Italian contractors Webuild and Vianini Lavori have completed an 18-month restoration of the 16th Century Church of Santa Maria di Loreto in Rome’s historic centre.
The project was part of the works to build the Venezia station for Line C of Rome’s metro, and a campaign to safeguard monuments and buildings of Piazza Venezia under the scientific guidance of the Special Supervisory Board of Rome.
The church was commissioned by Rome’s Bakers’ Guild, the Pio Sodalizio dei Fornai, and built in stages between 1507 and 1594.
The brick and travertine building comprises a domed, octagonal middle storey set on a square base, topped with a dome.
Renaissance architects Donato Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, and Jacopo Del Duca, a student of Michelangelo, contributed to its design.
Webuild said a team of workers, engineers, architects, topographers and restoration experts carried out a series interventions, including threading 32 steel structural reinforcement chains to consolidate floors, drum and dome.
They installed 80 sensors for structural monitoring, and used natural mortars to fix cracks.
Inside, the team restored surfaces of the dome, presbytery and sacristy, including 734 sq m of frescoes.
They restored the crypt to bring light to its frescos, and consolidated the decorative apparatus of the drum and dome.
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