Religious, Spiritual sights in Rome
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St Peter’s Basilica
In Vatican City, a city of astounding churches, St Peter’s Basilica outdazzles them all. Awe-inspiringly huge, rich and spectacular, it’s a monument to centuries of artistic genius. On a busy day, around 20,000 visitors pass through here. If you want to be one of them, remember to dress appropriately – no shorts, miniskirts or bare shoulders. If you want to hire an audioguide (€5), they’re available at a desk in the cloakroom to the right of the entrance. Free English-language guided tours of the basilica are run from the Vatican tourist office, the Centro Servizi Pellegrini e Turisti, at 9.45am on Tuesday and Thursday and at 2.15pm every afternoon between Monday and…
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Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura
The biggest church in Rome after St Peter’s (and the world’s third-largest) stands on the site where St Paul was buried after being decapitated in AD 67. Built by Constantine in the 4th century, it was largely destroyed by fire in 1823 and much of what you see today is a 19th-century reconstruction. However, some treasures survived the fire, including the 5th-century triumphal arch, with its heavily restored mosaics, and the gothic marble tabernacle over the high altar. This was designed in about 1285 by Arnolfo di Cambio together with another artist, possibly Pietro Cavallini. To the right of the altar, the elaborate Romanesque paschal candlestick was fashioned by…
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Basilica & Catacombe di San Sebastiano
Before you duck into the catacombs, take a moment to explore the 4th-century basilica on top. Much altered over the years, it is dedicated to St Sebastian, who was martyred and buried here in the late 3rd century. In the Capella delle Reliquie you’ll find one of the arrows used to kill him and the column to which he was tied. On the other side of the church is a marble slab with Jesus’ footprints. The Catacombe di San Sebastiano were the first catacombs to be so called, the name deriving from the Greek kata (near) and kymbas (cavity), because they were located near a cave. During the persecutory reign of Vespasian, they provided a safe haven for the remains of St…
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Scala
The Chiesa di Santa Maria della Scala dates from the turn of the 17th century. The big white façade hides a gloriously baroque interior with a particularly flamboyant marble altar. Next door, the Farmacia di Santa Maria della Scala, which supplied medicine to the popes in the 18th century, is still run by monks from the adjacent Carmelite monastery.
The monks are renowned for having commissioned, and then rejected, Caravaggio's Il Transito della Vergine (Transition of the Virgin), now in the Louvre (Paris).
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Chiesa di San Saba
With its leafy walled garden, 13th-century porch and beautiful Cosmati work, this picturesque church is worth a quick detour. Of particular note are the 13th-century frescoes in the left-hand nave, including one of three naked girls in bed. Legend has it that these girls were saved from a life of prostitution by St Nicholas, who threw three stockings filled with gold up to their bedroom. St Nicholas is better known as Santa Claus and this story is the origin of the Christmas-stocking tradition.
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Audience with the Pope
At 11:00 on Wednesdays, the pope meets his flock at St Peter's Basilica (in July and August at Castel Gandofolo). For free tickets, write to the Prefettura della Casa Pontificia, 00120 Città del Vaticano. If you're already in Rome, call or visit the Prefettura (06 698 84 631; h09:00-13:00) through the bronze doors under the colonnade to the right of St Peter's. When in town, the pope also blesses the faithful in St Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) on Sundays at noon - no tickets required.
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Centrale Montemartini
Antiquity meets Fritz Lang's Metropolis at the striking outpost of the Capitoline Museums. In an ex-power plant, marble Roman deities are juxtaposed with beastly engines and furnaces in a battle of new gods and old. You'll find the collection's highlights in the Sala Caldaia, among them the youthful Fanciulla Seduta and the milky white 1st-century Venus Esquilina, discovered on the Esquiline Hill in 1874.
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Chiesa di San Pietro in Montorio & Tempietto di Bramante
An architectural Kinder Surprise, Bramante's perfectly proportioned Tempietto (Little Temple) is tucked away in the courtyard of Chiesa di San Pietro in Montorio, reputedly the site of St Peter's crucifixion. Lauded the first great building of the High Renaissance, it was completed in 1508, with Bernini adding the staircase in 1628. Bernini also contributed a chapel (the second on the left) in the church.
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Colonna di Traiano
Set among the ruins of Trajan's Forum, Trajan's column (AD 113) is adorned with painfully intricate reliefs depicting the victories over the Dacians (from modern-day Romania). It became Trajan's tomb, with his ashes buried underneath and a golden statue resting on top (later replaced by one of St Peter by Pope Sixtus V). Casts of the column at Museo della Civiltà Romana will spare you the sore neck.
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Isola Tiberina
The world's smallest inhabited island was home to a 3rd-century temple dedicated to Aesculapius, the Greek God of healing. The temple's columns now line the nave of Romanesque Chiesa di San Bartolomeo ( M01B5, A3;h09:00-12:30 & 15:30-18:00 Mon-Sun), while the remains of Rome's first stone bridge Ponte Rotto (Broken Bridge) are visible from island's south side.
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Chiesa di San Carlo ai Catinari
This 17th-century church with its severe facade and exquisite dome was designed by Rosato Rasati for Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. 'Catinari' refers to the bowl makers whose shops dotted the neighbourhood. Inside, there are altarpieces by Pietro da Cortona and Guido Reni, and a richly decorated 16th-century crucifix on the sacristy altar by Algardi.
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