Santa Sabina

Description:

• Many couples choose to get married in this magnificent church on the Aventine hill, built in the 5th century under Pope Celestine I. Ever since St Domenic was welcomed in this church by Pope Honorius III in the 13th century, he has been patron of the Domenicans. A lot of the medieval decorations were lost after the late 16th century restorations, but successive restorers, above all the most recent, have tried to retrieve the original look of the church, even using specialised recovery equipment. Legend has it that in the cloister (1200), St Dominic planted Rome's first orange tree. The central doorway, which dates from the 5th century, is a masterpiece of carpentry. It was carved from cypress wood and cedar with scenes from both the Old and the New Testaments. The rear of the façade conserves only part of the highly refined mosaic-style decoration in marble, paintings and stucco, which used to cover the entire church.
• © wcities.com 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2009
•  Recommended 2010