent me down a rabbit hole. Does this church intrigue you as much as it does me? You might have noticed it on my blog home page, backgrounding the Bernini sculpture for which the blog is named. This is Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. It's a Dominican church consecrated in 1370. It was built over a temple dedicated to Isis (wrongly called Minerva, hence the 'sopra.') 

It's a Gothic church, the only one in Rome according to this Wikipedia article. It doesn't appear there are too many Gothic churches in Florence and Rome. I suppose most of them were renovated, overdecorated with Baroque enthusiasm that only popes could muster during the triumphant Counter-Reformation. I read that plain little Sopra Minerva acquired some Baroque bling, and some interior fitting which was later removed.  

I've been puzzling about this little beauty for some time. In a city of dramatic Baroque churches, this plain little facade (called Renaissance in one article) is so appealing. But as we know, churches typically evolved over time, or even have complete facelifts, or don't get finished at all, long after they're first consecrated. I came across this interesting article in the Liturgical Arts Journal which provides alternate facades for Sopra Minerva, one of the likely original (photo manipulation) and the drawing for the proposed Baroque facelift (yuck.) Perhaps I should leave the last word on Sopra Minerva, to that august assembly.

San Giovanni in Bragora, Venice

Sopra Minerva endears me to it in the same way that this little dear in Venice, San Giovanni in Bragora does. It was founded in 8th century, receiving this plain brick Gothic facade around 1500. I did a post about its impact on me last May. 

Another intesting discovery from this bit of research. When you think of Gothic churches, you likely think of pointy arched soaring stained glass places like Notre Dame in Paris. Somewhere (better citation advisable) I read that high Gothic was never popular in Italy. Milan Cathedral might have been an exception, although two that I have visited, Orvieto and Siena , are Italian Gothic blended with Byzantine and Romanesque elements. And the incomparable St. Mark's Basilica in Venice is a dizzying combination of Byzantine, Gothic and Romanesque. The upper church of the Basilica of St. Francis of  Assisi, which I visited with my guy in 1995 and again with a congenial group in 2023 is also a Gothic church, with Romanesque features. 

Here are some 1995 travel snaps.

Siena Cathedral consecrated 1215 (medieval)

Orvieto Cathedral (construction begun 1290 - Gothic)

Oh, here's an Italian Gothic Architecture article (you're not still reading this, are you?)  It has a photo of the magnificent Milan Cathedral, a more typical Gothic church. In Northern Italy, I suppose it was easier to be influenced by the splendid light and verticality of churches in France.

Denis pondering in front of the Baptistery in Padua, 1995
To his right, the unfinished Padua Cathedral

And on a final note, the matter of unfinished facades. As the histories of many of these great cathedrals tell me, they evolved, with style changes, brand new ideas, or financial issues. 

San Lorenzo

This one, the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, never got its facelift (I mentioned it in this post last year) although there were grand plans afoot. The rough stone was the perfect spot to attach sheets of coloured marble. Which  is what happened in the 19th century when the marvellous iconic facades of Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore (the 'Duomo') and Santa Croce were finally completed. 

Santa Maria del Fiore - facade completed 1887

Santa Croce - facade completed 1865