Basilica di Sant'Agostino
Mon–Sun: 09:00-17:00
Free
45min
Caravaggio's Madonna of the Pilgrims is in the first chapel on the left — bring a coin for the lights.
Piazza di Sant'Agostino, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
An early Renaissance basilica (1483), built using travertine stripped from the Colosseum. Holds Caravaggio's Madonna of the Pilgrims (1604-06) — controversial in its time for showing the Virgin as a barefoot working-class Roman woman with dirty soles, leaning casually on a doorframe. Also notable for Raphael's fresco of the Prophet Isaiah and Sansovino's Madonna del Parto, traditionally venerated by women hoping to conceive (still surrounded by votive offerings today). The tomb of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine, is in a side chapel. Free entry, just minutes from Piazza Navona.