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Santi Giovanni e Paolo Review

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Santi Giovanni e Paolo

Address: Piazza Santi Giovanni e Paolo 13, Celio, Rome | Map It
Phone: 06/772711

Category: Religious Sites
Location: Esquilino and Celio

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Fodor's Review:

Perched up the incline of the Clivus di Scauro—a magical time-machine of a street where the dial seems to be stuck somewhere in the 13th century—Santi Giovanni e Paolo is an image that would tempt most landscape painters. Landmarked by one of Rome's finest Romanesque belltowers, it looms over on a poetic piazza. But the most notable thing about this church is what lies beneath it: a whole block of ancient buildings. The site's detailed English signage explains the development of what was originally a group of simple houses and taverns. By the 2nd century AD they had been taken over by wealthier owners, who installed private thermal baths, fountains, and frescoes. On these grounds in 362, St. John and St. Paul (not the apostles, but high-ranking patricians) were executed by Julian the Apostate, a successor of Constantine who attempted to restore paganism in Rome.

A basilica erected on the spot was, like San Clemente, destroyed in 1084 by attacking Normans. Its half-buried columns, near the current church entrance, are visible through misty glass. The current church has its origins at the start of the 12th century, but the interior dates mostly from the 17th century and later. The lovely, incongruous chandeliers are a hand-me-down from New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, a gift arranged by the late Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York, whose titular church this was. Spellman also initiated the excavations here in 1949.

Open: Daily 8-12 and 3:30-6
Metro: Colosseo

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