Rome’s churches are among the most beautiful and ancient in the Western world: spend an afternoon discovering some of them on this guided tour. Wait us at your centrally located hotel and our driver will pick you up. You’ll reach our professional guide who’ll provide you with a convenient audio receiver and earphones, to make sure you won’t miss a single word. We’ll visit Saint Mary Major, an ancient, stunning basilica. It was built on the summit of the Esquiline Hill: its original architecture was classical, maybe to convey the idea the place represented the ancient Imperial as well as the Christian Rome. Despite several additional construction projects and damages, the basilica retains the core of its original 442 AD structure. Even more ancient, Saint John Lateran Basilica: the oldest public church in Rome as well as the highest-ranked papal major basilica. It stands over the remains of a military Roman imperial fort established in AD 193 that was later converted into a place of worship and suffered several damages due to earthquakes and fires: the stunning façade as it appears today was completed in 1.735. In the nearby, the Scala Sancta (the Holy Stairs): white marble steps encased in wooden ones. According to Catholic tradition, they formed the staircase leading up to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem on which Jesus stepped during his Passion. And talking ancient, the Catacombs of St. Callixtus deserve a visit: these underground burial places, outside the walls of the city, were carved through tuff, a soft volcanic rock. More than fifty martyrs and early Popes were buried in this huge graveyard.