The Churches of Rome
Capital of Christianity, Rome, with almost 1000 churches, is the city that has the most churches in the world.
In addition to the four papal basilicas, including St. Peter's Basilica and the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano (which is also the cathedral of Rome), there are churches paleo-Christian and medieval as the Pantheon) (the inscription that can be seen on the architrave of the tympanum M AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIUM FECIT is from the original building dating back to 27-25 BC) , Santa Maria in Cosmedin, between the Circus Maximus and the Tiber, known above all for the Bocca della Verità, on a wall of the entrance or the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere , dating back to the XII century.
With its long Christian history, Rome is also rich in Baroque and Renaissance churches, especially present in the historic centre, such as Santa Maria del Popolo, built on the site where Nero died and was buried , in today's Piazza del Popolo, San Luigi dei Francesi, the national church of the French of Rome and which houses three famous paintings by Caravaggio or Sant'Agnese in Agone in Piazza Navona (hence the name of the square).
In Rome there is also the beautiful Gothic church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a few steps away from the Pantheon and the Catacombs.
Basilica of S. Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri
This is the beautiful church that overlooks Piazza della Repubblica, not far from Termini station and it is the church where the official celebrations of the Italian Republic take place.
It owes its name to the Sicilian priest Antonio del Duca, devoted to the cult of angels, following a vision in which he saw a "light more than white snow" rising from the Baths of Diocletian.
The basilica was then built from the arrangement of the frigidarium (the central hall) of the Baths of Diocletian on a project by Michelangelo Buonarroti (who at the time was already working on St. Peter's Basilica)
The Sundial
S. Maria degli Angeli is also famous for the sundial, called Clementine Line, built by Pope Clement XI in 1702 in order to verify the validity of the Gregorian Calendar Reform.
It consists of two fundamental elements: a large bronze line on the floor oriented exactly from South to North for about 45 meters and a hole at the top from which sunlight penetrates, called the "gnomonic hole", with a diameter of about 2 cm , i.e. the thousandth part of its height from the floor (20.34 meters), as was the practice at the time.
Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Located near the Pantheon, in the Pigna district, it is one of the very few Gothic churches in Rome and is so called because it was believed that the church was built above the temple of "Minerva Chalcidica", known from the sources to have been built by Domitian in the Campo Marzio.
The interior of the basilica has three naves marked by massive pillars with a transept and deep apse, and along the walls there is a dense fresco decoration in the neo-Gothic style.
The basilica also preserves valuable works of art including the frescoes by Filippino Lippi, the statue of Christ carrying the cross, by Michelangelo or the fifteenth-century sarcophagus with the remains of the body of Santa Caterina da Siena. The basilica also houses the sepulchres of some illustrious personalities, including popes Leo X, Clement VII and the mystical painter Beato Angelico
In the convent adjacent to this church, on 22 June 1633, Galileo Galilei, suspected of heresy, abjured his scientific theses.
The obelisk
In the square in front of the church there is one of the nine Egyptian obelisks in Rome.
The obelisk is approximately 5.50 meters high and is positioned on the back of a marble elephant as a glorification of Alexander VII. In a contemporary poem, in fact, we read: "The Egyptian obelisk, symbol of the sun, is carried by the elephant to the seventh Alexander as a gift. Isn't the animal wise? Wisdom has given the world only you, Alexander, therefore you have the gifts of the Sun".
Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano
Dedicated to Pope Clement I, it is located on the road that connects the Colosseum to San Giovanni in Laterano, in the valley between the Celio and the Esquiline.
The basilica we see today was built in the 12th century but is known because it rises above ancient buildings buried two levels deep, the first of which dates back to the 1st century AD. In the three levels there are therefore: the current basilica, of medieval origin, an older basilica, on the lower level, in a building that formerly housed a Roman patrician, and, even further down, a set of Roman buildings from the post-Nero era .
The buildings rediscovered at the lowest level, on which the basilica stands, are two: a large building probably intended as a warehouse (horreum) and a residential building (insula), better known among scholars as the building of the Mithraeum because, in the between the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd century, a Mitreo), a small temple dedicated to the cult of the god Mithras, of oriental origin and most probably imported to Rome with the legions returning from the campaigns in Asia Minor, around 67 BC.
Opening hours
In order to visit the basement of the basilica it is necessary to book admission on the official website in order to avoid overcrowding at certain times and to guarantee a safe and pleasant visit experience for all visitors
CHURCH OF S.AGNESE IN AGONEIt is named after Saint Agnes, a girl who according to Catholic tradition was martyred at the age of twelve during the persecution of Christians under Diocletian in the stadium of Domitian, which was located exactly on the same place now occupied by the square and of which the square follows the shape.
The basement, created from an ancient medieval oratory, houses on the altar The Miracle of the Hair of Saint Agnes, a marble relief by Alessandro Algardi.
BASILICA S. MARIA MAGGIOREBuilt by Pope Sixtus III between 432 and 440 after the Council of Ephesus (431), according to tradition, the construction took place on a previous church, built in the place miraculously suggested by Mary who appeared in a dream to Pope Liberius and the patrician John . When on the morning of 5 August 358 an unusual snowfall whitened the Esquiline, Pope Liberius traced the perimeter of the new basilica in the snow, which was then built thanks to the financing of the patrician John (a former slave, freed by Pope Liberius years earlier).
On August 5th of each year, in memory of the Madonna della Neve, the so-called "miracle of the snowfall" is re-enacted and, during an evocative celebration, a cascade of white petals is brought down from the ceiling.
CHURCH OF ST. IGNAZIO DA LOYOLATogether with the Church of Gesù, it is the main church of the Jesuit order established in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola. Built in 1626 based on a design by the mathematician Orazio Grassi, based on Carlo Maderno"s projects, it has a single nave with three chapels on each side interconnecting with each other.
The illusionistic painting on the grandiose vault of the nave is wonderful, as is the perspective simulation of the false dome by Andrea Pozzo.
BASILICA S. MARIA IN TRASTEVEREAccording to some scholars, S Maria in Trastevere is the first place of Christian worship in Rome of which there is historical information, as well as the first basilica in Rome dedicated to the Virgin. Founded in 221 AD. C. (3rd century) by S. Callisto and finished in 341 AD. C. by S. Giulio, the dedication to the Virgin occurred later.
Inside it preserves numerous works, including the magnificent wooden ceiling by Domenichino and the splendid mosaics by Pietro Cavallini with stories of the Virgin. The façade is preceded by an 18th century portico. in the upper part it preserves a mosaic from the 1200s, which overlooks the square of the same name and the fountain, built in the place where, according to tradition, in 38 BC. a prodigious jet of oil came out, prefiguring the advent of Christ.
BASILICA OF SAINTS COSMA AND DAMIANInaugurated in 527 by Pope Felix, it was built at the behest of Theodoric, an Ostrogothic king, who had the rooms of a library of the Forum of Peace (from the Flavian era) united with those of the Temple of Romulus, built in the 20s of the 4th century AD by Maxentius. The continuous flooding of the Tiber made it necessary to raise the floor of the church, which is currently arranged on two floors.
The church is currently the mother seat of the Franciscan Friars of the 3rd order.
CHURCH OF S.ANDREA DELLA VALLEThe church stands above part of the ruins of the ancient Theater of Pompey, which through its porticoes occupied the entire area that extends from Largo Argentina to Campo dei Fiori. The name "della Valle" derives from the vast depression in the area which collected the waters coming down from the Quirinale and the Pincio and which formed a large pond.
However, the church takes its name from the nearby Palazzo Valle of Cardinal Andrea della Valle (name carved above the door).
BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA IN ARA COELIThe church was built on the ruins of the Temple of Juno Moneta, on the Compidoglio, while the rest of the ancient Roman buildings were falling into ruin. Buildings crowded together around the Aracoeli church which developed into a monastery in the upper part, while on the slopes of the hill a market was born and then a small neighbourhood.
The church, in addition to being a place of worship, was therefore always the center of the political life of Rome, so much so that popular assemblies of the free municipality led by Giorgio dei Pierleoni (1114) and then of Cola di Rienzo (1347) were held there.
CHURCH OF S. MARIA DEGLI ANGELIIt is the church where the official ceremonies of the Italian Republic take place. The church has occupied the central hall of the ancient Baths of Diocletian since 1562, when Pope Pius IV commissioned Michelangelo to arrange it. On the floor you can see the sundial designed by Pope Clement XI who commissioned it for the Jubilee of 1700 with the aim of determining the date of Easter in the most coherent way possible with the motions of the Sun and the Moon.
The hole through which the light of the Sun falls on a variable and measured point of the approximately 45 meter long bronze line traced in the floor acts as a gnomon. The alternation of the seasons is represented by the figures of the zodiac signs inlaid in marble arranged along the line, which bears at one end the sign of Cancer, to represent the summer solstice, and at the other that of Capricorn for the summer solstice. winter.
CHURCH OF S. MARIA SOPRA MINERVAIts name derives from a historical "misunderstanding", because it was built in the 7th century on what were believed to be the remains of the temple of Minerva Chalcidica (i.e. doorkeeper), built by Domitian in honor of his father Vespasian and his brother Titus. The remains of this temple have actually been traced to Piazza del Collegio Romano.
At the end of the 13th century the church passed under the Dominican order, which over the following centuries expanded and decorated it with an incredible collection of works of art, among the richest and most valuable that can be found in a church.
CHURCH OF ST. MARY OF PEACEIn 1482 a church dedicated to Mary was built to remember a miraculous event whereby an image of the Virgin bled in this place. Sixtus IV was struck by the event and made the vow that if the Pazzi conspiracy, in which he was somehow involved, had not led to the war that was feared, he would have a large church dedicated to the Madonna built in this place. it preserves within it a rich repertoire of masterpieces of Renaissance art, including the famous "sibyls" frescoed by Raphael in 1514, the day after the unveiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo and probably influenced by it.
CHURCH OF S.ANDREA DELLE FRATTEThe church, already existing in the 11th century, was entirely rebuilt on behalf of the Marquis Del Bufalo at the beginning of the 17th century by Gaspare Guerra and completed by Francesco Borromini who, between 1653 and 1667, built the stupendous two-order bell tower and the dome reinforced by diagonal buttresses which make the architecture take on the image of the cross of St. Andrew.
The name of the church derives from its location, near Piazza di Spagna, once on the outskirts of the town centre, where trees and bushes were located.
Ivo Church alla SapienzaBorromini"s masterpiece, to which Pope Urban VIII entrusted the assignment in 1632. The works, however, begin only in 1643 and continued for over twenty years. The plant of the church is singular, consisting of two overlapping triangles, with the corners cut by curved lines alternating concave and convex and opposite frontally, and which, according to many, would be that the schematic re -proposal of the Barberine bee.
Summa of Borrominian virtuosity is undoubtedly the dome, with the famous snail, perhaps inspired by the Torre di Babel or the Lighthouse of Alexandria which in its spiral culminates in a flaming crown, on which a tiara rest, made of wrought iron, a globe, The Pamphili dove with the olive twig in the mouth and, lastly, a cross made during the Pontificate of Innocenzo X.
Underground of S.Cecilia in TrastevereAccording to tradition, the ninth century basilica was built above the remains of the ancient Titulus Caecillae, which belonged to Santa Cecilia. The underlying archaeological area reveals a very interesting stratigraphy of remains of several constructions, from a domus of the republican age to an insula from the imperial era. In the basement there is also the place identified as the ancient balneum where according to tradition, the saint was martyred.
Sancta Sanctorum ChapelThe most revered sanctuary of Rome, according to historians of the Middle Ages, was the private oratory of the Popes up to the Renaissance.
Today is the wonderful chapel in front of which the pilgrim can pray, after reaching the last step of the Santa Santa
The Santa ScalaAccording to the Christian tradition, in 326 it was transported by Jerusalem to Rome at the behest of Da Sant’Elena, the mother"s imperator of Constantine. And the 28 steps that form the scale would be exactly the same as Jesus went up several times on the day of his death sentence in the Palace Pilate Palace.
It is customary to get on their knees, praying, the steps of the Holy Scala as an act of devotion to relive the passion of Christ and ensure plenary indulgence from one"s sins.
Basilica of S. John in LateranIt is the cathedral of the diocese of Rome. First Christian basilica, built at the behest of the emperor Constantine who named it at the very Sancto Salvioris, in the aftermath of the famous Edict of Milan of 313.
It is called "Arcibasilica" because it is the first of the four major papal basilicas, and the oldest and most important basilica of Catholicism. More precisely, it has the honorary title of Omnium Urbis et Orbis Ecclesiarum Mater et caput, or mother and head of all churches in the city and worldwide.
Basilica of St. ClementThe Archaeological Complex of S. Clemente stands in the valley between Colle Oppio and Celio, on Via di S Giovanni in Laterano which was part of the roads used in the papal processions, which from the basilica of S Pietro in the Vatican reached that of S Giovanni in Laterano .
S Clemente is a four -level construction: at the bottom of the fourth level there are remains of the Republican and Augustan era, destroyed during the 64 AD Nero fire, more up on the third level we find the remains of imperial Rome, including a temple machine gun. Even higher, on the second level, the original Basilica of the 4th century, with important and almost unique frescoes of the IX and 11th century. Finally, on the first level, the current basilica reconstructed in the 12th following the destruction that took place during the sack of Rome of 28 May 1084, one of the most tragic days in the long history of Rome.
Ignatius' roomsThe rooms of Sant'Ignazio are located on the top floor of the residence built by Sant'Ignazio and Codacio between 1543 and 1544, next to the church of Gesù.
The rooms of Sant'Ignazio are preceded by a corridor with perspective decoration by Andrea Pozzo and frescoes by Borgognone.
