After Luther’s Protestant Reformation (1517), the Catholic Church responded with the Council of Trent (1545–63) and a campaign of art, education, and (yes) Inquisition.
Plan a history trip →The Council of Trent standardized Catholic doctrine, reformed clerical abuses, and established seminaries. The Jesuits (founded 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola) became the Church’s intellectual army. The Inquisition punished heresy (Giordano Bruno burned in Campo de’ Fiori, 1600; Galileo forced to recant, 1633). And art became a weapon: overwhelming, emotional, designed to inspire awe and obedience. This is the Baroque.
Il Gesù, Rome (free): the mother church of the Jesuits. The ceiling fresco (Gaulli, 1679) is a propaganda masterpiece. Sant’Ignazio, Rome: Andrea Pozzo’s trompe-l’oeil dome (stand on the disc in the floor for the full illusion). Trento: Palazzo del Buonconsiglio (€10), where the Council met. Campo de’ Fiori: Bruno’s statue stands where he burned.