When Michelangelo died in 1564, aged eighty-eight and a few months short of his 89th birthday, friends buried him for a short time in his parish church, the Della Rovere church, Santi Aposotli, near his residence on Macel de’ Corvi close to Trajan’s column. The Palazzo dei Apostoli (Palazzo della Rovere), with its Renaissance portal, lies immediately to the left of the church. Its second cloister wall preserves a monument to the City’s most revered artist, once interred here.
So greatly was he esteemed in his own age that to him is reserved the honor of being the first European artist whose biography was written by Giorgio Vasari (Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects) while the artist was still alive.
Shortly after his burial Michelangelo’s nephew Lionardo and friends clandestinely removed his uncle’s body on the orders of the Medici and transported it by wagon to Florence for entombment in the Church of Santa Croce.
The palazzo somewhat resembles Palazzo Venezia. Guiliano da Sangallo designed it in the late 15th century for Guiliano della Rovere (later, Pope Julius II), titular bishop of the attached church. The della Rovere coat of arms appears at the corner of its tower, on the left side of the building.
