Rome, Basilicas & Underground: Amazing Half Day Semi-Private Tour

Meeting point tour

The Papal Archbasilica, the major archpriestal cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran, better known as the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, is, by definition, the "mother of all the churches in the world", and represents the ideal among pagan era and Christian era. The Basilica, which stands near Mount Celio, was built on the same site as the basilica built by Constantine, around 314, on land already owned by the noble Lateran family, from which the whole area takes its name. In his Annals, Tacitus recounts that the houses and lands owned by the Laterans were confiscated from them by the Emperor Nero after the conspiracy of the "Pisos": the consul Plautius Lateran conspired, failing, against the emperor Nero who condemned him to death and he deprived him of goods and land, in favor of the Imperial Exchequer.

On the slopes of the Celio, there is one of the most impressive monuments, rich in history, art and spirituality of Rome: the monastery of the Santi Quattro Coronati. Founded in the mid-5th century AD. on the remains of a Roman domus, it is one of the most important basilicas of Carolingian Rome. After so many centuries, its charm remains unchanged, so much so that the impression you get when you cross its threshold is that of immersing yourself in an ancient atmosphere suspended in time, far from the chaos and frenetic rhythms of the modern city. The church, which takes its name from the tradition of the martyrdom of four Roman soldiers and five stonecutters, was completely rebuilt following the fire that devastated the city in 1084. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the building with the monks' cells, the splendid cloister and the luxurious fortified cardinal's palace were added to the original complex, the entrance of which is dominated by the massive Torre Maggiore.

The Basilica of San Clemente in Laterano is one of the most interesting and ancient basilicas in Rome, built before 385 and dedicated to San Clemente, the third pope after Saint Peter. It consists of two superimposed churches, built on top of Roman buildings from the Republican age and on the remains of a temple of the god Mithras. On the left side of the facade is the bell tower, built between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. The lower basilica preserves several frescoes, including the representation of the "Legend of Sisinno", some fragments of the relics of Saint Cyril, evangelizer and inventor together with his brother Methodius, of the Glagolitic alphabet, from which the Cyrillic one was derived. Going down to an even lower level, there are Roman buildings from the imperial age and a Mithraeum of which a marble altar is preserved with the representation of the killing of the bull by Mithras.

San Pietro in bonds was founded in the 5th century by the Empress Eudoxia, to guard the precious relic: the chain with which St. Peter, a prisoner in Jerusalem, had been tied, and which today is preserved under the high altar, and is displayed to the faithful on August 1st of each year. Rebuilt in the 8th century, further interventions on the façade and portico were made in the 1500s, while the interior was modified in the 18th century. In front of the church stands a portico with five arches supported by octagonal pillars which bear the coat of arms of Pope Julius II in the capitals. The interior of the basilica-shaped church is divided into three naves, separated by 20 Doric columns of Greek marble. The Basilica is above all famous because, since 1545, it has hosted one of the masterpieces of Renaissance art: Michelangelo Buonarroti's Moses, the colossal statue, sculpted in 1513, to decorate the funerary monument of Julius II.