Rome is the centre of christianity and this is the reason why there are not only catholic church in the Eternal City. Walking, mainly in the city centre, it is possible to observe sacred place which belong to other traditions that are, in some degree, foreign for Rome. Areas and buildings that can always fascinate us, tour guides like me or people who cannot expect to find something like that...

For example let's speak about the american episcopal anglican church which becomes a true icon in the Eternal City, situated along Via Nazionale (one of the main streets of the city): the church of Saint Paul Within the Walls (to differentiate it from the famous Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls where the mortal remains of the saint are resting). Built in the late XIX century by the architect George Edmund Street, the church is the first not catholic place of worship that was ever made in Rome. A primacy that goes hand in hand with the Italian style of the facade! Maybe for pure respect, the architect wanted to follow a neo-gothic style using red and white bricks, having a bell tower with mullioned and three-mullioned windows to lighten and lift the structure.

But even the interior was very impressed, especially for the mosaic cycle concerning the story of Christ and the Virgin, that stand out above all in the apse. An environment with three naves divided by pointed vaults leads us towards the chancel, enriched with mosaics made by the pre-raphaelite artist Burne-Jones. As the name suggests the master followed a renaissance style in the subjects represented and, also, in the desire to provide support for biblical characters to political figures of his era. As Raphael did in his famous rooms, where together with the priests, the poets and the ancient philosophers turned the portraits of his contemporary (as the popes Julius II and Leo X, or directly to himself), Jones portrayed in his mosaics also...Lincoln, Garibaldi and JP Morgan, the banker who financed the construction of the church. A bridge between the past and the present. Finally, the multi-colours of the beautiful stained glass windows, in which are recounted episodes from the life of St. Paul, beautifying and making special the atmosphere of the church, among the most curious of Rome.