Rome has 900+ churches — and many contain art that OTHER cities would build museums around. 3 Caravaggio paintings in San Luigi dei Francesi (free). Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa in Santa Maria della Vittoria (free). 12th-century Byzantine mosaics that glow gold in the apse of Santa Maria in Trastevere (free). All FREE. All with zero queues. Church visiting guide →
CARAVAGGIO: 1. San Luigi dei Francesi (Piazza Navona area): 3 paintings — The Calling of St. Matthew, Martyrdom, St. Matthew & the Angel. €1 coin for light. FREE. 2. Santa Maria del Popolo (Piazza del Popolo): 2 Caravaggio (Conversion of St. Paul, Crucifixion of St. Peter) + Bernini + Raphael chapel. FREE. 3. Sant'Agostino (near Navona): Madonna dei Pellegrini — Caravaggio's dirty-footed pilgrims scandalized Rome. FREE.
BERNINI: 4. Santa Maria della Vittoria (Via XX Settembre): Ecstasy of St. Teresa — the most SENSUAL religious sculpture ever carved. FREE. 5. Sant'Andrea al Quirinale: Bernini's "perfect church" — oval, pink marble, theatrical lighting. FREE. MOSAICS: 6. Santa Maria in Trastevere: 12th-century apse mosaics — GOLD Byzantine splendor. Piazza fountain at sunset. FREE. 7. Santa Prassede (near Santa Maria Maggiore): Cappella di San Zenone — "Garden of Paradise" — the MOST IMPORTANT Byzantine mosaic cycle in Rome. Every surface covered in gold. FREE. 8. Santi Cosma e Damiano (Roman Forum): 6th-century apse mosaic — Christ appearing in clouds. Enter from Via dei Fori Imperiali. FREE.
FRESCOES + HIDDEN GEMS: 9. Sant'Ignazio (near Pantheon): Andrea Pozzo's ceiling trompe l'oeil — a FLAT ceiling that looks like a soaring dome. Stand on the marble disk in the nave. FREE. 10. San Pietro in Vincoli (near Colosseo): Michelangelo's Moses + the chains that bound St. Peter. FREE. 11. Santa Cecilia in Trastevere: Cavallini's Last Judgment fresco (1293) — earliest Italian masterpiece predating Giotto. €2.50 to see the fresco (upstairs convent). 12-20: Quattro Coronati (cloister + Chapel of St. Sylvester frescoes, ring the bell). Santo Stefano Rotondo (circular, gruesome martyr frescoes). Santa Sabina (oldest wooden doors, 432 AD). San Bartolomeo all'Isola (Tiber Island). Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (only Gothic church, Michelangelo's Risen Christ). Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati. Santa Maria Antiqua (Forum, reopened with 6th-c frescoes). San Giovanni a Porta Latina (12th-c fresco cycle). Santa Maria in Cosmedin (Bocca della Verità).