Below this church in Rome there’s a super “lasagna of history”.
The church is dedicated to Saint Lawrence, and it’s called “in Lucina” because it was built on the insula (apartment building) of Lucina, a wealthy ancient Roman woman who lived here and made her house available for Christian ceremonies.
In the 5th century a church was built on top of Lucina’s house, and the traces of this church are in the underground level below the modern church.
Because of the floods of the Tiber river, the church was badly damaged, so in the 8th century it had to be elevated – meaning a new church was built on top of the existing one.
In brief: an ancient Roman house, an ancient church and a modern church one on top of the other!
Here’s a glimpse of what it feels like beneath the church.
See the video transcript
This church in Rome hides a super lasagna of history, which means layers and layers, one on top of each other. We’re just off Via del Corso, and this is the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina. This is one of the most ancient churches of Rome, built in the 8th century. But what you see here, it’s only the surface. If you take a few steps down, you will find the ancient ruins of the house of Lucina, a Roman woman from the 3rd century, who made her house available for early Christian gatherings. Then, in the 5th century, the Church of Saint Lawrence was built on top of her house. But after many floods of the Tiber River, that church was so badly damaged that they decided to elevate it and build a newer church on top of the old one, the one we see today.
📍 You’ll find it in Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina
Want to discover more of Rome underground?
Take a look at our small-group underground tours. On these tours you discover the hidden layers of Rome beneath famous sights, always in intimate groups of no more than 12 people.
Our tours are not packed, not rushed, and not stuck in tourist spots — because this is how we’d show Rome to a close friend. You can learn more about how our Rome tours work, the best Rome tours or browse all our small-group walking tours to see the experiences currently available.
