Santi Apostoli Audio Guide for Rome

Welcome to the Piazza dei Santi Apostoli. As you stand before the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles, you are looking at one of Rome’s most resilient landmarks. Notice that the church does not jump out at you like a typical cathedral; it is nestled into the surrounding palaces, originally the stronghold of the powerful Colonna family. This church is the only major basilica in Rome not built on the ruins of an ancient Roman building, but rather on its own foundations dating back to the mid-sixth century. Look up at the nineteenth-century neoclassical facade, which was actually a later addition to the fifteenth-century portico below. Those thirteen statues crowning the top represent Christ and His twelve apostles. This is a place of deep layers, where the dust of the early Byzantine era meets the high drama of the Baroque and the cool marble of Neoclassicism. Let the energy of the square fall away as we prepare to step into a space that has survived earthquakes, political upheaval, and nearly one thousand five hundred years of Roman history.