Basilica of San Clemente, Rome

San Clemente underground: tickets and hours

The upper basilica is free. The excavations below cost about €10–12, paid at the bookshop to the right of the altar. Hours are usually Monday to Saturday about 9:00–12:30 and 15:00–18:00, Sunday from midday, with the underground closed over lunch. It's about 15 °C and damp below, stairs are steep, and photography is generally not allowed.

Three levels of history

San Clemente lets you walk down through the centuries. The top level is a 12th-century church built directly on the ruins of an older one. The middle level is an early Christian basilica of the 4th century, filled in when the new church went up. The lowest, about 18 metres down, holds 1st-century Roman buildings — a house and a warehouse — and later a Mithraeum, a temple of the Persian god Mithras.

The lower levels were forgotten for seven centuries until 1857, when Irish prior Joseph Mullooly began digging and found the old basilica and then Roman streets. Irish Dominicans have looked after the basilica since 1667.

The upper basilica

Upstairs is a bright church with a Cosmatesque floor, a marble choir enclosure and one of Rome's loveliest apse mosaics, the 12th-century Triumph of the Cross: golden acanthus scrolls spread from the crucifix, full of birds, animals, shepherds and scholars — a whole world growing from the cross. The Chapel of St Catherine by the entrance has frescoes by Masolino (1428–1431), an early Renaissance master.

The lower basilica and Mithraeum

Steps from the sacristy lead into the 4th-century basilica: a dark nave with column stumps and 11th-century frescoes of St Clement and St Alexis, one captioned in vernacular speech — among the earliest written Italian. Here too is the traditional burial place of St Cyril, creator of the Slavic alphabet, hung with plaques from Bulgarian, Russian and Slovak pilgrims.

Further down, narrow brick corridors lead to the Mithraeum, a vaulted cave-like room with stone benches and an altar showing Mithras and the bull. The sound of rushing water follows you — an underground stream still flows beneath the basilica into the ancient sewers.

What to see

• Triumph of the Cross mosaic — upper basilica apse, 12th century.
• Masolino's frescoes — Chapel of St Catherine by the entrance.
• Cosmatesque floor and choir — upper basilica.
• 11th-century frescoes — lower basilica, with St Clement.
• St Cyril's burial place — lower basilica, with Slavic pilgrims' plaques.
• Mithraeum — the 2nd–3rd-century temple of Mithras at the bottom.
• The underground stream — audible in the Roman house corridors.

Is San Clemente worth it?

Yes — one of Rome's most fascinating sites, where history is literally stacked, and blissfully uncrowded five minutes from the Colosseum. The mosaic upstairs is free, and the descent from the 12th century to the 1st in twenty minutes is well worth the ticket. Pair it with the Colosseum and the Lateran.

Rome's churches: compare and choose

Churches and basilicas in Rome rated by YesGo. Click a column header to sort.

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How to do it right

• The upper basilica is free.
• It's 15 °C underground — bring a layer.
• Listen for the hidden river in the Mithraeum.
• 5–7 minutes from the Colosseum.

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