Thirty-six murals line the walls of this church depicting dozens of ways to die. Santo Stefano Rotondo was consecrated sometime in the mid-400s, but its macabre artwork was added sometime in the 16th century. These murals show Roman martyrs being flayed, boiled, vivisected, roasted, crucified, and buried alive. The name of the emperor who ordered...Read More
On the north flank of the Circus Maximus, where Roman emperors presided over breakneck chariot races, there is a small and unassuming message affixed low on a brick wall. It doesn’t commemorate a historic event or a work of art. It bears just three short Italian words and a date: “Mi sono perso. XVII-IX-MMX”: “I...Read More
One of the largest secret Mithraic temples in Rome is hidden next to the famous Circus Maximus. Discovered in 1931 as part of Rome’s fascist-era building projects, the small subterranean space was once dedicated to the mystery cult of the god Mithras. Although several mithraeums have been discovered throughout the ancient holding of the Roman...Read More
St. Peter’s Basilica is an astounding and massive wonder, filled with sculpture, art, frescoes, woodworking, reliquaries, and more. But not many people know that five stories beneath this architectural marvel lie ruins that date back to the founding of the Roman Empire. If you stand near the altar at St. Peter’s (it’s the one with...Read More
In a cobblestone alley near the Piazza del Popolo, a weather-striped window showcases the porcelain heads, limbs, and bodies of dolls long lost and in complete disrepair. Above the ghastly repository of broken faces pressed to the glass, small owl figurines perch menacingly. What appears to be Rome’s own little shop of horrors is actually...Read More
The Jesuit church of Saint Ignazio was supposed to have a glorious dome, but when the money ran out in 1642, the plans were scrapped. Instead of foregoing the dome entirely, painter and Jesuit brother Andrea Pozzo proposed that he paint a life-sized illusion of a dome that would fool the eyes of visitors (as...Read More
In 1775, the Marquis de Sade wrote of it, “I have never seen anything more striking.” Granted, the crypt was to his tastes. Mark Twain wrote about it in his 1869 book Innocents Abroad. When Twain asked one of the monks what would happen when he died, the monk responded, “We must all lie here...Read More
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