Rome presented a poor face to the pilgrims of the Jubilee year of 1550. Half of the population had been killed in the Sack of 1527, the best artists had fled to foreign courts, and the very necessity or desirability of ornament in churches had been called into question. Buildings destroyed, roads unpassable, the first winds of renewal were already blowing through the Urbs in the form of the new religious orders. Jesuits, Oratorians, and Theatines revived the flagging spiritual life of the city, and restored the impoverished cityscape by commissioning new churches. Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) seized the moment of this rebirth in Rome, creating a coherent and dramatic urban plan for the city. Rooted in the grand new churches, and blossoming along the branches of Sixtus' new avenues, the Baroque era bore copious fruit in the form of exquisite monuments. This walk begins by looking at the artistic contributions of the new orders in Santa Andrea della Valle and the Gesù, their innovative architecture and original iconography. It then explores the Baroque ideal of Spirit and Triumph, through the designs of Borromini and Bernini.