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Piazza d'Aracoeli
Tel. 06-679 81 55
Open: 9am- 12:30pm, 3-6
pm daily
Aracoeli Staircase constructed in 1348 leads to the top of the Capitol Hill to this interesting church those origins date back to the 6th century. Current structure date back to rule of Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century. The columns that support the ceiling are very different from each other. All of them were collected from different ancient monuments and temples. The third column on the left as you enter the church come from the bedroom of the emperor Augustus Octavian. Interior frescoes date back as early as 15th century by Pinturicchio (Funeral of St. Bernardino). The church is known for the holy relics belonging to Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, various small relics from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Here are the remains of St. Uniper, one of the original followers of St. Francis of Assisi. Pope Honorius IV and Queen Catherine Bosnian are also buried in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli or Santa Maria in Aracoeli. A monogrammed slab of Jesus, which St. Bernardino of Siena used as evidence of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, is kept in Aracoeli.
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On the current name, attested from 1323 (it must have
entered popular use for some time), there are various hypotheses. The
prevailing one traces it back to the legend, reported in the Mirabilia
Urbis Romae, according to which the church would have risen where
Augustus would have had the vision of a woman with a child in her arms
and would have heard a voice saying "This is the altar of the son of
God". The sibyl was asked and explained that it was Mary, mother of
Jesus, as it is said in the Mirabilia:
«This vision took place in
the room of the emperor Octavian, where now is the church of S. Maria in
Capitolio. For this reason the church of S. Maria was called Ara del
cielo. "
The church was built on the ruins of the Temple of Juno Moneta, which
stood on the Arx, one of the two heights of the Capitoline Hill.
However, the identification of the site is not certain; according to
other studies, the church would in fact rise where the ancient
Auguraculum was, the place from which the Auguri took auspices by
observing the flight of birds.
The first construction dates back
to the 6th century. As in many other cases, buildings gathered around
the first church which in the upper part developed into a monastery,
while on the slopes of the hill a market was born and then a small
neighborhood. Remains of these buildings (the small church of San Biagio
del Mercato and the underlying "Insula Romana") came to light in the
thirties of the twentieth century.
In a 12th century document
that confers ownership of the Montem Capitolii to the (Benedictine)
abbot of Santa Maria in Capitolio, the three entrances to the hill at
the time are described (you can imagine them as little more than steep
paths):
the road that led to the Clivo degli Argentari (the current
staircase, which rises from the Mamertine Prison), oriented towards the
Suburra;
the "public road that leads under the Capitol" (roughly
corresponding to the current Cordonata);
the road that leads to San
Teodoro, towards the Forum, which still exists.
The Capitoline
Hill had re-emerged to public life in 1143, when the Roman people
rebelled against Pope Innocent II had designated Giorgio dei Pierleoni
as their leader, designating him Patricius, and had chosen that ancient
place as a meeting place (around 1195 the construction of the first
Senatorial palace).
In the decades of the dispute between Guelphs
and Ghibellines, the square, although approximate and steep, became the
physical place of the municipal experience of the city, and with it its
church. It was in this climate that Innocent IV granted ownership of the
site (church and monastery) to the Franciscans, an order of the new
times, in 1250.
These restructured the church, giving it the
current Roman-Gothic aspect, and it, in addition to being a place of
worship, became the center of the political life of Rome, so much so
that popular assemblies of the free municipality were held there. The
tuning of the renovated church with the new times of the city was
concretely manifested also in the modification of its orientation (first
towards the Palazzo Senatorio and the Forum, now towards San Pietro and
Campo Marzio), and in the construction of the new imposing staircase,
commissioned from the free municipality in 1348, as a vow to the Virgin
to put an end to the plague that was raging throughout Europe, and made
with bare marble obtained from what remained of the staircase of the
Temple of Serapis at the Quirinale; the staircase was then inaugurated
by Cola di Rienzo.
More than the papal basilica of San Pietro and
the cathedral of San Giovanni, dedicated to celebrating the pomp and
power of the popes, the Aracoeli was the church of the Roman people and
its civic institutions, especially the nearby Senate.
Here in 1341
Francesco Petrarca was a poet; here took place, in 1571, the triumph of
the Roman Marcantonio Colonna, deputy commander of the Catholic League
against the Turks under the command of Don Juan of Austria, to celebrate
the victory in the battle of Lepanto (for the occasion the ceiling was
built that we can still admire today). Here the Te Deum of thanksgiving
of the Roman people takes place every end of the year. In the Aracoeli,
moreover, the Christmas precept of the Guards of the Pope's Palace was
solemnly celebrated, the urban Militia and the Civic Guard first chosen,
then the Palatine Guard of honor.
During the occupation of Rome,
in 1797, the French took possession of the hill, driving out the
Franciscan friars and reducing the church to a stable: most of the
Cosmatesque decorations that embellished it were destroyed. The
restorations began as early as 1799, the small temple of S. Elena was
rebuilt in 1833 and the new choir organ donated by Prince Carlo Torlonia
was inaugurated in 1848.
With the unification of Italy, the
ownership of the convent passed to the State, which set up barracks and
command of the local police. During the construction of the Vittoriano,
begun in 1882 and inaugurated in 1911, the buildings that stood between
the southern slope of the Capitoline hill and the entrance to Via del
Corso were destroyed in several years, including the buildings
conventuals connected to the church (in addition to the so-called Tower
of Paul III) and the Roman and medieval pre-existences of the site.
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The interior has three naves with round arches, a slightly protruding
transept, and is equipped with three terminal apse chapels. Its
architecture, dating back to the reconstruction of the Franciscan friars
begun around 1250 and mostly covered with Baroque decorations, is
typical of Roman Gothic, with a thirteenth-century reinterpretation of
the classical schemes and stylistic features. The wooden coffered
ceiling is from the 16th century, the Cosmatesque floor, preserved
except for the inserts of tombstones, from the 13th century.
There are many treasures present in the church. On the counter-façade,
to the left of the main portal, there is the funeral monument of
Cardinal Ludovico d'Albret, a beautiful work by Andrea Bregno from 1465.
Still on the left, the tomb slab dedicated to Giovanni Crivelli,
archdeacon of Aquileia, originally placed on the floor, sculpted by
Donatello in 1433.
Further on, leaning against the fourth column
on the left, there is an altar with the Madonna with Child and
dedicating it popularly known as the Madonna del Rifugio (15th century
Viterbo school); opposite, symmetrically, another altar to San Giacomo
della Marca (much less frequented). Further on, behind the last left and
right columns of the main nave, there are two beautiful Cosmati
parchments dating back to the beginning of the 13th century and
attributed to the Cosmati Lorenzo di Cosma and to their son Jacopo.
Chapels
Following the map on the side, this is the layout of the
chapels:
Left aisle
Chapel 1 - of the Immaculate Conception,
donated by Paul III Farnese to Gregorio Serlupi, whose coat of arms
stands out in the dome. Cycle of Mannerist frescoes attributed to
Francesco Pichi. Mid 16th century.
Chapel 2 - del Presepio, built in
the second half of the 16th century, but profoundly altered by the
construction of the Vittoriano. The figures, donated by Duke Grazioli in
1863, before being installed were exhibited in Palazzo Grazioli with
great competition from the people. At Christmas, the Child of Aracoeli
was exhibited there before being stolen.
Chapel 3 - of Sant'Antonio
da Padova, under the patronage of the Albertoni (family to which the
blessed Ludovica Albertoni belonged), with the family tombs and a
Sant'Antonio di Benozzo Gozzoli on the altar.
Chapel 4 - of
Sant'Anna, repainted in the nineteenth century.
Chapel 5 - of San
Paolo, under the patronage of the Della Valle, houses the Stories of St.
Paul painted by Pomarancio.
Chapel 6 - of the Ascension, obtained
using a part of the previous one by the will of Vittoria Orsini
Frangipani, wife of Camillo Pardo Orsini (bust already attributed to
Martino Longhi the Elder and now similar to the style of Pier Paolo
Olivieri).
Chapel 7 - of San Michele arcangelo, passed through
various owners; the last ones, the Marini Marini Clarelli di Vacone,
reused the tombs and "evicted" the portraits of the ancient owners.
Chapel 8 - of Santa Margherita da Cortona; the two side canvases (1732),
with scenes from the life of the saint, are by Marco Benefial.
Chapel
9 - of the Madonna of Loreto. It originally belonged to the Colonna
family, and housed a thirteenth-century mosaic which was then detached
and transferred to the Palazzo Colonna ai Santi Apostoli, where it still
stands. The frescoes are by Marzio Ganassini.
Transept
10:
nineteenth-century temple near the left pulpit, dedicated to St. Helena,
the mother of Emperor Constantine. The temple covers a medieval altar
(visible through a crystal), built according to the legend where
Augustus had a vision of him.
11 - Chapel of the Bambinello.
12 -
Chapel of San Gregorio Magno, with a canvas on the altar by Vincenzo
Milione from Calabria (1771). The famous composer Emilio De 'Cavalieri
is buried there.
13 - High altar: a Byzantine icon from the 10th-11th
century is venerated here, depicting the Madonna.
In the left
transept we find the Tomb of Cardinal Matteo d'Acquasparta (who died in
1302), ambassador of Boniface VIII and general minister of the minor
friars. The monument was made by Giovanni di Cosma while the fresco
depicting the Madonna with Child and saints is attributed to Pietro
Cavallini.
In the right transept there is instead a funeral monument
sculpted by Arnolfo di Cambio (late 13th century).
14 - Altar of the
Sacrament
Right aisle
Chapel 15 - of Santa Rosa da Viterbo:.
Chapel 16 -
of San Francesco; behind, the oratory of the Immaculate Conception
Chapel 17 - of San Pasquale Baylon: a fresco from the end of the 13th
century was recently discovered here, depicting the Madonna and Child
between Saints John the Evangelist and the Baptist, attributed to Pietro
Cavallini and Jacopo Torriti.
18 - ancient entrance towards the
Capitol; still accessible today from the staircase on the left of the
Senatorial Palace. The Madonna and Child in the lunette is attributed to
Jacopo Torriti. In the passage leading to the outside, there are the
Tomb of Cecchino Bracci (died in 1545) designed by Michelangelo and the
Tomb of Pietro Manzi, bishop of Cesena, by Andrea Sansovino (1504).
Chapel 19 - of Saints Lorenzo and Diego
Chapel 20 - of St. Peter of
Alcántara
Chapel 21 - (Patronage of the Mattei family) of San Matteo.
Painting by Gerolamo Muziano with the saint and the angel (initially
intended for St. Louis of the French before the arrival of Caravaggio).
Painting of the Passion of Christ by Pomarancio.
Chapel 22 - of the
Crucifix
Chapel 23 - of St. Jerome
Chapel 24 - della Pietà: on the
main altar a Pietà by Marco Pino da Siena (16th century) while on the
side walls we find frescoes by Pomarancio from the same period. A
beautiful Cosmatesque floor is still in evidence.
Chapel 25 - of San
Bernardino, known as the Bufalini Chapel from the name of the client,
who wanted to celebrate the peace between his family and the Baglioni of
Perugia. Here are the frescoes by Pinturicchio illustrating the Stories
of San Bernardino da Siena (1485), together with a beautiful
well-preserved Cosmatesque floor.
The mortal remains of the last
Queen of Bosnia, Catherine of Bosnia (1425-1478), who became blessed,
were buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli and entrusted to
the care of the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor. The epitaph of her
sepulcher has been removed from the floor and is placed to the left of
the main altar, on the column next to the pulpit. The original
inscription in Bosnian language was replaced with another one in Latin.
The Bambinello dell'Aracoeli
The church was and is famous for the
"Holy Child", a wooden sculpture of the infant Jesus carved in the 15th
century with olive wood from the Garden of Gethsemane and covered with
precious ex voto. According to popular belief, it was endowed with
miraculous powers and the faithful went there to ask for pardon for an
evil or a misfortune. The statue, stolen in February 1994, has never
been found. In its place there is now a copy, which does not lack new ex
voto.
The church stands on the highest point of the Capitoline Hill (Arx),
on the site of the ancient Temple of Juno Moneta (goddess of
finance/warning). A Byzantine abbey existed here by the 6th-7th century.
It later passed to Benedictines and then Franciscans in the mid-13th
century, who gave it its current Romanesque-Gothic form.
The name
"Aracoeli" comes from the legend of Emperor Augustus and the Tiburtine
Sibyl. The Sibyl prophesied the coming of Christ ("Haec est ara Filii
Dei" — "This is the altar of the Son of God"), leading Augustus to erect
an altar. This ties into the church's dedication to the Virgin Mary.
In the Middle Ages, it served as a key civic and religious center: city
councilors met here, Cola di Rienzo addressed the people, and Petrarch
was crowned Poet Laureate in 1341. The grand 124-step marble staircase
(Scalinata dell'Aracoeli) was built in 1348 as a vow to the Virgin to
end the Black Death (plague). The marble came from the Temple of Serapis
on the Quirinal. Many climbed it on their knees seeking miracles,
fertility, or luck.
The church survived deconsecration (used as a
stable by French forces in the late 18th century) and near-demolition
during Vittoriano construction in the 1880s.
How to Get There and
Access
Address: Scala dell'Arce Capitolina 12 (or 14), 00186 Rome.
Main approach: Climb the steep 124-step staircase from Piazza Venezia
(near the Vittoriano/Altare della Patria). It's dramatic and offers
great photos, but tiring—wear comfortable shoes.
Easier alternatives:
From Piazza del Campidoglio (Michelangelo's square), there's a shorter
side entrance/path. Or approach via streets around the hill.
Public
transport: Buses to Piazza Venezia (many lines like 40, 64, 87). Metro:
Colosseo or Fori Imperiali (then walk ~10-15 min). Taxi drop-off is
limited due to the location.
Opening hours (subject to change;
confirm via official channels):
Generally daily ~9:00 AM – 5:30/6:30
PM (varies by season; some sources say 7:30 AM – 7 PM or
morning/afternoon splits like 9-12 & 3-6:30).
Masses: Weekdays in the
Chapel of Our Lady; Sundays/feasts vary. Best to avoid during services
if you want quiet exploration.
Admission: Free. No tickets required.
What to See Inside (Highlights)
The interior is a treasure trove
of medieval and Renaissance art:
Cosmatesque floor: Exquisite inlaid
marble with geometric patterns and tombs (medieval burials).
Columns:
22 ancient Roman columns (reused/spolia), all different—striking visual
variety in the nave and aisles.
Wooden coffered ceiling: Gilded
(1575), commemorating the Battle of Lepanto victory.
Bufalini Chapel
(first on the right): Stunning fresco cycle by Pinturicchio (late 15th
century) on the life of St. Bernardino of Siena—vibrant colors and
details.
Other artworks: Frescoes by Pietro Cavallini, Benozzo
Gozzoli; Transfiguration by Girolamo Siciolante; Donatello's tomb slab
for Giovanni Crivelli.
Main altar area: Byzantine-style Madonna
Aracoeli (10th-11th century icon with golden hands), pontifically
crowned.
Santo Bambino: The star attraction—a 15th-century olive-wood
statue of the Christ Child (from Gethsemane wood). The original was
stolen in 1994; a replica is venerated today. It was believed to have
miraculous powers (healing, resurrection stories). Letters from devotees
worldwide adorn it. During Christmas, it's displayed prominently.
The
church feels atmospheric—mix of Gothic/Romanesque with chandeliers, side
chapels, and a sense of layered history.
Visiting Tips
Best
time: Early morning or late afternoon for fewer people and better light.
Avoid peak summer midday heat (especially the staircase). Winter visits
feel more contemplative. Christmas period is special due to the Bambino
but busier.
Duration: 30-60 minutes inside, plus time for the climb
and views. Combine with Capitoline Museums (Piazza del Campidoglio) or
Vittoriano.
Dress code: Modest attire required (as in most Roman
churches). Shoulders and knees covered. Bring a light scarf/shawl for
flexibility in hot weather. No shorts, tank tops, or beachwear. Men:
remove hats inside.
Practicalities:
Wear sturdy, comfortable shoes
(stairs + uneven floors).
Photography is usually allowed (no flash in
sensitive areas).
Quiet and respectful behavior—it's an active
church.
Limited accessibility: The main staircase is not
wheelchair-friendly; use the side approach if possible (check in
advance).
Toilets and facilities are nearby in the surrounding area
(Piazza Venezia), not inside.
Views: From the top of the steps or
church area, enjoy panoramas over Rome's rooftops, domes (St. Peter's,
Sant'Andrea della Valle), and the city.
Pro tip: Visit after or
before exploring the Roman Forum or Capitoline Hill for context—it's
literally built on ancient layers.