St Peter's - Keith Miller

Miller leads the reader in via Bernini's Piazza San Pietro, a space which is "a zone of transition between a secular, democratic republic on one side, a scant 137 years old, and the rump of an ancient and granitically conservative theocracy on the other." From there, the book proceeds to describe the origins and the history St Peter's: arguably the most important and the most famous church in the world. It was founded at the supposed site of St Peter's tomb and developed throughout centuries to become a place of unrivalled religious, artistic and social significance, a " church forever crowded with visitors pursuing different agendas: the tourists ...  Read the complete review