San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore e San Pietro in Vincoli

Duration: 3 hours

The Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano is the most important and the oldest basilicas of Rome. The ancient basilica and the Baptistery was built by Constantine but it was later reconstructed many times.

Further renovation of the interior was directed by Francesco Borromini for the Jubilee of 1650. The façade was rebuilt by the architect Alessandro Galilei who removed all vestiges of traditional ancient basilica architecture and imparted a neo-classical façade.

After that you will visit the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the first roman church dedicated in the 5th century to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ancient basilica was restored and extended by various popes, such as Eugene III (1145-1153), Nicholas IV (1288-92) and Benedict XIV (1740-58) who in the 1740s commissioned the architect Ferdinando Fuga to build the present façade and to modify the interior.

Then you will visit the Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli. It was built in 442 by the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Valentinian III, to house the relic of chains (in Latin vincula) of St. Peter when he was imprisoned in the Mamertine Prison in Rome. Once inside the basilica you will admire one of Michelangelo’s most famous sculptures, Moses, originally intended as a part of the funeral monument for Pope Julius II.