Unforgettable Italy Week 19 – Santa Maria Maggiore

Hello friends of the Italy Community. It is with great joy that I join week 19 of the Unforgettable Italy contest after a few weeks of absence. Thanks to @girolamomarotta for bringing this initiative to life. This time I will tell you about some incidents of the first day of my trip to the eternal city of Rome.

I remember it was a cold February afternoon when I arrived with my travel companion at Termini station from Fumicino airport. After a well-deserved, albeit short rest at the inn, we set out to see the city, aided by an itinerary that would undergo one or two changes as the days went by.

The first site we visited was the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, also known as Basilica di Santa Maria delle Neve or Basilica Liberiana, located a few blocks from the inn. This imposing Catholic temple is considered one of the most important among the many basilicas in Rome, as it is widely used by the Pope for being the patriarchal basilica and one of the four major ones together with San Giovanni in Laterano, San Pietro, San Lorenzo fuori le mura and San Paolo fuori le mura.

There, we naturally took some pictures, enjoying its beautiful early Christian and baroque architecture. The church has the tallest medieval bell tower in Rome, with a height of 75 meters and was declared a World Heritage Site. Thus, I spent that afternoon in Santa Maria Maggiore, capturing in my camera and in my mind every moment of what would be a beautiful and unforgettable adventure in the Italian capital.