elements. Vignola's rejected design remains in an engraving of 1573. The design of this church set a pattern for Jesuit churches that lasted into the twentieth century; its innovations require enumerating. Aesthetics across the Catholic Church as a whole were strongly influenced by the Council of Trent. Although the Council itself said little about church architecture, its suggestion of simplification prompted Charles Borromeo to reform ecclesiastical building practise. Evidence of attention to his writings can be found at the Gesù. There is no narthex in which to linger: the visitor is projected immediately into the body of the church, a single nave without aisles, so that the congregation is assembled and attention is focused on the high altar. In place of aisles there are a series of identical interconnecting chapels behind arched openings, to which entrance is controlled by decorative balustrades with gates. Transepts are reduced to stubs that emphasize the altars of their end walls. The plan synthesizes the central planning of the High Renaissance, expressed by the grand scale of the dome and the prominent piers of the crossing, with the extended nave that had been characteristic of the preaching churches, a type of church established by Franciscans and Dominicans since the thirteenth century. The Jesuits relied heavily on the acoustics of the church; they wanted the faithful to clearly hear the words of the sermon. This is why the church was constructed with a single nave, and a dome at the nave, transept intersection. Everywhere inlaid polychrome marble revestments are relieved by gilding, frescoed barrel vaults enrich the ceiling and rhetorical white stucco and marble sculptures break out of their tectonic framing. The example of the Gesù did not eliminate the traditional basilica church with aisles, but after its example was set, experiments in Baroque church floor plans, oval or Greek cross, were largely confined to smaller churches and chapels. The church was consecrated by Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio, the delegate of pope Gregory XIII, on 25 November 1584. Façade The façade of the church was modified and done later by Giacomo Della Porta. We can see two main sections which are decorated with acanthus leaves on pilasters and column capitals. The lower section is divided by six pairs of pilasters (with a mix of columns and pilasters framing the main door). The main door is well decorated with low relief, the papal coat of arms, and