San Clemente

In its many architectural layers, Rome has often been compared to a palimpsest and the church of San Clemente is often quoted to illustrate this. For the church we visit today was built in the 12th century on top of a church from the 4th century, which, in turn, was built on top of a house and a mithraeum from the first and second centuries AD, which were constructed on buildings from the first century BC. A total of at least five layers of architectural history, going back over two thousand years.

The glory of the church are the mosaics in the apse. Dating back to the 12th century, they are some of the finest in Rome.

San Clemente also boasts a beautiful Cosmatesque floor. This type of floor, very common in medieval Roman churches, but almost unknown elsewhere, was made up of fragments of ancient marble and porphyry. The fragments were cut up and relaid in geometric patterns. The technique was named after the Cosmati family, who were practitioners of the art during the 12th and 13th centuries.

The church is also home to the first chapel decoration following the election of Pope Martin V, in 1417, an event which brought an end to the Great Schism (a period of fifty years during which the Catholic Church had not one but two popes).

The Chapel of the Sacrament was decorated between 1428 and 1432 with a series of fine frescoes by Masolino. The frescoes were commissioned by Cardinal Branda Castiglione, a member of a distinguished Milanese family, and represent scenes from the lives of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Ambrose (the patron saint of Milan).

Santi Quattro Coronati

The church of the Four Crowned Saints is the only fortified church in Rome and was used in the Middle Ages as a papal residence or as a lodging for important guests. Its proximity to the Lateran Palace (which is where the Popes lived before they moved into the Vatican) made it a handy retreat in times of trouble.

The church is approached by the via dei Querceti, the street of the oaks, a reminder that this was once (as you can see in the painting) a secluded area of woods and vineyards.

The church takes its name from four Christian sculptors who were martyred during the reign of Diocletian for refusing to carve a statue of the pagan god Aesculapius. They were executed by being 'crowned' with wreathes of sharp, iron spikes, which were driven into their skulls. For centuries, stone carvers preferred to locate their workshops in the vicinity of the church.

The church's chief beauty is, perhaps, its tiny 13th century cloister, an oasis of peace and tranquility.

The church is also home to an early cycle of frescoes, which can be found in the Chapel of San Silvestro. The frescoes, which were painted in 1246 (artist unknown), illustrate the legend of the emperor Constantine being cured of leprosy by Pope St Sylvester. In return, the Pope received a tiara from the emperor to show that the power of the church takes precedence over the power of the state.

San Giovanni in Laterano

San Giovanni in Laterano is Rome's cathedral, the seat of the city's bishop, who is, of course, also the Pope. An inscription on the facade proclaims the church as "The Mother and Head of all the Churches in the City and the World". It was the first Christian Basilica to be built in Rome following the Edict of Milan, which freed Christianity from persecution.

Built and re-built over a thousand years, the church we see today was constructed during the reign of Pope Sixtus V, at the end of the 16th century. The bronze doors of the central portal were actually filched from the Curia in the Forum. Thankfully, the Pope retained the lovely early 13th century cloister.

On one side of the Basilica stands the world's tallest Obelisk. It had been brought from Egypt to Rome in 357 and once stood in the Circus Maximus. It was unearthed there, while the Basilica was being re-built and was moved here in 1586.

For more information about the Obelisks in Rome, see my article: Obelisks

The baths were actually begun by the Emperor Septimius Severus in 206 and opened, 11 years later, by his son, Caracalla. They were the second largest in the city, with a capacity of 1,600 bathers, but much more luxurious than the largest (the Baths of Diocletian).

To give you an idea of the original scale of the baths, let us compare it with St Paul's Cathedral in London. The latter occupies about 64,000 square feet and the nave rises to a height of 100 feet. The main block of the Baths of Caracalla was just as high, but the complex covered more than 270,000 square feet. The Baths were also built in a third of the time it took to build St Paul's.

The French writer, Emile Zola, described the Baths as: "standing there like the relics of a race of giants long since vanquished from the world". Henry James added: "Even more than the Colosseum, I think they give you a notion of Roman Scale".

Circus Maximus

As the name suggests this was the biggest circus in the city. Chariots were raced here before as many as a quarter of a million people, making it not just the largest circus in the city, but the biggest stadium the world has ever seen.

The Circus Maximus sits in a shallow valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills. The Romans have raced chariots here since the times of the seven kings. This is where, according to legend, the Romans invited their neighbours the Sabines to watch the races only to steal their wives when the men were otherwise absorbed!

The Circus reached its greatest splendour under the reign of the emperor Trajan. Three storeys high and constructed of stone and marble, it rivalled the beauty of the city's temples, according to Pliny the Younger. The Circus was built for chariot racing, but other events were also held here, including gladiatorial combats, athletic events and the hunting of wild beasts.

The chariots were raced around a thin strip of land known as the spina, which was decorated with at first one and then two enormous obelisks.

The model on the left gives you an idea of what the circus may have once looked like.

Today, there is almost nothing to be seen (at least above ground), but the large open space, used mostly by dog walkers and joggers, is still very evocative of the days when the sky would be filled with the roar of a crowd, 250,000 strong.