It is the Rome's cathedral, founded by Constantine in the IV century. It was destroyed and reconstructed more times. The basilica's actual shape dates back to the XII century.
In the course of centuries, several pontifices added spaces, decorations and works of art.
An interior restoration was made by Borromini, according to Innocenzo X's will, on the Jubilee occasion in 1650. The basilica's imposing façade, made out of travertine, overlooks "Piazza di Porta San Giovanni" and was constructed in 1735 by Alessandro Galilei, a famous architect. Pio IX and Leone XIII had reconstruction and restoration works executed in its presbytery and apse by Virginio Vespignani.
On its balustrade you can admire 15 gigantic statues (7 metres high) representing Saints and the Redeemer's one being the central of them. In its left porch, you can see the Constantine's statue coming from the "Terme Imperiali del Quirinale". The great central door, through which you can enter this basilica, has precious bronze leaves. The last door on the right, is the Holy Door which, like Saint Peter's one, is open only on the Jubilees occasion. Inside, this church has five aisles and a Latin cross structure, is wide and solemn and no less than 130 metres long. Its sumptuous golden ceiling and its beautiful floor, which recalls the style of the Cosmati Family, represent a sure attraction for visitors. At the end of the greatest nave, under the great triumphal arch, you can admire the papal altar, with the imposing and elegant tabernacle dating back to the second half of the IV century; in it, you can see frescoes attributed to Barna from Siena. Besides, the relics of Saint Peter and Paul' heads are kept in precious silver containers. Among the great complex of statues, monuments and decorations, we point out (in the nave, behind the first pillar on the right) the fragment of the famous fresco by Giotto, representing Bonifacio VIII while announces the Jubilee in 1300.

The basilica of San Clemente is a complex of buildings centred around a 12th century Roman Catholic church dedicated to Pope Clement I. The site is notable as being an archaeological record of Roman architectural, political and religious history from the early Christian era to the Middle Ages.
This ancient church was transformed over the centuries from a private home that was the site of clandestine Christian worship in the 1st century to a grand public basilica by the 6th century, reflecting the emerging Roman Catholic Church's growing legitimacy and power.
The house was originally owned by Roman consul and martyr Titus Flavius Clemens who was one of the first among the Roman nobility to convert to Christianity. He allowed his house to be used as a secret gathering place for fellow Christians, the religion being outlawed at the time.
There is evidence of pagan worship on the site. In the 2nd century members of a Mithraic cult built a small temple dedicated to their bull-god Mithras in an insula, or apartment complex, on the site. This temple, used for initiation rituals, lasted until about the 3rd century, by which time Christianity had largely supplanted pagan worship in Rome.
By the 4th century, after Christianity became the state religion of Rome, the small church underwent expansion, acquiring the adjoining insula and other nearby buildings. Architects began work on the complex of rooms and courtyards, building a central nave over the early church site, and an apse over the former Mithraic temple. The new church was dedicated to Pope Clement I, a 1st century Christian convert and a contemporary of Titus Flavius Clemens.
Over the next several centuries, San Clemente became a beacon for church artists and sculptors, benefitting from Imperial largesse. Today, it is considered one of the most richly adorned churches in Rome.And the buildings are not everything that is great of their art or their architicture.
The current basilica was built in 1108 after the original church was burned to the ground during the Norman sack of the city in 1084.
Irish Dominicans have been the caretakers of San Clemente since 1667, when Britain outlawed the Irish Catholic Church and expelled the entire clergy. They were given refuge at San Clemente, where they have remained, running a residence for priests studying and teaching in Rome. The Dominicans themselves conducted the excavations in the 1950s in collaboration with Italian archaeology students.
On one wall in the courtyard there is a plaque signed by Pope Clement XI that praises San Clemente, declaring, "This ancient church has withstood the ravages of the centuries."
In one lateral chapel there is a shrine with the tomb of Saint Cyril of the Saints Cyril and Methodius who created the Glagolithic alphabet and christianized the Slavs. The chapel portrays a "Madonna" by the Sassoferrato, and it is said that Pope John Paul II used to pray there sometimes for Poland and the Slavic countries.

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome (seven churches in Rome, which are visited by pilgrims in order to gain indulgences).
According to tradition, the basilica was consecrated around 325 to house the Passion Relics brought to Rome from the Holy Land by St. Helena of Constantinople, mother of Constantine I. At that time, the basilica floor was covered with soil from Jerusalem, thus acquiring the title in Hierusalem.
The church is built around a room in St. Helena's imperial palace, Palazzo Sessoriano, which she adapted to a chapel around the year 320. Some decennia later the chapel was turned into a true basilica, called Heleniana or Sessoriana. After falling into neglect, the church was restored by Pope Lucius II (1144-1145). In the occasion it assumed a Romanesque appearance, with three naves, a belfry and a porch.
The church was also modified in the 16th century, but it assumed its current Baroque appearance under Benedict XIV (1740-1758). New streets were also opened to connect the church to the two other Roman basilicas linked to Jesus' life, San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria Maggiore. The façade of Santa Croce, designed by Corrado Giaquinto and Domenico Gregorini, shares the typical late Roman Baroque taste with the former basilicas.
The famous relics, whose authenticity is disputed, are now housed in a Chapel (the Cappella delle Reliquie), built in 1930 by architect Florestano di Fausto. They include: a part of the Elogium or Titulus Crucis, i.e. the panel which was hanged to the Christ's Cross; two thorns of his crown; an incomplete nail; and three small wooden pieces of the True Cross itself. A very larger piece of the holy cross was brought from Santa Croce in Gerusalemme to St. Peter's Basilica on instruction of Pope Urban VIII in the year 1629. It is kept nearby the statue of St. Helena, completed by Andrea Bolgi in 1639. In Santa Croce there are also a finger of St. Thomas and fragments of the grotto of Bethlehem.
The relics were once in the ancient St. Helena's Chapel, which is partly under ground level. Here the founder of the church had some earth from the Calvary dispersed, whence the name in Hierusalem of the basilica. In the vault is a mosaic designed by Melozzo da Forlì (before 1485), depicting Jesus Blessing, Histories of the Cross and various saints. The altar has a huge statue of St. Helena, which was obtained from an ancient statue of Juno discovered at Ostia. The mediaeval pilgrim guides considered this chapel so holy that access to women was forbidden.
The apse of church includes frescoes telling the Legends of the True Cross, attributed to Melozzo, to Antoniazzo Romano and Marco Palmezzano. The Museum of the Basilica houses a mosaic icon from the 14th century: according to the legend, Pope Gregory I had it made after a vision of Christ. Notable is also the tomb of Cardinal Francisco Quinones, by Jacopo Sansovino (1536).
Pieter Paul Rubens had been committed by cardinal Albert of Austria for three altarpieces, who had arrived in Rome from Mantua in 1601. These are now in France, in Grasse.

Santo Stefano Rotondo, also known as Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, lies on the Caelian Hill. The edifice was consecrated by Pope Simplicius between 468 and 483. It was dedicated to protomartyr Saint Stephen, whose body had been discovered a few decades before in the Holy Land, and brought into Rome. The church was the first in Rome to have a circular plan, inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Santo Stefano was probably financed by the wealthy Valerius family, whose estates covered large parts of the Caelian Hill. Their villa stood nearby, on the site of the present-day Hospital of San Giovanni - Addolorata. St Melanie, a member of the family, was a frequent pilgrim to Jerusalem and died there, so the family had connections to the Holy Land.
Originally the church had three concentrical ambulatories flanked by 22 Ionic columns, which surround the central circular space surmounted by a tambour (22 m high and 22 m wide). There were 22 windows in the tambour but most of them were walled up in the 15th century restoration. The outermost corridor was later demolished.
The church was embellished by Pope John I and Pope Felix IV in the 6th century. In 1130 Innocent II had added three transversal arches to support the dome.
In the Middle Ages, Santo Stefano Rotondo was charged to the Canons of San Giovanni in Laterano, but as time went on it fell unto disrepair. In the middle of the 15th century, Flavio Biondo praised the marble columns, marble covered walls and cosmatesque works-of-art of the church, but he added that unfortunately "nowadays Santo Stefano Rotondo hadn't got any roof". Blondus claimed that the church was built on the remains of an ancient Temple of Faunus. Excavations in 1969 to 1975 revealed that the building was actually never converted from a pagan temple but was always a church, erected under Constantine I in the first half of the 4th century.
In 1454, Pope Nicholas V entrusted the ruined church to the Pauline Fathers, the only Catholic Order founded by Hungarians. This was the reason why Santo Stefano Rotondo later became the unofficial church of the Hungarians in Rome. The church was restored by Bernardo Rossellino, probably under the guidance of Leon Battista Alberti.
In 1579, the Hungarian Jesuits followed the Pauline Fathers. The Collegium Hungaricum, established here by István Arator that year, was soon merged with the Collegium Germanicum in 1580, becoming the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum, because very few Hungarian student was able to travel to Rome from the Turkish-occupied Kingdom of Hungary.
The walls of the church are decorated with numerous frescoes, including those of Niccolò Pomarancio and Antonio Tempesta portraying 34 scenes of martyrdom, commissioned by Gregory XIII in the 16th century. All painting has an inscription explaing the scene and the name of the emperor who ordered the executions, as well as quotations from the Bible. The paintings are terrifyingly naturalistic depictions of human suffering.
The altar was made by the Florentine artist Bernardo Rossellino in the 15th century. The painting in the apse shows Christ between two martyrs. The mosaic and marble decoration is from the period 523 to 530. One mosaic shows the martyrs St Primus and St Felicianus flanking a jewelled cross.
There is a tablet recording the burial here of the Irish king Donough O'Brien of Cashel and Thomond, who died in Rome in 1064.
An ancient chair of Pope Gregory the Great from around 580 is preserved here.
The Chapel of Ss. Primo e Feliciano has very interesting and rare mosaics from the 7th century. The chapel was built by by Pope Theodore I who brought here the relics of the martyrs and buried them (together with the remains of his father).
Under the church there is a 2nd century mithraeum, related to the presence of the barracks of Roman soldiers in the neighbourhood. The cult of Mithras was especially popular among soldiers. The remains of Castra Peregrinorum, the baracks of the peregrini, officials detached for special service to the capital from the provincial armies, were found right under Santo Stefano Rotondo. The mihraeum belonged to Castra Peregrinorum but it was probably also attended by the soldiers of Cohors V Vigilum, whose barracks stood nearby on the other side of Via della Navicella.
The mithraeum is currently being excavated. The remains of the Roman military barracks (from the Severan Age) and the mithraeum under the church remained closed from the public. A coloured marble bas-relief, "Mithras slaying the bull" from the 3rd century is today in Museo Nazionale Romano.
Contrary to other nations of Europe, Hungarians lack their national church in Rome because the old Santo Stefano degli Ungheresi near the Vatican was pulled down to make way for the sacristy of the St Peter's Basilica in 1778. As a compensation for the loss of the ancient church, Pope Pius VI built a Hungarian chapel in Santo Stefano Rotondo by the plans of Pietro Camporesi.
The Hungarian chapel is dedicated to King Stephen I of Hungary, Szent István, the canonized first king of the Magyars. The feast of St Stephen is held on 20 August. Hungarian pilgrims frequently visit the place.
Hungarian experts took part in the ongoing restoration and archeological exploration of the church during the 20th century together with German and Italian colleagues. Notable Hungarian visitors were Vilmos Fraknói, Frigyes Riedl and László Cs. Szabó who all wrote about the history and importance of Santo Stefano.
Recent archeological explorations revelead the late antique floor of the church in the chapel.

The original basilica of Ss. Quattro Coronati (four crowned martyrs) was founded towards the end of the sixth century. It stands on the north side of the Coelian hill (Celio) in Rome, and is made up of several buildings grouped around the basilica. The oldest part of the basilica is a large nave with an apse to the west, built on the remains of an elaborate Roman villa dating from late Imperial times. Over the centuries, the group of ecclesiastical buildings that rose around the original basilica acquired considerable importance mainly due to the fact that the site was close to the Lateran Palace, used by the Popes as their official residence throughout the Middle Ages.
In the time of Charlemagne, Pope Leo IV (847-855) made radical changes to the basilica by adding two aisles with three chapels which extend beyond the main walls, and by creating a semicircular crypt beneath the nave. In front of the new basilica, other buildings were laid out around a large central courtyard. Remains of the walls of these buildings can still be seen, incorporated into later constructions. On the east side, there is a portico with arches and pillars which now forms part of the 17th century facade. Behind this was a 22 meter tower which became the basilica's campanile. Alongside the tower were two rectangular halls, and the base of the tower was made up of several arches. On the upper level, three sides of the belfry have a quadruple lancet opening with marble pillars while the fourth side was altered to a triple lancet and pillars, probably in the 13th century. Traces of frescoes show that the tower was decorated inside and outside. Entering by the archway at the base of the tower, one reaches the first courtyard which probably had porticoes around the sides. On the right-hand side of the basilica there is a building, probably also built by Pope Leo IV, which was used as accommodation for the clergy, in particular for the titular cardinal who was responsible for the basilica. The new basilica built by Pope Leo IV was remarkable for its elaborate architecture and its dimensions - 95 metres long and 50 metres wide. The characteristics of the basilica itself were similar to those of the early-Christian models of the Carolingian period, while the other buildings show traces of French and German influence, and as such are unique in Rome.
In 1084, the basilica was sacked by Robert Guiscard's troops and burnt to the ground. It was so severely damaged that Pope Paschal II (1099-1118) had to give up any attempt to rebuild it with the same dimensions. Instead he reduced it to half its previous size by using only the west half of what was left of the main nave. In doing so, he created the two courtyards which form the approach to the present basilica. The first courtyard corresponds more or less to that of the ninth century; the second to the eastern half of the main nave of the Carolingian basilica (remains of some of the arches can be seen on the right as you enter). The aisles of the previous church were incorporated into the new basilica, as were the right-hand side of the cardinal's residence and the left-hand side of the monastery set up by Paschal II himself. In 1138, this latter became a priory for the Benedictine abbey of Santa Croce di Sassovivo near the town of Foligno.
The basilica erected by Paschal II has a main nave with two aisles, divided by two rows of four columns on each side with Corinthian capitals supporting the arches. Two massive rectangular pillars support the end arches as well as the triumphal arch that leads into the transept. Above the nave, there are two galleries overlooking the main nave through two triple lancet openings on each side, with Ionic columns and marble parapets. The apse is still that of the early basilica, partially rebuilt by Pope Leo IV, and this explains its large size with respect to the rest of the interior. The interesting floor, which probably formed part of the early basilica, includes several stone and marble slabs, some with inscriptions on them, taken from an early Christian cemetery in the vicinity. The apse and the transept were decorated with frescoes during the time of Pope Paschal II.
Over the following centuries, the basilica was much altered and further decorations were added. The main nave and the transept were given an elaborate wooden ceiling, completed by 1580, at the behest of the titular cardinal Henry the King of Portugal. Three altars were erected in the aisles and another two at the foot of the pillars supporting the triumphal arch. The left-hand altar has a fine marble ciborium (casket) dating from the time of Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492). Traces of frescoes, mainly from the 13th and 14th centuries, and some columns from the nave of the early church were brought to light during restoration work in 1913-1914 under the supervision of the Fine Arts Superintendent, Antonio Muñoz.
Access to the semicircular crypt is from the transept. This was created initially by Pope Paschal II who had the steps built. Subsequently in 1623, the titular cardinal Giovanni Garzia Mellini restructured and decorated the shrine where the holy relics were kept. He also had the apse newly decorated by the Tuscan painter Giovanni di San Giovanni. The cylindrical drum was adorned with fluted pilasters of the Corinthian order standing on a high stylobate (base), and the areas between the pilasters, divided into sections with gilded stucco frames, were decorated with frescoes depicting episodes from the lives of the four saints. The fresco on the curved upper part of the apse shows the Glory of All Saints.
The buildings around the basilica underwent major restructuring in the 13th century. In particular, the cardinal's residence was enlarged by cardinal Stefano Conti, a nephew of Pope Innocent III. He built a massive fortified structure on the north side of the basilica, on the ground floor of which is the chapel of St Sylvester that was consecrated in 1247 and contains interesting frescoes depicting the story of Pope Sylvester and the Emperor Constantine. On the upper floor, there is a vast hall, known as the Gothic hall after the pointed arch vaulting with which it is roofed. In recent years, some interesting frescoes, also dating from the mid-13th century, have been uncovered in this hall. At present they are undergoing restoration. When the chapel of St. Sylvester was acquired in 1570 by the Confraternity of the Marmorari (marble workers), whose patrons were the four saints, the presbytery was restructured in its present form with frescoes probably carried out by Raffaellino da Reggio. The members of the confraternity also commissioned the frescoes adjacent to the side entrance of the chapel, beneath the west portico of the first courtyard, showing the Visitation of Mary and the Nativity, dated 1588.
The 13th century monastery was also much enlarged and a cloister in the Cosmati style was added. It is enclosed by the various parts of the monastery which were built at different times. The cloister itself is an architectural jewel in which the Gothic style blends with references to classical art. It has four corridors with arches supported by twin columns whose capitals have smooth leaves. The corridor on the east side leads to the chapel of St Barbara, originally one of the side chapels of the early basilica. It is decorated with marble carvings dating from the ninth century, as well as a series of frescoes painted in the period between the 9th and 13th centuries.
In the 14th century, the cardinal's residence was partly abandoned at the time of the Pope's move to Avignon. When Pope Martin V returned to Rome, Cardinal Alfonso Carillo (1423-1434) carried out major restoration work. But later, when the Papal court was transferred from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican, the building and the basilica declined in importance. In 1564, Pope Pius IV entrusted the basilica and its buildings to the Arch-confraternity of St Mary's Visitation, instructing them to transform it into a monastery and orphanage for Roman girl orphans, run by Augustinian nuns.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the archconfraternity restructured the whole complex to make it suitable for its new function.However, most of the changes were exterior and today the medieval walls still form the backbone of the structure. An important part of the project was the restoration and modernisation of the two courtyards. In early 1632, two porticoes were constructed on the north and west sides, with cross-shaped pillars surmounted by an upper level. All the buildings overlooking the courtyards were turned into dormitories for the orphans. In the second courtyard, in front of the entrance to the basilica, a deep portico was built probably making use of parts of the early basilica built by Pope Paschal II. Above this portico was the choir hall for the nuns. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the monastery continued to operate as an orphanage, while alterations to the buildings were minimal. In the late 19th century, the orphanage was closed and the complex of buildings was divided into two parts, allocated to different female religious orders. The west part remained in the hands of the Augustinian order, while the east part, after changing hands several times, was eventually entrusted to the Piccole Sorelle dell'Agnello who still retain it today.
Since 1913, thanks to the work of the Fine Arts Superintendent Antonio Muñoz, interest in this monumental complex has increased, and the study and restoration of the medieval parts is still underway today.
The cloister: In 1116 Pope Paschal II founded the monastery in the Basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati, which in 1138 was controlled by one of the most powerful Italian Benedictine abbeys: Santa Croce di Sassovivo at Foligno in Umbria. The monastic buildings were located on the left side of the Basilica and underwent an intense phase of development during the 13th. century. The blocked-out windows of the monastic cells are still visible on the imposing western facade that overlooks Via dei Querceti. The cloister, the subject of this restoration project, also dates from the first half of the 13th. century. It is a splendid example of what can be defined as 'cosmatesque' architecture, the name coming from one of the principal sculptor-architect families, the Cosmati, who worked in Rome during the 12th. and 13th. centuries.
The cloister is made up of four corridors supported on the inner side by arches resting on 96 coupled columns and 10 marble pilasters. The corridors were originally covered by a roof. A splendid brick cornice with marble corbels and mosaic intarsia runs the whole length of the four sides. Traditional medieval figurative elements are harmoniously fused with direct references to classical antiquity, such as the fluted pilaster strips. There is clear evidence of the relationship that existed with the cloister at the Abbey of Sassovivo. The latter was being constructed in 1229 and bears the signature of the Roman marble worker Pietro de Maria. It is therefore possible that he is also the author of the Roman cloister.
After the complex was turned into a orphanage for girls run by Augustinian nuns in 1564, restoration and extension work was carried out that also involved the cloister; in particular, the corridors were covered by barrel vaults and a simple open gallery on pilasters was constructed above them. Between the 16th. and 19th. centuries the cloister was seriously tampered with, altering both its aspect and static condition. Between 1912 and 1916 the Fine Arts Superintendent Antonio Muñoz, well known for his interventions on medieval buildings, restored the thirteenth-century part of the cloister and placed a precious marble cantharus, probably from the 11th. century, in the center of the open space that had been turned into a garden.
Muñoz adorned the perimeter walls with notable stone inscriptions and pieces of sculpture, dating from Roman times up to the Middle Ages, which had been found inside the complex. With its controlled space and harmonious proportions, the cloister today represents a typical example of how the stratification of parts of epochs and different styles in the city of Rome has given rise to a single irreplaceable figurative whole. Every day the cloister is open not only to tourists and students interested in its architecture, its works of art and historical testimonies, but also to believers of all creeds who see it as a place of prayer and contemplation.