Go to the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, a very ancient place of christian worship  dates back, in forms to the basilicas, to the IX century. A wonderful basilica set at the historical district of Rome where you will get in touch with artistic wonders and stories.

Over the centuries the Basilica of Santa Cecilia was restored and embellished several times, especially in the XIII century with the great ciborium of Arnolfo di Cambio, or the majestic Last Judgment by Cavallini (that is difficult to see because it is in the counter-façade of the old basilica, the most ancient one, and covered from other restoration work. To see this fresco that you must play over the intercom placed near the main entrance, to be open by the sisters and go to the top floor). A few lines are not enough certainly to describe the basilica, but they could be good to appreciate the true and heart-wrenching beauty of the place of worship: the wonderful statue of Santa Cecilia, the opera of end the XVI century by Stefano Maderno. The precious treasure chest that contains the beautiful, delicate and brilliant statue is not worth anything before the importance central to his work. The Maderno, in fact, with as much tact and acumen, reproduced in a marble way where the saint's corpse was found, at the distance of centuries after her death. An end of the earthly life, however, and a martyrdom which was miraculous especially thinking about Cecilia's corpse.

According to her hagiography Cecilia was a young woman, a member of a noble family. She got married with Valeriano, another man of her same lineage. We are at the beginning of the II century a.D. when the couple with a lot of attention certainly, were able to profess their christian faith. Especially Cecilia, a devout and a girl who love singing and music in general (from here originates the fact that the Saint, today, is the patron saint of Music), had a strong faith and sincere enough to be able to pray directly to an Angel that descended from Heaven just to stand at the side of Cecilia, in a moment of intimate prayer. Then, however, the roman authorities discovered their faith, and before Valeriano's sister, then his brother, then finally Cecilia were killed.

The martyrdom of the young girl was also one of the cruelest I've ever seen: first of all she was sentenced to remain confined in her private baths, which stood, it seems, just in correspondence of the current basilica. She, in theory, would be die due to being stifled by the hot vapors, but it didnt' happen. And after three days, Cecilia was drawn out from the bathrooms, being in very good conditions. Then, to be sure about her death, Cecilia was sentenced to death by beheading. The problem was that, after three blows of an axe, breath of life, came out again from the lips of the Saint, which was, therefore, abandoned there on the scaffold and left to die in solitude. Only her spiritual father, the Pope Urban, gave comfort and attend to her burial.

What makes miraculous her life was the fact that her corpse, buried in the crypts of San Sebastiano, was found completely intact centuries later, when the Pope Paschal I in the IX century, in the context of his redevelopment of his churches and basilicas, also through the translation of the martyrs from the catacombs, found the Cecilia's corpse, completely intact, as if the death had just occurred! But what really impresses is how, always according to tradition, the same, identical miracle took place at the end of the XVI century, during the restoration of this basilica. Also in this case, the Cecilia's body was found intact, six centuries after the first discovery happened by the hand of the Paschal IX. For this reason, the fantastic statue, which represents the moment of the discovery, and the laying of the body, which shows the martyrdom in all its cruelty, but also in the the peace and quiet that comes after Death, when you enter the grace of God.