Basilica. The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's

After his election to the Papal throne in 1503, Pope Julius II made a radical decision. He decided to tear down and to rebuild the 1200 year old basilica that stood atop the grave of St. Peter in Rome. Julius ordered his favored architect, Bramante, to design a glorious new church, one which would e a reflection of the Rome's power as the center of the Christian church, and one which would be large enough and grand enough to rival the ancient ruins that littered the city of Rome.

The ambitious project proceeded rapidly. In April of 1506, an elderly but fiesty Julius climbed into the foundation trench of the projected church and deposited there his own medallions - testimony to his role as instigator of the supersized project. Little did Julius know that it would be a century and a half before new St. Peter's was completed, and that in the meantime, the problem of funding the Basilica would provoke the Protestant Reformation, threatening the power of the Roman Church.

In a book that reads like a nonfiction novel, R.A. Scotti recounts this longest of building projects. On the pages of Basilica, historical characters, from Bramante to Bernini and from Pope Julius II to Pope Alexander VII spring to life. The excitement of the new project, the scandalous amount of money spent on the church, and the complications faced by its engineers are but a few of the sub-themes that run throughout the pages of this fascinating work.