Overview
Rome needs little introduction. Of all European cities, it is simply the most enthralling and historically interesting. Imperial capital until the early 4th century, home to both the papacy and papal curia, the place where Octavian was proclaimed Augustus and Saints Peter and Paul were martyred. In no other city can one still find standing buildings from every century of the Christian Era, and none where the allure of the Antique is so clear.
For ease of movement we have grouped buildings topographically. We pair the best of the late Antique funerary basilicas at San Lorenzo fuori le Mura and Sant’Agnese; give over a morning to the churches of Trastevere, relate Santa Maria Maggiore to the two sister churches that sit within her shadow, explore the extraordinarily deep stratigraphy of the churches east of the Colosseum, and spend a leisurely morning among the Early Christian buildings that sprang up within and beyond the Imperial gardens in the south of the city.
Certain themes are well known – the emergence of an identifiably Christian iconography in catacomb painting in the period before Constantine’s promulgation of religious tolerance in AD 313, the exhilarating scale and surface polish of the major churches of the 4th and 5th centuries, the self-consciously historicising nature of the Carolingian revival of the Roman Empire under Pope Paschal I.
Other themes are perhaps less widely appreciated; the abundant evidence for the refurnishing of virtually every Roman church over the course of the 8th and 9th centuries, their repaving over the 11th and 12th centuries, the patronage of the new orders of friars in the 13th and 14th centuries, the ways in which churches reflect movements in the population of Rome, the extraordinary inventiveness with which monastic precincts were planned, and the impact of papal attitudes to the collection and display of Antique sculpture.
Day 1
Fly around midday from London Heathrow (British Airways) to Rome, where all seven nights are spent.
Day 2
Morning on the Celian Hill. The church of the Quattro Coronati provides a perfect perspective on early medieval Rome, displaying successive retrenchment until an exquisite cloister was added in the 12th century. Thence to San Clemente, a superb columnar hall rebuilt after the 1084 sack of Rome – its 4th-century predecessor remains below. Afternoon around the Lateran, particularly the Baptistery and the chapels which surround it, before finishing at Santo Stefano Rotondo, that wonderful 5th-century puzzle of a building.
Day 3
Trastevere: the Ionic nave arcade of San Crisogono, magnificent Pietro Cavallini frescoes at Santa Cecilia, overall splendour of Santa Maria. The afternoon takes us extra-muros, to San Lorenzo, a stunning 6th-century cemetery church to which a new nave was added around 1200. Then to Sant’Agnese, a massive funerary basilica to which a daughter of Constantine added her mausoleum, and where Pope Honorius I (625-638) built a second church for easier access to the underground tomb of Saint Agnes.
Day 4
Morning on the Capitol, ceremonial centre of ancient and medieval Rome. The Capitoline Museums were created in 1471 with the donation of the papacy’s collection of Antique sculpture to the city. Savour the contrasting treatments meted out to the tiny 6th-century church of San Marco, and the Franciscan reconstruction of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Afternoon examining the two principal Early Christian churches of the Roman forum – Santa Maria Antiqua and Santi Cosma e Damiano.
Day 5
Tuscánia, Viterbo. An opportunity to venture into the hills north of Rome, our eventual goal the important papal town of Viterbo – frequent seat of the 13th-century papacy. First, however, drive to Tuscánia to see an extraordinarily well-preserved pair of Romanesque churches. In Viterbo visit the surviving papal palace, cathedral and mendicant church of San Francesco (tomb of Clement IV).
Day 6
Leisurely morning by the Aurelian walls. San Giovanni a Porta Latina, just inside the Appian Gate, was remodelled in the 8th and 12th centuries from a building first constructed c. 500. Continue south along the Via Appia Antica to the Catacombs of San Callisto. Here Christian burials underground spread architectural ornament and frescoes through an eventual total of 20 km of passages on five levels. The afternoon is free.
Day 7
Morning examining a great trio of buildings – Santa Sabina, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and the Pantheon, the last influentially rededicated to the Virgin Mary in the 7th century. Afternoon on the Esquiline, starting with Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four ‘major basilicas’ of Rome and still substantially as it was when rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III (432–440). Santa Pudenziana and Santa Prassede house between them the earliest Christian apse mosaic in Rome and the most magnificent Carolingian oratory.
Day 8
Tarquinia. Gentle drive out to Tarquinia to visit the fantastically ambitious former cathedral of Santa Maria in Castello, spectacularly situated within the medieval town walls. Drop back south to Rome Fiumicino; arrive Heathrow c. 7.15 pm.
John McNeill
Specialist in the Middle Ages and Renaissance – lectures for Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education. He is Honorary Secretary of the British Archaeological Association, for whom he has edited and contributed to collections of essays on medieval cloisters, chantries, Anjou, and King’s Lynn and the Fens. In 2010 he established a biennial series of international conferences on Romanesque visual culture. His most recent effort in this field – Romanesque Patrons and Processes – was published in 2018. He is also author of the Blue Guides to both Normandy and the Loire Valley.
Price, per person
Two sharing: £3,220 or £3,090 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,810 or £3,680 without flights.
By train: London – Paris – Milan – Rome: 17–19 hours. Contact us for more information.
Included
Flights (Euro Traveller) with British Airways (Airbus 319); travel by private coach; hotel accommodation; breakfasts; 4 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer.
Accommodation
Hotel Bernini Bristol, Rome: 5-star hotel excellently located on the Piazza Barberini. Single rooms throughout are doubles for sole use.
How strenuous?
There is unavoidably a lot of walking. The historic area is vast, and vehicular access is increasingly restricted. Minibuses are used on some occasions but otherwise the city is traversed on foot. The tour should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Fitness is essential. Average distance by minibus per day: 38 miles.
Are you fit enough to join the tour?
Group size
Between 10 and 22 participants.
Travel advice
Before booking, please refer to the FCDO website to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting.
