One of the most extraordinary works of the Baroque genius Francesco Castelli – alias Borromini – is surely the church of Saint Charles at the Four Fountains.
One of the most beautiful and fascinating medieval works in Rome is definitely the Basilica of Saint Praxedes. This church is accessible by the street that takes its name. This street, near Santa Maria Maggiore, almost hidden, would hardly be known if not for the presence of such an important and peculiar cult. It is dedicated to Saint Praxedes. Daughter of the Roman senator Pudens, that converted to Christianity, became a saint himself, Saint Praxedes hosted in her house, with the sister Saint Pudentiana, Peter the apostle before he was imprisoned and crucified (64 or 67 AD).
Saint Peter’s Basilica is one of the largest buildings in the world, definitely the most important and famous church in the world. Symbol of Christianity, Saint Peter’s was built on the place in which the apostle Peter was buried, after being martyrized on the Vatican Hill during Nero’s empire, in 64 AD (or 67 AD?).
Contrary to popular belief the ecclesiastical seat of the Pope is not St. Peter’s Basilica but the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran because the pontiff is also and especially Rome’s bishop. This basilica was built some years before the one of St. Peter and so it’s the oldest in the world. The church was inaugurated by Pope Sylvester I in 324 A.D. and was initially dedicated to the Savior but through the centuries was also dedicated to St. John the Baptist and then St. John the Evangelist.
