Discover Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli

Santa Maria in Aracoeli stands on the highest summit of the Capitol, erected in the 6th century on the ruins of the Temple of Juno Moneta.

Its name comes from a prophecy. By legend a sibyl foretold to Augustus the coming of the son of God, saying "Haec est ara filii Dei" — this is the altar of the son of God — and from that comes Ara Coeli.

Around the year 1000 it became a Benedictine abbey, later passing to the Friars Minor, who still serve it and who restructured it, giving it the Romanesque-Gothic appearance it has now.

In the Middle Ages it worked as a civic building. Councillors gathered here to discuss the Res Publica — a sort of new forum of Rome. Cola di Rienzo spoke to the people from here, the elections of the city's Caporioni were held here, and in 1341 Francesco Petrarca was crowned Poet here.

The staircase is the thing people know. 124 marble steps, built in 1348 as a vow to the Virgin for the end of the plague epidemic then raging across Europe, made with marble taken from the staircase of the Temple of Serapis on the Quirinal and inaugurated by the tribune Cola di Rienzo. It was treated as a true Scala Santa, climbed on the knees by spinsters seeking a husband, women who wanted a child, mothers asking for milk for their children — and people who wanted to win at the Lotto.

But the church was famous above all for something that is no longer here. The Santo Bambino, by tradition carved from the wood of the olive trees of the Mount of Gethsemane, was adored by Romans who credited it with raising the dead and healing the gravely ill. It was stolen in 1994 and has never been found.

The plan is early and the materials are older still. The church is three naves divided by columns, and those columns are reused, every one different from the others — a colonnade assembled from whatever ancient material was available rather than cut to a single order.

The present form is the Friars Minor's. They restructured the church, giving it the Romanesque-Gothic appearance it now has, so what reads as medieval is a mendicant reworking of a sixth-century foundation.

The façade was never finished, and that is not an accident of neglect alone. It presents bare brick to the staircase, which makes the gilded interior a deliberate reversal.

The floor is a designed surface and a cemetery at once. The cosmatesque pavement is rich in burials and funerary slabs, including the one for the archdeacon of Aquileia, Giovanni Crivelli, made by Donatello during his stay in Rome between 1431 and 1433.

The staircase is architecture in its own right: 124 steps of marble taken from the staircase of the Temple of Serapis on the Quirinal — a monumental approach built out of a dismantled Roman one.

And the site is the oldest decision of all. The basilica sits on the ruins of the Temple of Juno Moneta, on the highest summit of the Capitol.

It was built on top of a temple and out of other buildings. The church was erected on the ruins of the Temple of Juno Moneta in the 6th century, and its nave is carried on reused columns, all different from one another.

The staircase was built out of another staircase. The 124 steps of 1348 were made with marble taken from the staircase of the Temple of Serapis on the Quirinal — one monumental flight dismantled to make another.

And it was built as a vow, not as an improvement. The stair was commissioned as a vow to the Virgin for the end of the plague epidemic then raging across Europe, and inaugurated by the tribune Cola di Rienzo.

The church's present shape is a later rebuilding. The Friars Minor restructured it, giving it the Romanesque-Gothic appearance it has today, after it had passed to them from the Benedictines, who held it from around the year 1000.

Two later events shaped what survives. The deconsecration and use as a stable under the French occupation and the Republic of 1797, and the narrow escape from the demolition works for the Vittoriano after 1870.

Is there a charge? No. It is an active church, free, with nothing to book.

What are the opening hours? None are published. Turismo Roma gives only mass times: 08.00 Monday to Saturday, and 08.30 and 12.00 on Sundays and feast days.

Where is mass actually said? From Monday to Saturday in the Cappella della Madonna, not the basilica. On Sundays the 08.30 is in the chapel and the 12.00 in the Basilica.

How many steps are there? 124, in marble, built in 1348.

Why was the staircase built? As a vow to the Virgin for the end of the plague epidemic then raging across Europe. The marble came from the staircase of the Temple of Serapis on the Quirinal, and Cola di Rienzo inaugurated it.

Is there an easier way up? Yes — the basilica can be reached from the Campidoglio side, which avoids the 124 steps.

What happened to the Santo Bambino? It was stolen in 1994 and has never been found. By tradition it had been carved from the olive wood of the Mount of Gethsemane, and Romans credited it with raising the dead and healing the gravely ill.

What does the name mean? Ara Coeli, altar of heaven — from the legend that a sibyl told Augustus "Haec est ara filii Dei", this is the altar of the son of God.

What should I look for inside? Pinturicchio in the Cappella Bufalini, Donatello's floor slab, remains attributed to Pietro Cavallini, frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli, and the fact that every column is different.

Was Petrarch really crowned here? Yes — he was crowned Poet here in 1341.