This is the St Anastasia Basilica, which is located along one of the slopes of the Palatine Hill, just a few metres far from the Circus Maximus! A place of worship that is not very well known, where there is the Perpetual Adoration, and where, above all, it is written something about the history of Rome. So it is time to follow a local tour guide of the Eternal City to discover why this church has many things to tell us.

The church, dedicated to a martyr who was cruelly tortured before her death, was built in the V century a.D., a period in which the roman society was stabilizing after the "earthquake" of Christianity. The upper-class was always the most reluctant to embrace the new christian cult, but slowly slowly it was convinced that perhaps it was best to change the faith. More and more, in fact, were senators or emperors who, with the true spirit of faith or for mere convenience, decided to become christians. And this church proves it. Build a place of christian worship on the slopes of the Palatine Hill, where Romulus, at 753 b.C. founded Rome, and where many emperors built their sumptuous residences. A special place the Palatine Hill, because the emperors decided to leave here to remind the foundation of Rome. And imagine how important could be this area for the Holy Church, which would really change the city of Rome, by imposing the power of the spiritual and ecclesiastical of the Popes and of the emperors, and the christians in the place of pagan ones. Not only that, because the St Anastasia Basilica was built just for those nobles and dignitaries who came from imperial court. So people who were christians.

Among other things, probably, the first place of worship was erected here by Constantine himself, the emperor that will allow Christianity in Rome. We are at the beginning of the IV century a.D. when the basilica was dedicated to Anastasia who probably was, in this case, an emperor's relative. Only later the basilica was consecrated to Saint Anastasia, a martyr of the III century a.D. Not only that, because up to the XVIII century it was from here that began the solemn procession, preceded by the pontiffs during the famous Ash Wednesday. This is what demonstrates this the church, then embellished and enlarged over the centuries, mainly the XVI and the XVII one, (note the beautiful painted wooden ceiling): as a result of numerous reasons and the vicissitudes of time, Rome was becoming more and more the Capital of Christianity...