Basilica of San Clemente
Three buildings stacked in one: a twelfth-century church over a fourth-century one over a Mithraic temple.
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San Clemente is the clearest cross-section of Rome available. At street level is a twelfth-century basilica with a gold apse mosaic of the Tree of Life, vines spreading from the cross across the whole vault. Beneath it lies a fourth-century church, buried and forgotten until an Irish Dominican prior began digging in 1857, with frescoes including a scene whose caption is among the earliest written Italian, and it is unprintable. Below that again is a first-century Roman house and a Mithraeum, a temple to Mithras with its altar showing the god killing a bull, and an underground stream still running audibly past it.
What you actually see
- The Tree of Life mosaic - a twelfth-century gold apse in the upper church.
- The fourth-century frescoes - including an early line of written Italian.
- The Mithraeum - a temple to Mithras with the bull-slaying altar.
- The underground stream - water audible on the lowest level.
When to go
Year-round; the lower levels are cool in summer. It closes over lunch and on Sunday mornings. Photography is prohibited on the excavated levels.
Honest expectations
The lower levels are damp, and photography is banned there. Stairs are narrow and the descent is not accessible. Ticket queues form in season despite the small entrance.
Nearby
The Colosseum lies west; the Lateran is east.
What to pack for Basilica of San Clemente
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.
