Church of St. Maria in Cosmedin

Built upon the Ara Massima di Ercole, identified with a block of tuff in which the crypt of the church is carved. Born in the Third Century as a diaconate for Santa Maria in Schola Graeca (today it is still run by the Greel-Melkite catholic church), it was enlarged in the Eighth Century under Pope Adrian I and, thanks to its decorations, earned the title “Kosmidion” (meaning ornament). Renovated numerous times during the Middle Ages, at the start of the 1700s, Giuseppe Sardi gave it a baroque facade, removed at the end of the 1800s by Giovenale, who brought it back to its original romanic style.