Bramante Cloister and Santa Maria della Pace

The cloister of Santa Maria della Pace is Donato Bramante's first work in Rome, built between 1500 and 1504 — shortly afterwards the same architect would design the new St Peter's Basilica. Today it hosts art exhibitions and a café on the upper floor, floating above the cloister.

Did you know: From the cloister's upper floor, a window looks into the church onto Raphael's frescoed Sibyls — an unusual view of a masterpiece.

✦ The legend: Here tradition has left no legend, but a true episode worth as much as one. From the café on the upper floor you look straight into the church of Santa Maria della Pace and see, from very close, the Sibyls Raphael painted in 1514: a vantage point nobody planned, created by chance when the cloister was restored.