Santa Sabina

The splendid paleochristian basilica of Santa Sabina was built in the 5th century AD on the site of the home of Sabina, a Roman matron who had been converted to Christianity. The building was finished during the pontificate of Pope Sixtus III. In 1222, Honorius III, the Pope from the Savelli family who had established his papal household on the Aventine, gave this area, the so-called Rocca Savella, the Savelli Citadel, to St. Dominic.

The central doorway of the basilica preserves the splendid, original wooden doors, but the interior was altered by far-reaching restorations in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. There are 3 naves, each respecting the classical proportions of paleochristian basilicas. However, for the first time the columns reach up to form arches rather than trabeated or squared beams.
None of the mosaic richness now remains in the apse; instead you see the frescoes painted by Taddeo Zuccari. At the back of the central nave there is the column where St. Dominic used to pray and above it is the weighing-scale weight which was supposed to have been hurled at the saint by the Devil; it missed its mark and hit the marble stonework of the Schola Cantorum and broke it.
In reality, however, the stone was broken by the human hand of Domenico Fontana during the restoration work of the church.