Santa Maria Del Popolo

I wanted to visit this church because of the art in it – a chapel designed by Raphaël, 2 statues by Bernini and 2 of Caravaggio’s paintings. So we arrived a little after lunch – only to see the church doors being locked. We had to come back in the afternoon, so here are the opening hours:
7-12, 16-19.
When we finally got inside, it was very very dark. We squinted at the Caravaggio paintings, very disappointed – when suddenly we saw the light – a lady figured out how it worked: she put a coin in a box in front of the chapel, which made the light go on for 5 minutes. Why this is done (money, reducing light exposure) I don’t know, but if it wasn’t for the lady we hadn’t seen anything.