Sapienza University of Rome

Francesco Borromini's church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza closes the courtyard of the Palazzo della Sapienza in Rome, Italy, its spiraling lantern rising above the dome. Giacomo della Porta built the palace's portal in the late 1500s, and Borromini completed the complex with this church. The palace was the university's home until 1935, when it moved to a new campus, so this photo shows its historic seat rather than where it teaches today. Pope Boniface VIII founded the university in 1303 as the Studium Urbis, the studium of the city of Rome.