Basilica di San Crisogono

San Crisogono in Trastevere brings together a medieval basilica, a Borghese-era Baroque church and the remains of an earlier Christian basilica beneath it. Its visible layers trace the development of one of Rome's ancient parish sites.

Why it matters

The first written evidence of the titulus Chrysogoni dates to 499, when three priests signed council acts under that name. The earlier basilica was buried rather than entirely removed, and its remains lie about five metres below the present church.

What to notice

The portico on viale Trastevere has four columns; the facade attic carries vases with Borghese dragons and eagles. The freestanding Romanesque bell tower belongs to the twelfth-century rebuilding. Inside, granite columns divide the naves, while two porphyry columns carry the triumphal arch. The Cosmatesque floor dates to the medieval church, built between 1123 and 1129. The coffered ceiling holds a copy of Guercino's “Glory of Saint Chrysogonus”; the original left in 1932 and is now in London. The apse mosaic of the Virgin and Child with Saints James and Chrysogonus, made around 1290, is attributed to the school of Pietro Cavallini. The Poli, or Guardian Angel, chapel is considered Gian Lorenzo Bernini's last design, drawn around 1679–81.

Context and history

Rome's municipal record attributes the first church to the fourth century, under Pope Sylvester I. The title had become Sanctus Chrysogonus by 521. A three-nave basilica with a transept was built between 1116 and 1137 under Cardinal John of Crema; its main altar was consecrated in 1127 with relics of the saint. Flood deposits raised the ground, leaving the earlier church about five metres below the present floor.

Cardinal Camillo Borghese began the Baroque modernisation, continued by his nephew Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Giovanni Battista Soria's work on the facade, portico and ceiling dates to around 1618–26; the ciborium was completed in 1628.

In 1907, the Trinitarian Fathers noticed a curved wall in the sacristy basement. Excavations led by Orazio Marucchi and later Giovacchino Mancini uncovered the older basilica, about 35 metres long, and a baptistery to its south. Its painted walls preserve sixth-century scenes, including the three youths in the fiery furnace, and eighth-century saints in medallions. A drapery register is linked by the Liber Pontificalis to the period of Pope Gregory III (731–741).