Rome

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San Lorenzo fuori le Mura

Donated by Constantine, this basilica was built to house the remains of St Lawrence after the saint met his fiery end on a griddle. Rebuilt in the sixth century, it was later united with a neighbouring church. Bombs plunged through the roof in 1943, making San Lorenzo the only Roman church to suffer war damage, but it had been painstakingly reconstructed by 1949. On the right side of the 13th-century portico are frescoes from the same period, showing scenes from the life of St Lawrence. Inside the triumphal arch are sixth-century mosaics.

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