ALTAR; MONUMENTAL CIBORIUM

The main altar in polychrome marble was executed according to the design of Valentino Martelli; it was completed in around 1610. Martelli was a fine interpreter of the skills learned from Michelangelo, which he successfully combined with a markedly modified sobriety. He began the work in San Pietro in 1591 by designing the restructuring of the interior and the construction of a cloister in front of the basilica. The altar, which houses the remains of St. Pietro Vincioli, is surmounted by an elegant, monumental ciborium, richly decorated with jasper and ancient green marble. It was commissioned by Abbot Alessandro Pacognani to the Tuscan sculptor Sante Ghetti, who created it in Rome for the sum of 124 scudi. Ghetti moved to Rome during the 1620s and was engaged in the Fabric of St. Peter, where he came into contact with sculptors who were members of the close circle of Bernini.