BASILICA S. MARIA MAGGIORE Built 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 S.AGNESE IN AGONE Piazza Navona It 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. CHURCH OF ST. IGNAZIO DA LOYOLA Piazza di S.Ignazio Together 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. CHURCH OF S. MARIA SOPRA MINERVA Its 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 S. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI Piazza della Repubblica It 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. BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA IN ARA COELI Piazza Venezia The 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.ANDREA DELLA VALLE The 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 SAINTS COSMA AND DAMIAN Inaugurated 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. BASILICA S. MARIA IN TRASTEVERE Piazza S.Maria in Trastevere According 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. CHURCH OF S.ANDREA DELLE FRATTE The 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. CHURCH OF ST. MARY OF PEACE Arco della Pace, 5 In 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. Ivo Church alla Sapienza Corso del Rinascimento, 40 Borromini"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 Trastevere Piazza di Santa Cecilia, 22 According 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 Chapel Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano The 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 Scala Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano According 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 Lateran It 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. Clement Piazza di S.Clemente The 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' rooms Piazza del Gesù The 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.