Discover Basilica of Santa Prassede

Santa Prassede stands on the Esquiline, a few minutes from Santa Maria Maggiore. Pope Paschal I, who reigned from 817 to 824, enlarged and decorated it around 828, hiring a team of professional mosaicists to complete the work in the apse, the apsidal arch and the triumphal arch. Turismo Roma records that the interior originally had sixteen granite columns across three naves.

The Chapel of San Zeno is the reason to come: built by Paschal as a funerary chapel for his mother Theodora, and described by Turismo Roma as the most significant Byzantine monument preserved in Rome. Its mosaics show figures of saints and, on the vault, the Saviour within a medallion.

In the apse Jesus is in the centre flanked by Saints Peter and Paul; on the apsidal arch, twelve men on each side hold wreaths of victory. A porphyry disc in the floor marks a well where, by legend, Saint Prassede collected martyrs' remains and blood — Paschal having brought numerous skeletons here from the catacombs. The church also holds Bernini's bust of Bishop Giovanni Battista Santoni, which Turismo Roma calls his first sculptural work and Wikipedia dates to about 1612.

No visiting hours are published, and visits are suspended during services.

A ninth-century basilica whose decoration matters more than its structure, and whose best room is an afterthought in plan terms. The church is a three-aisled basilica; Turismo Roma records that it originally had sixteen granite columns.

What distinguishes it is the mosaic programme, which Paschal commissioned as a single campaign from a team of professional mosaicists and which covers the apse, the apsidal arch and the triumphal arch. In the apse, Jesus stands at the centre flanked by Peter and Paul. The apsidal arch carries twelve men on each side holding wreaths of victory.

The Chapel of San Zeno, off the right aisle, is a small square funerary chapel built for Theodora and lined entirely in mosaic — figures of saints on the walls, and on the vault the Saviour in a medallion carried by angels. Its scale is domestic and its surface is total; it is the closest thing in Rome to standing inside a Byzantine interior.

In the floor of the church a porphyry disc marks the well of the legend. The chapel has essentially no daylight of its own, which is part of why its gold ground behaves as it does — the mosaic is built to be read by whatever light reaches it rather than by a window.

It was rebuilt to hold bodies. Paschal I's programme in the 820s was to move martyrs out of the catacombs outside the walls and into churches inside them, and Santa Prassede was one of the destinations — the reference work records that he dug up numerous skeletons and transplanted them here.

The enlargement around 828 was therefore functional before it was decorative: a bigger basilica to receive relics. The decoration followed as a single commission. Paschal hired a team of professional mosaicists to work the apse, the apsidal arch and the triumphal arch, which is why the programme reads as one campaign rather than an accumulation.

The Chapel of San Zeno was built within the same works, as a funerary chapel for his mother. It is small, square and entirely surfaced, and its completeness is what survived: a room that was finished all at once and never refitted.

When is it open? No visiting hours are published. Turismo Roma gives Mass times only — weekdays and Saturday vigils at 18.00, Sundays and holidays at 11.00 and 18.00 — says visits are suspended during services, and recommends contacting the church.

Do I need money? No admission is published for any part of the church. As at every unticketed basilica, an offering is the way the building is kept up.

What is the Chapel of San Zeno? A funerary chapel built by Pope Paschal I for his mother Theodora, and described by Turismo Roma as the most significant Byzantine monument preserved in Rome.

Is the column of the flagellation genuine? It was brought to Rome by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna in 1223. The reference work notes that medieval relics of this kind lack indisputable authenticity, there being no forensic evidence — and this page does not go further than that.

Is there really a Bernini here? A bust of Bishop Giovanni Battista Santoni, who died in 1592, dated to about 1612. Turismo Roma calls it Bernini's first sculptural work.

How old are the mosaics? Paschal I's campaign dates from about 828.

How long does it take? About 35 minutes.