Interior view

The construction of the present Baroque church began in 1687-1690 under the designs of Giovanni Battista Bergonzoni, who built the elliptical plan with a dome designed by Giuseppe Tubertini (1759-1831), completed in 1787. The facade was not added till 1905. The sanctuary houses the sculptural group of Sorrow over Dead Christ (1463) by Niccolò dell'Arca.

A mixture of Roman and North Italian ideas is to be found in this church. The derivation from the Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona is evident in the elevation rather than in the plan. While the latter is actually a rectangle with beveled corners and shallow transverse chapels, the elevation is treated like a Greek cross, with the arches under the dome resting on projecting columns. A square choir with dome is joined to the oval main room (a North Italian type of plan). The congregational room and the choir are firmly interlocked, for the arch as well as the supporting columns belong to both spaces: they have exactly corresponding counterparts at the far end of the choir.

View the ground plan of the Santa Maria della Vita, Bologna.