Audio Guide Rome – Saint Mary in Trastevere
Audio Guide – Saint Mary in Trastevere – Back to Rome
Saint Mary in Trastevere
The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the most ancient churches in Rome and lies on a square which takes its name after the church.
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The place is nowadays one important meeting point of Rome nightlife.
Basilica was founded around the year 222 by Pope Saint Callixtus I and was mainly rebuilt in the 12th century by Pope Innocent II.
The legend tells that the Basilica was built in the place where, in the year 38 BC, a prodigious eruption of oil came out of the earth (later it was discovered the it was petrol coming out of the earth). This sign was soon interpreted as the Messiah’s coming.
The actual shape of the Basilica, apart from the re-building under the Pope Innocent II in 1138, was finally due to later restyling under the Pope Clemens XI and thanks to the work of Carlo Fontana, an Italian architect who changed the outer façade and the portico.
Inside the Church it is possible to find some very important works of art.
The Basilica is divided in three naves and the 22 granite columns, probably came from ancient pagan monuments, separate the nave from the aisles.
Domenichino’s octagonal ceiling painting, Assumption of the Virgin fits in the coffered ceiling setting that he designed and was probably created towards the beginning of the 1600.
