Discover the oldest and most important Marian shrine in the West!

The ticket will give access to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Loggia delle Benedizioni , the Sala dei Papi and Bernini's Scala, with the support of an audio guide.

The Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore has dominated the city of Rome for sixteen centuries: a Marian temple par excellence and the cradle of artistic civilization. Unique among the major basilicas of Rome to preserve the original structures, it has treasures of inestimable value. An audio guide of 23 tracks accompanies you to discover the mosaics of the central nave and the triumphal arch that date back to the pontificate of Sixtus III (432-440). Those in the apse were commissioned to Jacopo Torriti by Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292), while the central nave is crossed by the Cosmatesque floor of the thirteenth century and the coffered ceiling with gold brought from the Americas by Christopher Columbus. Absolute masterpieces are the Nativity scene by Arnolfo di Cambio, the numerous chapels, from the Borghese to the Sistine, from Cesi to the Sforza – designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti – , from the Chapel of the Crucifix to the Ex Cappella di San Michele, the venerable icon of the Salus Populi Romani, the five bars of the manger of Jesus and the Baptistery.

 The imposing façade, conceived by the architect Ferdinando Fuga for the Jubilee of 1750 as a cloak for the Marian Basilica, gives life to a real stage from which to admire the entire square and the mosaics of Giotto's time (ca. 1300).  These tell the legend of the foundation of the Basilica thanks to a miraculous snowfall, which occurred on August 5, 358. They constitute the first known depiction of snow in the history of art.

 The route continues in the Hall of the Popes, built by Paul V, which leads to the spiral staircase called Bernini, who is buried in the right aisle of the Basilica.