Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
Trastevere is dotted with exquisite churches and artworks, yet some of its most mem-
orable sights are picturesque glimpses down narrow, ochre-and-orange-shaded lanes
that will make you catch your breath.
East of Viale di Trastevere
CHIESA DI SAN FRANCESCO D'ASSISI A RIPA
( Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi 88; 7.30am-noon & 2-7.30pm; or Viale di Trastevere)
St Francis is
said to have stayed here in the 13th century, and you can still see the rock that he used as a
pillow and his crucifix in his cell. Rebuilt several times, the church's current incarnation
dates from the 1680s. It contains one of Bernini's most daring works, the
Beata Ludovica
Albertoni
(Blessed Ludovica Albertoni; 1674), a work of highly charged sexual ambiguity.
It shows Ludovica, a Franciscan nun, in a state of rapture as she reclines, eyes shut,
mouth open, one hand touching her breast. The 17th-century church also contains impress-
ive 18th-century Rospigliosi and Pallavici sculptural monuments.
CHURCH
TOP SIGHT
BASILICA DI SANTA CECILIA IN TRASTEVERE
This church, with its serene courtyard, remarkable frescoes by Pietro Cavallini, and ancient Roman excavations be-
neath the building, is the last resting place of St Cecilia, the patron saint of music.
This basilica stands on the site of an earlier 5th-century church, itself built over the ancient Roman house where it's
believed Cecilia was martyred in AD 230. You can visit the network of excavated houses that lie beneath the
church. Below the altar, Stefano Maderno's delicate sculpture shows exactly how Cecilia's miraculously preserved
body was apparently found when it was unearthed in the Catacombe di San Callisto in 1599.
In the right-hand nave the Cappella del Caldarium, complete with two works by Guido Reni, marks the spot
where the saint was allegedly tortured.
But the basilica's hidden wonder is Cavallini's spectacular 13th-century fresco, showing a section of his
Last
Judgement
, in the nuns' choir. Much of this late medieval masterwork was lost during the remodelling of the
church in the 18th century, but what remains gives an idea of its splendour.
