Santa Sabina

Santa Sabina sits on the Aventino, one of the seven hills. It is a very special church, built in the fifth century, and the best-preserved early Christian basilica in the city. The nave is wide, bare, mineral. There is a sense of spirituality here that I haven’t found anywhere else in Rome. There’s no gold, no marble. I love the beautiful blue painting on the walls. At the entrance, stop at the cypress-wood door: it’s as old as the church, and one of its carved panels is among the earliest depictions of the Crucifixion in Christian art. On my first visit, a guide spent a long time telling us the story of a black stone called the lapis diaboli, linked to Saint Dominic — the founder of the Dominican order, which still has its ‘headquarters’ here. I know this because, while taking Italian classes at the Società Dante, I made friends with a very likeable Dominican friar who was living there.