Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo - Rome - page 390

The mosaics, produced by artists whom Pope Paschal I had brought in specially from
Byzantium, bear all the hallmarks of their eastern creators, with bold gold backgrounds
and a marked Christian symbolism. The apse mosaics depict Christ flanked by Sts Peter,
Pudentiana and Zeno on the right, and Paul, Praxedes and Pope Paschal on the left. All the
figures have golden halos except for Paschal, whose head is shadowed by a blue nimbus
to indicate that he was still alive at the time. Further treasures await in the heavily mosa-
iced Cappella di San Zenone , including a piece of the column to which Christ was tied when
he was flogged, brought back from Jerusalem - it's in the glass case on the right.

CHIESA DI SAN MARTINO AI MONTI
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( Viale del Monte Oppio 28; 9am-noon & 4.30-7pm; Cavour) This was already a place of worship
in the 3rd century, when Christians would meet in what was then the home of a Roman
named Equitius. In the 4th century, after Christianity was legalised, a church was con-
structed, later rebuilt in the 6th and 9th centuries. It was then completely transformed by
Filippo Gagliardi in the 1650s.
It's of particular interest for Gagliardi's frescoes showing the Basilica di San Giovanni
in Laterano before it was rebuilt in the mid-17th century and St Peter's Basilica before it
assumed its present 16th-century look. Remnants of the more distant past include the an-
cient Corinthian columns dividing the nave and aisles.

CHURCH

CHIESA DI SANTA LUCIA IN SELCI
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( Via in Selci 82; 8am-noon & 2-6pm; Cavour) The small Chiesa di Santa Lucia in Selci is a
convent church devoted to the 4th-century martyr St Lucy. It dates to some time before
the 8th century, but was reconstructed by Carlo Maderno in the 16th century, who kept it
within the then monastery, hence the lack of a facade. It was later restored by Borromini
in the 17th century.

CHURCH

PIAZZA VITTORIO EMANUELE II
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Laid out in the late 19th century as the centrepiece of an upmarket residential district,
Rome's biggest square is a grassy expanse with a down-at-heel feel, surrounded by speed-
ing traffic, porticoes and bargain stores. Within the fenced-off central section are the ruins
of Trofei di Mario MAP GOOGLE MAP once a fountain at the end of an aqueduct.
In the northern corner, the Chiesa di Sant'Eusebio MAP GOOGLE MAP is popular with pet
owners, who bring their companions to be blessed on St Anthony's feast day (17 January).

PIAZZA