Santa Maria Maggiore
Legend says snow fell here on August 5 to trace the floor plan; sixteen centuries later, Pope Francis chose it as his grave.
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One of Rome's four papal major basilicas and its largest Marian church, gathering 5th-century mosaics, a gilded Renaissance ceiling, and Pope Francis's 2025 tomb under one roof. Consecrated by Pope Sixtus III in 434.
What to look for
- The coffered ceiling, said to be gilded with the first gold Columbus brought back — a gift from Ferdinand and Isabella to the Spanish pope Alexander VI.
- The 5th-century nave and triumphal-arch mosaics, made after the Council of Ephesus (431) for the church Sixtus III consecrated — Old Testament scenes like Moses and the Red Sea.
- Pope Francis's tomb (April 26, 2025), the first pope interred outside the Vatican since 1903.
Descend into the confessio before the high altar for the Crypt of the Nativity and Valadier's crystal reliquary said to hold wood from the Holy Crib; Bernini is buried here too.
Santa Maria Maggiore is one of 40 sights worth the detour in Rome, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Rome pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Rome
- Vatican CityThe world's smallest sovereign state fits in 44 hectares — you cross its border by stepping over a white line.
- ColosseumAround 50,000 Romans packed this stone oval to watch spectacles staged over a two-level warren of cages beneath the arena floor.
- St. Peter's BasilicaThe world's largest church, built directly over the grave believed to hold St. Peter's bones.
- Sistine ChapelMichelangelo painted the ceiling standing up, not on his back — and cardinals still elect the pope in this room.
- PantheonA 1,900-year-old concrete dome with a hole punched in the top — when it rains in Rome, it rains inside too.
- Stadio OlimpicoOne 70,634-seat bowl, two cross-town tenants: AS Roma and SS Lazio both play here.