The Churches and the Holy Doors

For the pilgrims who came to Rome for a long time, the Tour of the Seven Churches was mandatory, which could be visited on foot in a whole day. In the 16th century the tradition was revitalized by Saint Philip Neri, establishing it as follows:

• the four patriarchal basilicas;
• Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le mura, near the Verano cemetery, with the tomb of San Lorenzo, early Christian-medieval, formerly a patriarchal basilica.
• Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, in the place where the palaces of the Roman empress Helen, the mother of Constantine I, were located, near the Lateran. What, according to tradition, are the relics of the cross are preserved there.
• Basilica minore di San Sebastiano outside the walls, near the catacombs of the same name, on the Appia Antica, at the intersection with Via delle Sette Chiese, on the tomb of the saint.

The first Christian churches date back to the Constantinian Edict of Tolerance of Milan in 313. The first buildings of the four patriarchal basilicas belonged to the oldest churches of these early times.

• The Pantheon (Basilica collegiata di Santa Maria ad Martyres) as we see it today, it was completely rebuilt in the 2nd century under the emperor Hadrian as a temple dedicated to all the gods, in place of the previous building from the Augustan era (27-25 BC) whose "signature" can still be seen today on the architrave of the tympanum (M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT). The building has been well preserved because as early as 609 it was used as a church with the name of Santa Maria ad Martyres. The title refers to the fact that large quantities of martyrs' relics had been brought into the church.
• the basilica dei Santi Martiri Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio al Quirinale (390). The basilica of the Holy Martyrs Vitalis, Valeria, Gervasio and Protasio, built under the pontificate of Pope Siricius after 386 and consecrated and richly decorated by Pope Innocent in 402, is the first public Christian basilica with a baptistery (still not found) not founded on pre-existing pagan temples, mentioned in the Liber pontificalis, built by Emperor Theodosius by the will of Saint Ambrose of Milan, in honor of the miraculous discovery of the bodies of Gervasius and Protasius martyrs in Milan. It is the most frescoed basilica in Rome.
• In the basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, not far from the Colosseum, there is the statue of Moses sculpted by Michelangelo. Under the main altar the chains (bonds) with which Saint Peter was chained are preserved. The building dates back to 455, but stands on a previous construction from the 2nd century.
  The Basilica of Santa Sabina all'Aventino, from the 5th century.
• The basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin it is located between the Circus Maximus and the Tiber. The Romanesque basilica dates back to the 6th century and was enlarged in the 8th century to three naves. The bell tower was built in the 12th century. The interior of the church contains eighteen ancient columns, Cosmatesque floors and mosaics as well as a Gothic canopy over the altar. The church is also known for the Mouth of Truth, which is located on an entrance wall; it is an ancient manhole cover with the face of a river God. The hole to lift the manhole cover, shaped like a mouth, is used as a lie detector, as it would cut off the hands of liars.
• The basilica di Santa Prassede, not far from Santa Maria Maggiore, it was built in 822 and houses splendid mosaics from the 9th century. Particularly interesting is the Chapel of San Zenone in the right nave, also called the Garden of Paradise. The church houses in a niche to the right of the entrance a column, which according to tradition was that of the flogging of Christ, and the relics of 2000 martyrs who were brought here from the catacombs.
• The church of San Giorgio in Velabro it stands next to the Arch of Janus, in the small square of the Cloaca Massima. The origins of this very ancient church are not well known, but it seems that they date back to the 6th century, although some sources date its construction even earlier.
• The basilica di San Clemente al Laterano, this too, near the Colosseum, was built in the 12th century on a basilica from 385 which had been destroyed in 1084. The choir seats are still those of the older church; the medieval mosaic of the apse is partly the ancient one. In the crypt below which is decorated with magnificent Cosmatesque floors and frescoes, you can descend into the foundations of the first early Christian church under which there are the remains of a Roman house from the 2nd century and a building with a mitreum.
• The basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere dates back in its current form to the 12th century. There are relevant mosaics from the 12th century in the apse.
• The basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati, at Celio, it has a convent complex (12th century).
• Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.
• Basilica di San Crisogono
• Basilica Diaconale dei Santi Cosma e Damiano
• Church of Santa Maria Antiqua.
• Basilica di Santa Maria in Domnica
• Basilica di Santa Pudenziana
• Church of Santa Prisca

There is essentially only one large Gothic church in Rome:

• The basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The façade from 1453 is early Renaissance. The Dominicans had the church built in 1280 with Gothic workers coming from Florence. In the richly decorated interior there is the tomb of Saint Catherine of Siena and that of Beato Angelico. Among the numerous works by Bernini and other artists, we highlight the Christ the Judge by Melozzo da Forlì and the Risen Christ by Michelangelo, whose nakedness has been covered with a metal cloth for centuries. In the square in front there is the famous Pulcino della Minerva. The adjoining Dominican convent was the seat of the Tribunal of the Inquisition from 1628. In 1633, Galileo Galilei was also tried there.
• However, also the rear part of the very famous church of the Santissima Trinità dei Monti it is to be considered a late example of this style, perhaps built by French laborers at the beginning of the 16th century with a roof of ogival cross-vaults.

• The Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo it is built on the site where Nero died and was buried. The church was built under Pope Sixtus IV. Martin Luther stayed in the Augustinian cloister during his stay in Italy in his youth. The church contains masterpieces by Bernini and Caravaggio.
• The Basilica dei Santi Trifone e Agostino, between Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, with its splendid Renaissance façade which miraculously escaped Baroque tampering. It contains under the main altar the tomb of the mother of Saint Augustine, Saint Monica, who died in Ostia, a fresco attributed to Raphael and the famous Madonna dei Pellegrini by Caravaggio.
• The chiurch of San Luigi dei Francesi, national church of the French in Rome, inaugurated in 1589, houses three famous paintings by Caravaggio, among which the Vocation of Saint Matthew stands out. The Renaissance façade was designed by Giacomo Della Porta.
• The Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri it was integrated by Michelangelo into the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian in Piazza della Repubblica. The church was then adapted to the Baroque style. The transept is longer than the nave. The sundial in the church is notable. It contains a large group of altarpieces from the 17th-18th centuries, from the St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It is the church where the official ceremonies of the Italian State take place

• The church of Santissimo Nome di Gesù constitutes the prototype of the baroque church. It is located where, in 1556, the founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, died. The saint's tomb is located in the left transept. Altar decorations of gold, marble and alabaster surround one of the largest known pieces of lapis lazuli, a globe held by an angel. The fresco in the ceiling of the central nave shows in perspective, the Glory of the "Name of Jesus" and influenced the style throughout Europe. In the right transept there is the mummified arm of Saint Francis Xavier, one of the first members of the Jesuit order and the first missionary to reach the Far East.
• The chiurch of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio it was begun in 1627 and completed in 1685 as the second Jesuit church. The perspectives of the frescoes by the Jesuit Andrea Pozzo are surprising, which must be observed from the point marked on the ground (from any other point the perspectives are distorted). The optical deception of the painted spherical dome, but in reality completely flat, still amazes the visitor today. The Piazza di Sant'Ignazio, in front of the church, is a gem in the 18th century rococo style by Filippo Raguzzini.
• The church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) from the 16th century is the final resting place of Saint Philip Neri. It is flanked by the Oratorio dei Filippini, one of the most interesting works by Francesco Borromini.
• The church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Piazza Navona it was begun in 1652 by Rainaldi and later completed by Borromini.
• The chiesa di San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (also called San Carlino), built by Borromini between 1638 and 1663. The church is located near the intersection of via delle Quattro Fontane with via del Quirinale and via XX Settembre. From this intersection you can see three of Rome's many obelisks: the one on the Quirinale, the one in front of Trinità dei Monti and the one in front of Santa Maria Maggiore. Furthermore, at the four corners of the intersection there are the four fountains that give the street its name.
• The church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, just a few meters away, it is a work by Bernini in the years between 1658 and 1671. The small church is a baroque jewel.
• The church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in via XX Settembre it was built from 1605 to 1625. In the sumptuous baroque church there is The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, by Bernini.
• The basilica di Sant'Andrea della Valle, designed and built by Pier Paolo Olivieri, Francesco Grimaldi, and Carlo Maderno between 1590 and 1650. The nearby Palazzo Valle gave its name to the church. The baroque façade was added between 1655 and 1663 by Carlo Rainaldi, at the expense of Cardinal Francesco Peretti di Montalto, nephew of Alessandro.
• The church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, work by Francesco Borromini.

• The church of Gran Madre di Dio overlooks the square of Ponte Milvio. Built in the 1930s and consecrated in 1933, it is a Greek cross church topped by a large dome. It has been a Cardinal Title since 1965.
• The church of Dio Padre Misericordioso (also called the Jubilee Church) is located in the Tor Tre Teste district (between via Casilina and via Prenestina) and was built to a design by the American architect Richard Meier and inaugurated in 2003. The construction of the church is the result of a program of the Diocese of Rome to also provide the peripheral areas of the city with appropriate places of worship of high architectural quality.