Chiesa di San Gregorio Magno

Lonely Planet review

Towering over Via di San Gregorio, this church stands on the site where Pope Gregory the Great is said to have dispatched St Augustine to convert the British to Christianity. Originally it was the pope's family home but in AD 575 he converted it into a monastery. It was rebuilt in the 17th century and the interior was given a baroque face-lift a century later.

Inside, the stately 1st-century-BC marble throne in the Cappella di San Gregorio, at the end of the right aisle, is believed to have been St Gregory's personal perch.

However, it's the three chapels in the cypress trees to the left of the main church (where Gregory's original convent stood) that are the main attraction. On the right, the Cappella di Santa Silvia, dedicated to Gregory's mother, contains a fresco of angels by Guido Reni; the central chapel, the Cappella di Sant'Andrea, features various depictions of St Andrew, including frescoes by Domenichino and Guido Reni; and the third, the Capella di Santa Barbara, boasts a statue of St Gregory and frescoes illustrating St Augustine's mission.