Bernini's oval

You enter along the long side of an oval, so the altar sits directly across from you and the whole space reveals itself at a single glance. That is the exact opposite of the church two hundred metres down the road, where the oval runs lengthwise and you more or less have to walk through it.

Everything here is made of coloured marble, gilded stucco and directed light, and Bernini used all three as parts of a single scene. Above the altarpiece, Saint Andrew breaks through the frame and rises towards the vault, where stucco angels wait for him in the light that falls through a hidden window.

The dome above runs in ribs up to a lantern, with putti leaning over the edge. If you linger for a moment, you can watch the light slide across the gold as the day goes on, because the windows were placed with exactly that in mind.

According to his son, Bernini would sometimes sit here for hours in his later years, purely because this was the one building he stayed happy with.

We head back to the crossroads with the four fountains and take Via del Quirinale west, past the palace, until we come out on the large square with the obelisk and the two horsemen.