Imposing architectures and symbols: to understand the power gained by the new religion.

3 hours - walking tours / by taxi

The Basilica of St. Mary Major is the first church dedicated to the Virgin. The former 432 AD building is now mostly hidden behind later rearrangements, but the space inside was left untouched and it is still possible to appreciate the original, vast layout. Many of the earliest Christian mosaics are well preserved, together with rich and ornate baroque chapels and the mosaics of the apse vault, making this church one of the most beautiful in Rome.

The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the Cathedral of Rome, center of the earliest Christian bishopric in the world. Built by Emperor Constantine at the beginning of the IV Century AD it also served as the home of the popes until early 1300. Very little survives from the original church as it was enlarged and redecorated and restored many times until Pope Innocent X commissioned architect Francesco Borromini to renovate the interior for the 1650 Jubilee.

The Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls was the largest church in Christendom until St Peter’s was built and the best preserved early Christian shrine until a tragic fire destroyed two thirds of it in 1823. It took nearly 150 years to rebuild it in the same general style and dimensions so it lost its peculiar features. Yet it is worth visiting to experience a monumental Roman basilica. In 2002 archaeologists found a sarcophagus right under the main altar, bearing early inscriptions identifying it as St Paul’s.

On demand it is possible to extend this tour an extra hour and visit one of the Christian catacombs.