Basilica dei Santi Apostoli - Friday, First Week of Lent

The Basilica dedicated to the Apostles - Basilica dei Santi Apostoli - is, frankly, a peculiar basilica. It is very much in the center of the city of Rome, just a few blocks from the incredibly busy Piazza Venezia. The street where you will find the basilica is one block over and parallel to the Via del Corso, which is the main street leading up to (or from) the piazza. The church is not set aside in its own piazza, and the facade blends in with the buildings to either side. The church has long had a presence here, originally constructed under Pope Julius in the mid 300s. The church was rebuilt several times, sometimes by the choice of the pope and other times out of necessity, such as resulted during an earthquake. The structure you see today is late Renaissance and later, with much of the reworkings done in the 1800s.

Although lacking in architectural character and design, there are some tremendous points of interest regarding the Basilica Santi Apostoli.

The basilica contains the relics of the Apostles St. Phillip and St. James the Lesser. Incredible as it may seem, their burial places seem to have been lost in the various reconstructions, and were only discovered in the late 1800s! They were then relocated within the church to a more suitable reliquary under an altar.

The Basicila was also the initial resting place of the Florentine artist Michaelangelo, who was placed here upon his death in 1564. His body was soon stolen(!) and relocated to Florence, where the city could claim him as their own.

The very central location and the historical events of this church would make it worth the time to stop in.

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Santi Apostoli, Google Maps

Santi Apostoli, Google Street View

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