Between the Amphitheatrum Castrense and the Aurelian Walls stands the small church of Santa Maria del Buon Aiuto, commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere (1471-1484) in memory of the help he received during a sudden cloudburst while visiting the monks of the nearby basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Having found shelter under a canopy placed to protect an image of the Virgin and Child, attributed to Antoniazzo Romano, the pontiff later had the sacred representation framed and moved to the church, built in memory of the miracle. An epigraph placed on the façade of the building recalls the miraculous event.
