St. Paul's Basilica

This is one of the four patriarchal basilicas of Rome and the biggest after Saint Peter's at the Vatican. Emperor Constantine had it built at the beginning of the Fourth Century on the legendary spot of the tomb of Saint Paul, near the ancient Sepolcreto Ostiense (the tombs are recognizable on the street by its canopy) and was expanded at the end of the same century.  The abbey, run by benedictine monks since the Eighth Century, became a sort of fortified town in the Middle Ages taking the name of Giovannopoli under Pope John VIII. During the centuries, the masterpieces it contained increased in number until 1823, when it was ravaged by fire. Restorations, which gave it the same form as before were finished in the mid-1800s.

THINGS TO KNOW: The night of 15 July 1823 the famed fire that destroyed centuries of history in five hours seems to have been caused by a tinsmith who left the fire burning that he was using while repairing the gutters of the building's roof. Only the transept, the apse and the cloister were spared.