The church was built during Counter-Reformation – in times of struggles and ideological quarrels inside the Church also over the rule of souls – in this case it was about the souls of those who left the true faith, meaning Protestants. In face of the moral decay and wealth which brought a wave of criticism from advocates of the Reformation upon the various orders, the owners of the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle by leading an exemplary life, the severity of their rule and asceticism, were building a new face of Catholicism. In the area of re-Catholicization of the lands found in Protestant hands, Jesuits played a leading role, but Theatines were right behind them as far as missions increasing the authority of the Church. It can even be said that the rivalry between the Jesuits, who built the magnificent Church of Il Gesù nearby, and the Theatines who did not want to lag behind, found its symbolic dimension here. The effect was the building of this magnificent church, of which construction began in 1591.

Initially the construction of the church and the monastery was supervised by Giacomo della Porta, as well as a Theatine monk, who was well-versed in geometry, Francesco Grimaldi. After the death of Cardinal Alfonso Gesualdo, the first significant benefactor of the church, the Theatines found another, this time  the nephew of Pope Sixtus V – Cardinal Alessandro Peretti de Montalto. His financial input allowed for further works under the supervision of Carlo Maderno, but also for greater constructional splendor, which was testified to by the colossal dome designed by the architect, smaller only than the one in the Vatican Basilica (San Pietro in Vaticano). Works on the church lasted until 1650, when it was consecrated. It lacked only a façade to be finished, and it was created thanks to the funds of another cardinal – Francesco Peretti, but also thanks to the support of Pope Alexander VII. It was finished in 1666, albeit according to Maderno’s plans but with numerous of his own modifications by Carlo Rinaldi. The principal change was doing away with the typical for his predecessor volutes combining the upper and lower parts of the façade. Rinaldi’s idea assumed, mounting figures of angels on the protruding lower parts of the elevation. And he must be congratulated, because it is hard not to appreciate the beautiful forms and proportions of this innovation – the façade is appropriately wide, artistically divided by enormous columns, with a strongly accentuated central axis. On the cornice we will notice and inscription of dedication, commemorating the role of Pope Alexander VII in the construction of the façade: Alexander September [imus] P [ontifex] M [aximus] S [ancto] Andreae Apostolo an salutis MDCLXV.  It is worth taking a look at the sculptures found on it – in the lower part there are four niches topped off by abutments, in which we see, generally unnoticed and unappreciated figures of saints – Cajetan, Sebastian, Andrew, and Andrew Avellino. The first and the last of these are saints from the ranks of the Theatines. Andrew is the church patron, while Sebastian is a tribute to the patron of the little church, which once stood in the place of the current one, but was torn down. These sculptures came from the chisel of two outstanding Baroque sculptors - Domenico Guidi and Ercole Ferrata. Above the main enterance we will see two personifications – Hope and Strength, supporting the coat of arms of the Peretti family, from which Pope Sixtus V came (a lion with a ribbon), completed by Cosimo Fancelli. The façade itself is finished off with two angels holding the coat of arms of the Chigi family (an oak and six mountains with a star), which of course is a reference to Pope Alexander VII. Elements of his coat of arms also appear on the edges of the first floor. In addition on the left side we will notice the figure of the aforementioned angel with his wings spread out. The second was not made – reportedly the first one was so disliked by Alexander VII, that the sculptor (Ferrata) did not complete his opposite on the other side. Another thing worthy of admiration, although difficult to see (without binoculars or a camera), is the dome of the church. This little work of art is seldom admired from the inside – but it is definitely worth it, as it shows the mastery with which every architectural element was developed, which is almost invisible from the level of the ground – at least in those times. While the dome is one of the best architectural undertakings in Rome, the church campanile is one of the worst.

The enormous church interior was a challenge for many artists – the effect of their efforts leaves us breathless. Not a single person entering the church would not be left saying: wow….what excess! The church has no naves – it opens up in front of the enterer with one hall space, letting him direct his gaze deep into the monumental interior, at the end of which an altar stands. On both sides it is surrounded with only side chapels, which are a final resting place of Roman dignitaries. The whole is covered with a barrel vault floating on high arcades. At the crossing of the nave with the transept an over-eighty meter dome arises, full of windows. Among a group of artists who worked on the interior decorations, we would be amiss not to focus on those who were at that time considered the most outstanding painters in the city. Both came from Bologna and were previously friends, but when submitting their designs, they were mortal enemies. There were also, typical for that time, acts of violence between the artists, until finally a decision was reached: Giovanni Lanfranco received the commission for frescos on the church dome, while Domenichino on its pendentives and the apse.

The frescos on the dome depict the Ascension of the Virgin Mary, concentric rising into the infinity of the heavens rows of saints give it a dimension of infinity, which makes the already high dome seem even higher. With this work Lanfranco in 1627, inaugurated a new, illusionist way of painting in Rome, using bold perspective foreshortenings, while at the same time opening the church space onto the vastness of the heavens. While the saints seem to glide in otherworldly space, the dignified, monumental figures of the four evangelists by Domenichino are rather set in the earthly sphere. Another work of this artist, perhaps his best, are the frescos in the topping off of the apse, in which the painter used his talent in painting landscapes, placing the scenes in a broad, coastal, but at the same time antique landscape, thus adding decorativeness and splendor. However, they are not the ones that draw our gaze; the most eye-catching are the enormous paintings found on the walls of the apse, the work of a lesser-known but skilled fresco painter by the name of Mattia Preti (known as Il Calebrese), a painter from Calabria, active mainly on Malta. They show the martyrdom of St. Andrew – from putting the apostle on the cross, to laying his body into the grave. The concept of the altar itself is also worthy of our attention – it does not have the typical baldachin and nothing disturbs the viewer from contemplating the painting vision. The man whom we have to thank for it is the designer of this part of the church - Carlo Fontana.

The frescos of the nave vault are generally omitted in church descriptions, since they are from the XIX century. The depict the scene of the Immaculate Conception as well as the vision of the beatified mystic Orsola Benincasa.

In the church we will find many magnificent artistic objects. The oldest of these are multi-story tombs (on the left and right sides of the nave) of two popes from the times of the Renaissance - Pius II and Pius III from the Piccolomini family. They were created in 1479 and 1503 respectively and were initially located in the old Basilica of San Pietro in Vaticano, having been moved here at the beginning of the XVII century.

Chapels which should be visited:

• Ginetti Chapel (first on the left, looking from the enterance). The creator of the design was the outstanding architect of the Baroque area, the aforementioned Carlo Fontana. The chapel’s greatest asset is a marble altar in the form of a relief The Angel Urges the Holy Family to Flee to Egypt – work of an apprentice to Gian Lorenzo Bernini  – Antonio Raggi. He also sculpted the angels at the base of the altar. The two busts flanking the altar show representatives of the Ginetti family – Giovanni and Francesco and Giovanni Paolo, while on the left and right side of the chapel, other representatives of the family direct their prayers towards the altar, including (on the left), the founder of the chapel, Cardinal Marzio Ginetti, trusted aide to Pope Urban VIII and his family.
• Strozzi Chapel (second on the right). What stands out in this simply decorated chapel, funded by the significant Florentine Strozzi family, and being a final resting place of its representatives immortalized in black marble, is a replica of Michelangelo’s Pietà made in bronze in 1616. It is accompanied on both sides by other replicas: the statues of Leah and Rachel – the Old Testament heroines, who were associated with “building the house of Israel”, but also that they left “the land of their relatives and the house of their father”. The analogy of Florence, left by the Strozzis due to a conflict with the Medicis is clear, although much time has passed since that moment, while relations between the two families stabilized. Both figures were taken from another of Michelangelo’s works found in Rome – the unfinished sarcophagus of Pope Julius II found in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli. Perhaps for this in the past important, but at that time rather humble family, the work of their compatriot had sentimental value, but also his name added splendor to the family foundation.
• Crescenzi Chapel (third on the right). It has XIX century decorations. Of interest here is a monumental classical tombstone of Countess Parassede Tomati de Robilnat, made in the first half of the XIX century by an apprentice of Antonio Canova – Giuseppe de Farbris, today a sculptor that is nearly forgotten, but in the past greatly valued.

• Gaetano Chapel (left transept, looking from the enterance). The chapel is devoted to St. Cajetan, the founder of the Theatine Order, canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X. Although, the altar found within comes from the XVIII century and depicts the saint adoring Madonna and Child, the chapel itself was created at the beginning of the XX century in a style relating to Baroque. This style is represented by the allegoric figures, found on the balustrade in front of the altar (the allegories of Abundance and Wisdom). An interesting object which is in effect a part of the chapel is the monumental late-Baroque tombstone statue of Count Gaspare Thiene, made by the well-known and valued sculptor Domenico Guidi (1676), whose sculptures we first saw on the church façade. The artist certainly did everything in his power, to please his client. He used marble of various color and texture and in a theatrical way posed the elegant count. His bust seems to be protruding out of the sarcophagus, additionally adored by monumental personifications of the virtues – Love and Sensibility (the latter is believed to be Guidi’s work as well).
• Barberini Chapel (first on the left, looking from the enterance) is perhaps from an artistic point of view the most interesting. It was funded in 1616 by the then cardinal, Maffeo Barberini, the later Pope Urban VIII, dedicated to Our Lady. Unfortunately it is sealed off by a grate which makes it harder to look inside. It consists of a simple altar mounted on four Corinthian columns, in the center of which we will see The Assumption, painted by the valued and popular in Rome at the beginning of the century, Florentine mannerist Il Passignano (Domenico Crespi). Other painting decorations found within are also his work. However, it is not they, that constitute the chapel’s greatest treasure; these would be the figures of the saints placed by both side walls, of which the one depicting St. John the Baptist (on the left) was sculpted by the father of Gian Lorenzo Bernini – Pietro Bernini (1616), right after coming to Rome.   On the opposite side we will see the statues of St. John the Evangelist, and the statue of St. Martha, which seems to widen the too small niche.   This exceptionally beautiful sculpture was made by an outstanding, although, unfulfilled sculptor Francesco Mochi in 1629.  The tourists who come here, however, rather seldom appreciate the beauty of these figures, especially the statue of St. Martha is barely visible. What draws them to this place is the sentiment for the opera of Giacomo Puccini, Tosca. Its first act takes place here. According to the libretto, the painter, the beloved of Tosca, completes paintings to decorate this very chapel, including the image of the Madonna.