The Basilica: The dome was designed by Michelangelo, who worked on the construction of the basilica beginning in 1547. By the end of his long life (he died at 89 in 1564), construction had reached the drum of the dome, which alternates highly prominent double columns with gabled windows. Then, Giacomo Della Porta, Michelangelo’s pupil, took over the direction of the work, raising the vault of the dome about 7 metres and completing it in 1590, in just 22 months, under the pontificate of Pope Sixtus V.
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