Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
In the coffered ceiling you can see the coats of arms of Callixtus III and Alexander VI, commissioned by the latter pontiff.
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four papal basilicas in Rome and the only one that has preserved the primitive Christian structure of its origins.
Legend tells us that the wealthy Roman patrician Giovanni and his wife, having no children, decided to dedicate a church to the Virgin Mary, who appeared to them in a dream one night in August 352.
In the dream, the virgin informed them that a miracle would show them where to build the church.
Pope Liberius also had the same dream, and the next day, going to the Esquiline, he found it covered with snow. The Pope himself drew the perimeter of the building, and the church was built at the expense of the two spouses.
The deep transformations of the basilica, which until then had preserved its medieval appearance, took place between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th. At that time the two large side chapels, called Sistine, were erected. and Paolina, and the building to the right of the facade. Its medieval bell tower is the tallest in Rome.
The ceiling dates back to the time of Alexander VI and, according to tradition, was gilded with the first shipment of American gold, a gift from Isabella of Castile. In the coffered ceiling you can distinguish the coats of arms of the two Borgia popes, Calixtus III and Alexander VI.
