Passing through the unassuming portal of Santa Maria degli Angeli, visitors soon enter a cavernous space. In many ways, the grand scale and ornate decoration of the interior that greets them is difficult to reconcile with the plain brick exterior. Worshippers and tourists alike often stop, gape, and then wander the space aimlessly. In contrast to nearly every other church in Rome, where the altar presents itself immediately opposite the entrance, the altar of Santa Maria degli Angeli is not so obvious.1 Overwhelmed by Luigi Vanvitelli’s encrustations of colored marble and the spectacular baroque chapels visible from the entrance, many people walk back and forth several times before realizing that they have to make a hard turn in order to find the main altar (Figure 50). Capping this enormous, confusing space is an expanse of gray, undulating Roman vaulting.