Explore the Underground of Santa Cecilia Basilica in Trastevere: A Journey Through History

Highlights

• Tour Duration
• Discoveries
• Special Inclusions

What's included

Itinerary

1. 1

   Stop 1

   1h 30min

   The basilica stands, according to tradition, on the site of the house of the Roman noble Cecilia, martyred around 230 AD.C. for his faith. Hagiographic sources tell that, after converting her husband Valerian and brother-in-law Tiburtius to Christianity, Cecilia was condemned to die in the calidarium of her home. She survived the hot steam for three days and was finally beheaded. It is said that Pope Urban I, witness of martyrdom, buried her body and transformed the house into a place of worship, giving rise to the first church dedicated to the saint. The basement of the basilica preserves an entire archaeological complex: - the remains of a Roman domus of republican and imperial age; - the rooms of an ancient insula, typical residential building of ancient Rome; - the structures that tradition identifies with the house of Santa Cecilia; - a suggestive antiquarium that exhibits the finds found during archaeological excavations.

Before you go