In this tour we’ll discover all the secrets of the smallest among the major basilicas of Rome, built on top of the Esquiline Hill by will of pope Sixtus III at the middle of the V century AD and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Inside we can enjoy an extraordinary mosaic cycle from the V century AD describing different episodes of the Old Testament and, on the triumphal arch, the scenes of Christ’s Nativity. In the apse the mosaic by Jacopo Torriti shows off, where the Virgin is crowned by her Son, while under the main altar we can admire the crypt where are preserved the relics of Jesus’manger, exposed in a marvellous crystal and silver reliquary by Luigi Valadier. In the Sixtine chapel, real masterpiece of Mannerism, we preserve the relics of St. Jerome, while in the Pauline chapel the Salus Populi Romani is displayed, one of the most venerated images of the Madonna.
