San Crisogono

Before dinner we bought Doug a bus ticket to the game from the local tabacchi and entered the church across from it on a whim. This one is right in our neighbourhood, old and blending in so much with the surroundings that Nancy had not noticed a church there (despite reading a brochure in our apartment on it).

It has very ancient origins back to about 500 AD in the crypt and is one of the oldest churches in Rome,. As with us, it is often overlooked but it is surprisingly beautiful, a perfect example of how different periods have left their traces over the centuries. The exterior is a 17th-century facade added to a medieval structure and the bell-tower dates from the 12th century. In the 18th century, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a powerful patron of the arts (remember the Borghese Gallery?) commissioned the architect Giovan Battista Soria to undertake a major renovation and had his name written over the facade.

Inside the church is the quiet and dark medieval atmosphere, the traffic noise is left behind. San Crisogono has one of the most beautiful and well-preserved 13th-century mosaic floors in Rome. During the Middle Ages, a family of artists, called Cosmati made a great number of decorations out of the remains of ancient Roman coloured marbles.

Once again, we see the re-use of materials with twenty-two ancient Roman columns that separate the nave from the aisles: it is a typical plan of the early Christian basilicas in Rome. The gilded wood ceiling was also added in the 17th century and in the centre is a copy of St Chrysogonus in a Glory painted by Guercino, the original being in London although it is possible this is the original and the copy is in Lindon, no one seems to be sure.

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