CONTENTS

Building the Basilica: Time Line

Visual Glossaries

Author’s Note

PART I. THE CHRISTIAN CAESAR 1503–1513

1. The First Stone, April 1506

2. The First St. Peter’s

3. Il Terribilis

4. A Trojan Horse

5. A Surprise Winner

6. Imperial Dimensions

7. Vaulting Ambition

8. Onward Christian Soldiers

9. A Christian Imperium

10. A Viper’s Nest

11. The Death of Julius

PART II.THE DEPLORABLE MEDICI POPES 1513–1534

12. The First Medici Prince

13. An Empty Stage

14. A Roman Candle

15. The Revenge of the Sangallos

16. Salvation for Sale

17. Sweet Revenge

18. A Brief Moment of Truth

19. Medici Redux

PART III. THE MICHELANGLELO IMPERATIVE 1546–1626

20. A Violent Awakening

21. Julius’s Folly

22. Motu Proprio

23. An Immovable Object

24. The Swineherd Who Built Rome

25. Raising the Dome

26. A New Century

27. The Knaves of St. Peter’s

28. 1,300 Years Later

PART IV. BERNINI’S GRAND ILLUSIONS 1623–1667

29. The Romance of the Baroque

30. Full Circle

Epilogue

Appendix I: The Popes from Nicholas V to Alexander VII

Appendix II: Statistics

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index