Basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls

One of Rome's seven pilgrimage churches, built over the tomb of Saint Lawrence — the deacon martyred in 258 AD by being grilled alive on an iron gridiron (legend has it he joked to his torturers, 'Turn me over, I'm done on this side'). The current basilica fuses two earlier Constantinian churches into one continuous nave with reused ancient Roman columns and a beautiful Cosmatesque floor. Suffered serious damage in a 1943 Allied bombing raid (the only WWII bomb damage in Rome) and was painstakingly restored. Adjoins the vast Verano Cemetery, Rome's main municipal cemetery, where Pope Pius IX is buried.