The Underground Rome Experience: San Clemente

Overview

Uncover one of Rome’s best kept secret with a guided tour of the Basilica di San Clemente, a site that takes you on a journey through more than two thousand years of history. Your experience begins outside the Basilica di San Clemente, located just steps away from the Colosseum. On the ground level, you’ll explore the 12th-century basilica, famous for its richly decorated mosaics, marble floors, and frescoes. Admire the shimmering apse mosaic of the Tree of Life Next, descend beneath the floor into the 4th-century church, where early Christian worshippers once gathered. The walls are still lined with faded frescoes depicting biblical scenes, saints, and symbols of the first centuries of Christianity in Rome. Finally, continue deeper underground into the 1st-century Roman buildings, including a house and a temple dedicated to the mysterious god Mithras. Step inside the Mithraeum to see the altar where followers of the cult once performed their secret rituals.