St Peter’s and the Secret Keyhole

The Aventine Hill, a short walk south of the Colosseum, is one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was built. And on top of the Aventine Hill, in the Piazza of the Knights of Malta, there’s a quirky little phenomenon known as the ‘Secret Keyhole’.

The surprise is not the keyhole itself, but what can be seen through it. By design or by accident – no one is quite sure – the keyhole affords a perfectly-framed view, through a garden, to St Peter’s Basilica on the other side of the city.

The door in which the keyhole sits seems ordinary enough, though the building behind the door is anything but. Built as a palace in the 1st century, it became the seat of the legendary Knights Templars in the Middle Ages, then in the 1400’s, it passed to the Knights of Malta (i Cavalieri di Malta) who still occupy it today.

As for St Peter’s, it turns out there are actually four major ‘Papal Basilicas’ in the Catholic faith, and all four are right here in Rome.

The Secret Keyhole

Piazza of the Knights of Malta

The doorway

And the view through the keyhole

The 'Not-So-Secret Keyhole' 🙂

St Peter's Basilica

St Peter's Basilica

The world's largest church

And the holiest shrine of the Catholic church

Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Pietra; completed in 1499 before Michelangelo was 30 years old

And the monument to Pope Pius VIII

The Vatican Museums' extraordinary Gallery of Maps; it took geographer Ignazio Danti three years to complete 40 panels (1580–1583)

Raphael's Rooms; frescoes painted by Raphael and his pupils

Commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508, the frescoes are among the most beautiful and most significant of the Renaissance period

There has been a church on this site since Constantine the Great in the 4th century; the current Basilica was completed in 1626

Santa Maria Maggiore

Santa Maria Maggiore, the Basilica of St Mary Major

Rome's largest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary (hence 'Major')

The church's ceiling is said to have been decorated with gold plundered from the newly-discovered Americas, and gifted to the Pope of the day by Spain's Catholic Queen Isabella

The church's magnificent frescoes depict scenes from the life of Mary

The Basilica's Sistine Chapel (not that Sistine Chapel, of course)

Each Papal Basilica has a baldacchino, a canopy or structure over the high altar; only the Pope can celebrate the Mass at that altar

The current Pope Francis often comes to this chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore to pray

The new stained glass rose window was created in 1995

The 17th century spiral staircase by architect Lorenzo Bernini; leading to a private apartment attached to the church, the self-supporting staircase was the first of its type

The basilica stands on the site where, in the summer of 358 AD, snow is said to have miraculously fallen; to commemorate that miracle, each year on August 5 thousands of white petals are released from the Basilica’s ceiling

San Giovanni in Laterano

San Giovanni in Laterano, (the Papal Archbasilica of St John in the Lateran), is the oldest church in the western world

Founded in the 4th century by Constantine the Great, the Basilica has been remodelled several times

The base of the 14th century baldacchino is said to contain a reliquary with the heads of Saints Peter and Paul

The Basilica is also the cathedral church of Rome

The name 'Lateran' comes from a Roman family who owned the land here before it was confiscated by Nero; Constantine later founded the church in what had been his Lateran Palace

The Basilica contains spectacular 7-metre high statues of the apostles sculpted at the beginning of the 18th century; this one is the apostle Philip

And the Basilica's beautiful 13th century cloister

Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls

The beautiful Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls (San Paolo Fuori Le Mura)

The Basilica is about 8kms south of St Peter's (and outside the old city walls)

St Paul was beheaded (by Nero) on this site around 67 AD; the woman bottom right provides perspective on the height of the columns

The Basilica contains portraits of all the Popes through the ages, including the current Pope Francis

In 1823 the Basilica was gutted by fire

Pope Leo XII appealed for, and received, help from around the world in his efforts to rebuild the Basilica

The chapel where the Mass is usually celebrated

The apse mosaic,which was damaged in the fire, looks just as it did when it was completed in 1220

It was repaired and restored using many of the original tiles