The small church of S. Ivo alla Sapienza, built at the end of the courtyard of the Palazzo della Sapienza, is one of the great Baroque buildings.

"It has a central ground plan, in the form of a hexagon of 6 triangles, contained, as it were, within a circle, with concave and convex walls. This variety of line was unified by giant pilasters and by a high cornice, given great emphasis. The pilasters continue upwards in the moulding of the dome: thus in the lower part of the cupola the plan of the church is echoed, while at the top, below the lantern, the form is circular, making the vertical thrust almost awesome; in this reduction from multiplicity to unity, from variety to the simplicity of the circle, lies much of the fascination of this church: geometrical succinctness and inexhaustible imagination, technical skill and religious symbolism, have rarely found such a reconciliation (Wittkower)."

— Renzo Salvadori, Architect's Guide to Rome, p. 108.