Rome is a splendour of religious riches that attracts over 30 million visitors annually, and 2025 is a particularly significant year for this cradle of Catholicism.
The Vatican is celebrating a Jubilee Year with dozens of events. The funeral of Pope Francis and the election of a new pontiff have also shone a spotlight on the Italian capital.
If you are heading to Rome to marvel at its myriad religious monuments, it can be hard to know where to start.
For a particularly meaningful way to visit Rome’s major churches – and to sidestep the crowds – try following in the footsteps of a 16th-century saint.
Though you may not expect it, the Eternal City is a delight to explore on foot.
In fact, a recent ranking by GuruWalk placed Rome first as the most walkable city in the world, describing it as “an open-air museum that deserves to be explored thoroughly, step by step”.
Follow in the footsteps of a 16th-century saint
St Philip Neri conceived the Pilgrimage of the Seven Churches around the year 1553, and tracing the route has become one of Rome’s oldest religious traditions.
There are slight variations you can take, but it is roughly 25 kilometres and snakes around the whole city between the seven major basilicas.
If you start early in the morning, it can make for an impressive full-day challenge. Otherwise, you can split it over days and easily take public transport to return to the place you left off.
Admire a sculptural tour de force and Byzantine icons
It is a good idea to begin the route at St Peter’s Basilica. Given that the church is very busy at the moment, it makes sense to join the queue as early as possible for the shortest waiting time.
It will make it easier to see the artistic treasures inside the cavernous church, from Michelangelo’s Pietà sculpture to Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Baldacchino – a richly carved bronze canopy surmounting the high altar.
To see sights en route during daylight and opening hours, it’s best to make the next stop the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, around an hour’s walk away.
The route takes you past the hulking Sant’Angelo castle and over the homonymous bridge lined with drapery-clad stone angels with views down the Tiber River.
The cobbled, atmospheric Via dei Coronari leads you to Piazza Navona, home to the aquatic theatrics of Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain. The road continues on, passing directly in front of the majestic Trevi Fountain.
Another 20 minutes walking takes you to the second of Rome’s major churches, where Pope Francis chose to be buried.
Santa Maria Maggiore is a key place of worship for Marian devotion, containing a sacred Byzantine icon featuring the Virgin known as the Salus Populi Romani, or Protectress of the Roman people.
Seek out sacred relics of saints and martyrs
A half hour’s walk, passing in front of the Termini railway station and along the wide boulevard Via dei Ramni, takes you to the church of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura.
The building was reconstructed after bombing during the Second World War, but it lies on the ancient site of the martyrdom of St Lawrence, who was roasted alive on a grill in 258. The saint’s relics are housed inside.
Another half-hour stretch leads to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, passing the ancient Roman Porta Maggiore gateway and aqueducts en route.
The pale stone Baroque structure was envisaged as a giant reliquary and houses some of the most famous relics in Christianity recovered by St Helen, mother of the Emperor Constantine, during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 325.
Among them are the Holy Nail, some fragments of the True Cross, a thorn from the Crown of Christ and a bone from the finger of St Thomas the Apostle.
From here, follow the ancient Aurelian walls along Via Carlo Felice for 15 minutes to the monumental Papal Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.
This is the Cathedral of Rome, as well as the oldest and most important basilica in the West.
Consecrated in the 4th century, it houses the relics of the heads of the Apostles of Rome, Peter and Paul, kept in an exquisite gilded Gothic canopy over the papal altar.
Delve into Rome’s rural delights along the ancient Via Appia Antica
The next stretch to the sixth church takes just over an hour, passing along the 3rd-century Aurelian Walls and down the Via Appia Antica, an ancient road where you lose the city for a moment and seem transported to bucolic countryside.
The Basilica of San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura is simpler, at least compared to the majesty of the previous churches.
It contains an arrow and part of the column from St Sebastian’s martyrdom and the Bust of the Saviour, the last sculptural masterpiece by Bernini, rediscovered in 2001 in the adjacent convent.
The final church is reached along the Via delle Sette Chiese, named for the seven churches pilgrimage.
The peaceful road through Rome’s outskirts leads to the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura, the second-largest church in Rome. Founded in the 4th century, it was rebuilt in neo-classical style following a fire in the 19th century.
Make sure you visit the cloister, a vestige from the 13th century, and its graceful, mosaic inlaid columns.
If you time your day right, you can then meander for a sunset-tinged hour back along the banks of the Tiber, with a little detour through the characterful, labyrinthine Trastevere neighbourhood, to return to St Peter’s.