After walking through more back lanes in Trastevere, we made our way to the Piazza and Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.

The Piazza is one of the central meeting places for the Trastevere area.

From Rick Steves:

Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, the thumbhole in this urban palette. Here you can easily imagine the Trasteverini of the past preparing for their legendary fights against inhabitants of other districts.

Piazza Santa Maria is the neighborhood’s most important meeting place. During major soccer games, a large screen is set up here so that everybody can share in the tension and excitement. At other times children gather here with a ball and improvise matches of their own.

We got to the Piazza at about 10:30a (notice the clock in the image below); the piazza was bustling, there were gypsies out and about begging and Mass had started in the church.

From Rick Steves:

One of Rome’s oldest churches, this was built on the site where early Christians worshiped illegally. It was made a basilica – the first church dedicated to the Virgin Mary – in the fourth century, when Christianity was legalized. The portico (covered area outside the door) is decorated with fascinating ancient fragments filled with early Christian symbolism.

According to Rick Steves, a lot of the old old churches in the greater Roman area have 2 year waiting lists to get married there …. I’m guessing there was a wedding at Santa Maria on the Saturday before or so. Such a fun little detail – the rice and petals in the cobblestone just in front of the church.

When we got there Mass was going on. The church was crowded, and there was music, incense and confessing all around. … We did go inside, but I opted to respectful rather than take photos.

From Rick Steves:

Most of what you see dates from around the 12th century, but the granite columns are from ancient Roman buildings (notice the mismatched capitals, some with tiny pagan heads of Egyptian gods), and the ancient basilica floor plan (and ambience) survives. The intricate coffered ceiling has an unusual image of Mary painted on copper at the center.

The image below (from flickr) is of the interior of the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere…

(image above from flickr – ilmojensankari)

SO great.

Tomorrow: The Pantheon.