Churches, churches and more churches, tag along as I explore some of my favorite sights in Rome.
Rome is a city of churches. There are hundreds of them. You can visit Rome ten times and not see them all. Well, I have my favorites and this trip, I focused on those. I showed a couple in my last post. However, I visited a lot more churches on the third and fourth days in Rome, including the most famous of them all, St. Peter’s.
Okay, St. Peter’s is not technically in Rome, it’s in Vatican City, but close enough. It was, however, part of Rome when it was first built in 318-322. The current church was built piecemeal around the original church built by Constantine the Great, starting in the 16th century. (For that story and more on Vatican City, check out this post.)
To get most of your day, you must get to St. Peter’s Basilica when it opens, which is before dawn in December. It was really cool watching a bit of the sunrise from the porch of the basilica.
The gilded nave of St. Peter’s. They were stacking chairs after a service.
Even all the little domes in St. Peter’s are beautiful.
Michelangelo’s famous Pieta. It’s now behind glass because someone took a hammer to it in 1972.
Michelangelo also designed the dome, but he never saw it completed.
The baldacchino, a pavilion-like structure placed directly underneath the center of the dome, and over the altar.
Down the road from St. Peter’s is the Castel Sant’Angelo, the Pope’s castle, although it did start its life as the mausoleum of the Ancient Roman Emperor Hadrian.
The first parish church of the day is Santa Maria in Vallicella, or simply, Chiesa Nuova (New Church).
Chiesa Nuova is one of my favorites stumbled-upon churches. On my second trip to Rome, I was walking down this street and I noticed the door open, so I walked in. (Totally normal to randomly walk into churches in Italy.) It’s a lovely little place. Very peaceful.
The street I was wandering down is the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, a major thoroughfare in central Rome. The next church we will visit further down this street.
The Church of the Gesu is famous for this ceiling and its trompe-l’oeil effect, which causes you to think that a 2D image is 3D instead. It looks like that cloud is floating but in reality, it is not. It’s one of my favorite ceilings in Rome.
The rest of the church is just gorgeous as well. This is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), so many churches are based off this design. Jesuit churches tend to be decorated to the extreme, no matter where you find them in Italy.
Even the dome is great! I just happen to like this outlandish style of decoration. It just makes me happy for some reason.
I also stopped by one of my other favorite churches, San Luigi dei Francesi (Saint Louis of the French). So shiny.
The Pantheon, one of Rome’s most famous landmarks. This former Roman temple was finished around 126 CE. It was saved by being turned into a church.
They still hold church services in the Pantheon, but it’s mostly a tourist attraction now. It’s one of the few churches in Rome where they don’t enforce the dress code (i.e., no short shorts or bare shoulders).
The famous painter Raphael is entombed here in the Pantheon. He is famous for the School of Athens fresco in the Vatican Museums and for his rivalry with Michelangelo.
Some pastel buildings next to Sant’Ignazio di Loyola (on the right). I love how colorful Mediterranean buildings can be.
Sant’Ignazio di Loyola is another ridiculously over decorated church that I love. It even has a fake dome painted on the ceiling. It’s kind of hard to make out in this picture though.
The ceiling over the nave is also painted to look like it is vaulted rather than being rather flat. Simply amazing.
Hidden market in a small square.
I made a quick stop in Piazza Navona to look at the fountains before heading to back to the Vatican.
This time it was a rush visit through the Vatican Museums. Yes, 3.5 hours in the Vatican Museums is a rush visit. Last time I spent at least 6 hours and I still felt I didn’t spend enough time here. I have to say, these museums are some of the most beautiful ones I have ever been in, hands down.
One of my favorite parts of the Vatican Museums is the Raphael Rooms, painted by Raphael. This is the Deliverance of St. Peter, painted in 1514. Raphael did a series of rooms for Pope Julius II’s private rooms.
The Vatican has been opening new exhibit spaces in the last few years in what used to be the old papal apartments. I somehow ended up here and got to see some cool old medieval ceilings.
Last sight of the day was the famous Trevi Fountain, which is always best seen at night.
Another day and more churches ahead. It was not a full day of exploration, but I did see quite a bit in that time. However, since I’m running out of space, I’m just going to show a couple of things from my fourth day in Rome.
First church of the day, bright and early, was Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs), a nice long name for a church with a very long history. The church was built in the 16th century in the ancient ruins of the Baths of Diocletian and designed by Michelangelo himself.
Next up is one of my favorites, Santa Maria della Vittoria. Such a splendid Baroque church.
Santa Maria della Vittoria is famous for this statue by the artist Bernini, St. Teresa in Ecstasy. No further comment.
I, of course, had to visit the first church in Rome I ever went to, Santa Maria Maggiore. It’s a gorgeous church. I happened to hit it right after a service this time, so the lights were still on. It was wonderful.
Normally you have to put money into a machine for this kind of lighting.
After Santa Maria Maggiore, I went on a major wander around town. I ended up at Le Quattro Fontane (the Four Fountains). Each of the four fountains are located on a street corner. This one represents the River Tiber, the river that runs through Rome.
I found myself on the Quirinal Hill, where the Quirinal Palace is located. It was built for the popes, now it serves as the residence for the President of Italy.
The last place I stopped was the Capitoline Hill, one of my favorite places in Rome. It is also home to one of my favorite museums in Rome, the Capitoline Museums. This square was also designed by Michelangelo. (Check out this post for more on Roman museums.)
Rome is one of those places where you can see a lot in just a few days. I have seen a few things multiple times because I love them so much, I need to see them every time I visit. Will I visit Rome again in the future? Absolutely!
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Explore more of Rome with my Wandering Rome series!
