The Basilica of Saint John Lateran was constructed in the 4th century BC and is the first church to be built in Rome. This cathedral is the official ecclesiastical seat of the Pope, and as such is the oldest and foremost building of the four Papal Basilicas. Although it is located outside the Vatican City, it has extraterritorial status because it belongs to the Holy See.

The basilica was built on the site of a fort put up by Septimus Severus in 193AD, the remains of which lie beneath the nave. During the early Roman Empire the rest of the site was occupied by the Laterani – the emperors’ administrators.

When the Basilica was finished it became the seat of the Pope and known as the Mother Church of the whole Catholic world. It holds the Papal cathedra and is more important than St Peter’s Basilica. During the Avignon Papacy St John Lateran fell into disrepair and was twice damaged by fire. When the papacy returned to Italy, the basilica was in no state to receive the pope, in spite of renovations, and the Pontiff settled in the Palace of the Vatican.

The basilica has been renovated over the centuries and its present façade dates back to the 18th century. On the roof are statues of Christ and the Apostles. The central bronze doors come from the ancient Roman imperial forum. Beside the doors is a statue of Constantine I.

The cosmatesque floor of the nave dates back to the 14th century and was fashioned by Colonna. The statues of the Apostles in the nave were sculpted in the 18th century. 17th century bas reliefs depict scenes from the Old Testament and the Altar of the Holy Sacrament is a table believed to have been used during the Last Supper.

Not far from the Colosseum, on Piazza St Clement, you will find the Basilica of Saint Clement, one of the most richly decorated minor basilicas in Rome.

In the 1st century AD a Roman house stood on the site of the basilica. It was the home of the Roman Consul Titus Flavius Clemens, who was one of the first Roman noblemen to be martyred for his Christian beliefs.

In the cellars of the house was a Mithraeum with an altar shaped like a sarcophagus bearing a relief of Mithras slaying a bull. Other artefacts uncovered were a bust of the god Sol and a statuette of Mithras. These relics can still be seen in the crypt of the church.
In the 4th century, the first basilica was built on the site of Titus Flavius’ house. It was dedicated to Pope Clement I, who is often identified with Titus Flavius Clemens. In 1084, the church was destroyed during the Norman sacking of Rome, and a second basilica was constructed in its place.

The church has the second largest collection of early medieval wall paintings in Rome. The Episcopal Seat is to be found in the apse, which is extensively decorated in Byzantine arabesque mosaics. In the presbytery, a ciborium, supported by four marble columns, stands over a shrine of Clement, whose tomb is to be found in the crypt below.

The beautiful stucco work, frescos and Ionic capitals, as well as the carved, coffered ceilings of the aisle and nave, date back to the 18th century.

The Papal Basilica of St Mary Major is one of the four ancient major basilicas and the largest Marian church in Rome.

According to legend, Mary, the mother of Christ, appeared in a dream to Pope Liberius in August of 356, and told him to build a church in a place were a miracle would take place. The next day, news of a strange snowfall on Esquiline Hill was announced to the Pope and he hurried to the top of the hill to sketch in the snow the design for the new church.

The present basilica was constructed nearly a century later, commissioned by Pope Sixtus III, and although the façade was renovated in the 15th century, the interior still bears the original 5th century mosaics in the nave, depicting Moses leading his people out of Egypt and the Egyptians being drowned as they tried to follow him across the Red Sea.

The Triumphal Arch, raised to Pope Sixtus III, dates back to the 5th century, but other decorations, such as the cosmatesque pavement by Paparone, the Nativity scene by Di Cambio and the coffered wooden ceiling by Sangallo, are from the 13th and 14th centuries.

The church has numerous chapels, commissioned by various popes, cardinals and noblemen. The most beautiful is the cappella sistina – not to be confused with the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II inaugurated the Basilica Museum, dedicated to the history of the museum and the spread of Catholicism throughout the world. Here you will see ecclesiastical paintings, ritual vestments, scores from the choir and manuscripts detailing church events.

The church of San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains) is to be found on the square of the same name and is one of Rome’s many minor basilicas.

In 432, a small church was built to house the relics of the chains that the Apostle wore while he was imprisoned in Jerusalem. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the Lord sent an angel who caused the chains binding Peter to fall and then the angel led him from his prison without waking the sleeping guards. Today, the chains are kept in a reliquary under the main altar.

The basilica was constructed around this shrine in 439 by Pope Sixtus II. The building was restored several times over the centuries: by Pope Adrian I in 790, again in the 11th century and once more by Pope Julius II. The front portico, created by Pontelli, was added in 1475. In 1493, Sangallo installed the cloister.

Once again restored in the 18th century by Fontana, the coffered ceiling with its central fresco depicting the “Miracle of the Chains” was executed by Parodi. You can admire two paintings by Guercino, one of St Augustine and the other of St Margaret, and the monument of Cardinal Girolamo Agucchi by Domenichino, who also painted the fresco of the “Liberation of St Peter” in the sacristy.

The item that makes this church one of the most visited minor basilicas in Rome is the magnificent statue “Moses”, sculpted by Michelangelo in around 1505. It was commissioned by Pope Julius II, who intended it to be part of his funerary monument, along with various other religious figures. Unfortunately for the syphilitic pope, the master artist was occupied with repainting the Sistine Chapel and the monumental tomb was never realised. San Pietro in Vincoli inherited “Moses” and Pope Julius II was buried in St Peter’s Basilica.

While you are in Rome, one of your destinations will surely be the Forum Ronanium, the ancient public square situated between the Paletine and Capitoline Hills, with its structures that date back to Ancient Rome. At the Forum’s western end, at the foot of Capitoline Hill you will find the vestiges of the Temple of Saturn.

The Temple was built in 500BC on the site of an even older shrine dedicated to Saturn. It was reconstructed in 42BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, a Roman Consul who was an officer in Julius Caesar’s army during the conquest of Gaul. He installed the Treasury of the Roman Republic here, where it remained until 28BC. It was destroyed by fire in 283AD, but later rebuilt.

All that remains today are eight columns and a part of the pediment, which bears a Latin inscription. In English it reads: The Senate and the people of Rome restored what fire consumed.

Saturn, who was the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Kronos, was the god of agriculture and the harvest (or of life and death). Like Kronos, he was represented as a hooded figure bearing a scythe. Because he was afraid of being overthrown, he ate his all his children apart from Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, whom for some reason he could not swallow. In time his fears became reality; he was overthrown by Jupiter, who became the king of the Roman gods.

Capitoline Hill is considered the most sacred of Rome’s seven hills and no-one on holiday in the city should miss visiting it.

According to legend, Rome was founded on seven hills by Romulus and Remus, but in truth, the bastion of the early Roman civilisation was Capitoline Hill, with its double summit and a sheer cliff face on one side.

A lot of temples were built here, dedicated to Roman gods, such as the Capitoline Triad, (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva); others were dedicated to Venus and Mars, but none of these remain. A tabularium was built on the slope facing the Roman Forum, and it can be visited via the Capitoline Museum.

The hill had a great vantage point during battles, with the unassailable cliff to the south and the possibility of seeing armies arriving on the other sides. In the 8th century BC, after the abduction of the young women from their tribe, the Sabines declared war on the Roman settlement.

The Romans’ seemingly inviolable fortress was breached by a young woman, Tarpeia, who opened the gates for the attackers in reward for “what they bore on their left arm”, meaning gold bracelets. Unfortunately for her, the Sabines wore their shields on their left arm and she was crushed under the weight of them. To add insult to injury, they then threw her off the cliff, which were later named the Tarpeian Rocks.

In the 16th century Michelangelo designed the Piazza dei Campidoglio and the Palazzo dei Conservatori, built next to the 12th century Palazzo Senatorio. These two palaces, along with Palazzo Nuovo, designed in the 17th century, are now the Capitoline Museums.

The church, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, on the second summit of the hill was built in the 14th century. A flight of steep steps lead from the ancient Roman Forum to the church. Another, shallower flight, the Cordonata, from the Forum to the square was designed by Michelangelo.

The Great Synagogue of Rome is the largest synagogue in the city. It houses the offices of the Chief Rabbi and also the Jewish Museum. It is a beautiful building and well worth a visit.

Life for the Jewish community in Rome, as in so many other countries, was often terribly difficult. Jews started to settle in Rome in the 2nd century BC and established trading centres in the city. Between 63AD and 135AD many Jews were brought to Rome as slaves in the aftermath of the Roman/Judean War.

Made to live in the Roman ghetto for centuries, the Jews were allowed one rather small synagogue. In 1870, after the unification of Italy, the ghetto was demolished and the Jews were granted citizenship. They began to plan the site for their new synagogue and finally settled on Lungotevere Cenci, not far from the River Tiber.

The synagogue was constructed between 1901 and 1904 following designs by Vincenzo Costa and Osvaldo Armanni, who chose an Art Deco eclectic style to make it stand out from surrounding buildings. Its aluminium dome is square and a well-known landmark.

The interior of the synagogue is delicate and very beautiful, with graceful columns, stained glass windows, with the bimah and six menorahs under the open dome. In the museum you will see fragments of marble from the old synagogue in the ghetto, silver ritual items, jugs, bowls, 15th to 19th century textiles, 19th photos and historical art from the ghetto. There are plaques commemorating the local Jews killed by the Nazis and by the PLO bombing in 1982.

Photos are not allowed to be taken inside the synagogue and you will be asked to open any bag you bring with you.

The church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is situated on the West bank of the River Tiber, to the south of the Vatican City. You really shouldn’t miss visiting this lovely church.

The 1st church was built in the 3rd century by Pope Urban 1, supposedly on the site of the martyred saint’s house. Later excavations under the Chapel of Relics revealed the remains of a Roman house with a pagan shrine to Minerva and the baptistery of an ancient church.

The church was rebuilt in 822 by Pope Paschal 1 and relics of St Cecilia were moved there from the St Calixtus catacombs. The building received its final restoration in the 18th century, paid for by Cardinal Aquaviva d’Aragona, whose Coat of Arms in on the façade.

Several decorations from the ancient church still remain and in the apse is part of a 9th century mosaic depicting the Lord with the saints Agatha, Cecilia, Paul and Valerian. In the monk’s choir is a 13th century mural painting of the Final Judgement by Cavallini and the ciborium by Di Cambio in the presbytery dates back to 1293.

The most remarkable item in the church is the sculpture by Maderno, of the Martyrdom of St Cecilia. In 1595 the saint’s tomb was opened and her body was supposedly uncorrupted by time. Maderno’s sculpture depicts her as she lay in her tomb, her body lying on its side, her head face down (to give the idea of her decapitation).

Santa Maria in Trastevere is a titular minor basilica, one of Rome’s oldest churches, and perhaps the first in which mass was openly celebrated. The basic floor plan and structure of the church date back to the 340s. The present nave preserves its original basilica plan and stands on earlier foundations. The 22 granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals that separate the nave from the aisles came from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, as did the lintel of the entrance door. Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics by Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the Life of the Virgin (1291) centering on the Corontation of the Virgin in the apse. The church keeps a relic of Saint Apollonia, her head, as well as a portion of the Holy Sponge. Among those buried in the church are the relics of Pope Callixtus I and the body of Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio.