This church stands in another little square, dominated by Bernini's
charming elephant with an obelisk on his back. The church's name
derives from the temple of Minerva on which it stands. It is
the sister church to Santa Maria Novella in Florence, and one
of the very few Gothic churches in Rome. The finest works of
art are the statue of the Risen Christ by Michelangelo in the
left aisle and the beautiful frescoes painted by Filippino Lippi
in 1488-92 of the Life of St Thomas of Aquinas in the right transept.
However, the church possesses a darker history. The extremely
nasty 16th century Pope Paul IV Carafa, the scourge of heretics,
is buried here, and it was in the monastery behind the church
that Galileo, under torture, was forced to recant his theory
that the earth moved round the sun.
