Santa Maria di Loreto is a 16th-century church in Rome, central Italy, located just across the street from the Trajan`s Column, near the giant Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II. After the Jubilee of 1500, the association of bakers Sodalizio dei Fornai received permission from Pope Alexander VI to build a church at this site. Construction of this church began in 1507 by Antonio da Sangallo the younger, with an octagonal floor plan; the dome and the lantern were completed by Jacopo del Duca some 75 years later. The church was built atop an earlier 15th century chapel, which contained an icon of the Virgin of Loreto, hence the church retained the icon and acquired the title. It is most notable for the adjacent erection of a similarly domed, but pale marble, 18th-century church Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano, giving the semblance of twin churches.
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