Chiesa di Santa Maria in Aracoeli

Marking the highest point of the Campidoglio, this 6th-century church sits on the site of the Roman temple to Juno Moneta. According to legend it was here that the Tiburtine Sybil told Augustus of the coming birth of Christ, and today the church still has a strong association with the nativity. Its venerated statue of Jesus, the so-called santo bambino (holy baby) is, however, a copy. The original, said to have been carved of wood from the garden of Gethsemane, was stolen in 1994 and has never been recovered. The church has a rich interior, with a Cosmatesque floor and an important 15th-century fresco by Pinturicchio.