Santa Maria in Via Lata

On Via del Corso, with a Bernini-style Baroque facade by Pietro da Cortona (1660) — one of his best architectural works. Tradition holds that Saint Paul was held under house arrest in this very building during his Roman captivity, and that Saint Luke wrote his Gospel in the same rooms. The crypt below preserves an early-Christian welfare distribution centre (a diaconia) plus rare 8th-century frescoes — accessible by a separate small ticket from the side.