This place of cult,  named  by St. Cecilia, martyred during  Marco Aurelio empire, was well-known since the 5th being part of St. Valeriano’s house,  St.Cecilia’s husband.

The  basilica was built during the papacy of Pasquale I ( 817 -824) and to the original complex, in the following centuries 12th –13th, they added the portico, the bell tower, the monastery right wing  and the cloister, many other repairs were made  along the centuries.

 

The original façade, in baroque style designed by Ferdinando Fuga, has a portico with four Ionic columns and two pillars with Corinthian capitals.
The inside is divided  in a nave and two aisles; the nave has a barrel vault frescoed by Sebastiano Conca (1727) with “ the Apotheosis of St. Cecilia”.
The Gothic ciborium, made by Arnolfo da Cambio, (1293) placed on four black and white marble columns and adorned with  statues of angels, saints, prophets and evangelists is just in the centre of the presbytery. The tomb, made by Stefano Maderno(1600)  of bronze and gold -plated marbles, with a statue of St. Cecilia as she was found after her death, is situated beneath the main altar. Behind it there is a mosaic (820) representing the Blessing Redeemer together with St. Paul, St. Cecilia, Pope Paschal I on the left side,  while on the right side St. Peter, St. Valeriano and St. Agata.

 

Passing the left aisle, walking through the cloister there is the Nuns’ Choir with “The Last Judgement “ drawn by Pietro Cavallini (1289-93) that represents one of the most important work of Medieval Roman Art.

Along the right aisle there was the Roman Calidarium, in this area on the altar there is the “The Ascension of St. Cecilia”  painted by Guido Reni (1603), in front of it St. Valeriano and St.Cecilia.

The following chapel is “Cappella dei Ponziani” having a cross vault with “God Father amog the Evangelists” decorated by Antonio Del Massaro (1470) author also of the frescoes. Going on, there is the “Cappella delle Relique” by Luigi Vanvitelli who made also the altar-piece and the vault frescoes.