Cerasi Chapel, Baroque chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy

The Cerasi Chapel is the first chapel left of the main altar in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. It has two parts: a sail-vaulted anteroom frescoed by Giovanni Battista Ricci with the Evangelists and the Doctors of the Church, and a narrow barrel-vaulted chancel. There the altar, framed by two tall green marble columns with white capitals, holds Annibale Carracci's Assumption, flanked by Caravaggio's Crucifixion of Saint Peter and Conversion of Saint Paul.

Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi purchased the chapel rights in 1600 and hired architect Carlo Maderno to rebuild the space. The redesign replaced an older chapel with new Baroque construction.

The chapel displays religious subjects central to Catholic faith through its paintings. Visitors see depictions of Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and the Virgin Mary's Assumption, all arranged so that the theological meaning becomes clear through what is shown.

The chapel is the first one on the left of the main altar, in the left transept of Santa Maria del Popolo. It is entered through an arched opening closed by a balustrade of colourful marble. The space is narrow and deep, split into a sail-vaulted anteroom and a smaller barrel-vaulted chancel, lit dimly by a lunette window on the back wall.

The two side paintings by Caravaggio were intentionally designed to be viewed from an angle rather than straight on. This arrangement creates a deliberate visual path that guides the viewer toward the central altarpiece.