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In Rome are preserved important mosaic mural that tell ancient stories and illustrate complex theological concepts.

These fascinating paintings made almost entirely of glass, in a wide range of colors and shades, which are applied to layers of malta, were carried out in different places of worship.

With this walk on the streets of the Italian capital to go visit some of these buildings.

We begin by the Church of Santa Pudenziana which is located in Via Urbana and is a former spa building of the second century transformed into a church and redecorated at the end of the fourth century.

At the end of the aisle we can see the mosaic apse, carried out most likely during the pontificate of Innocent I (401-417). It is the oldest apse mosaic reached us in a Christian church and is a key witness for the art of the early centuries since the mosaics adorning the early Christian basilicas of San Giovanni in Laterano and San Pietro were lost.

This mosaic represents Christ seated on the throne among the apostles and two female figures, generally interpreted as the Church of the Jews and the Church of the Gentiles. In the background, opens a exedra: is the monumental courtyard of Jerusalem that contained Mount Golgotha, visible behind Christ and surmounted by jewelled cross.

Leaving Santa Pudenziana easily reach the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, whose main entrance is in the square that bears the same name.

The building, built between 432 and 440 by Pope Sixtus III dedicated to the Virgin, is the first basilica in Rome is not built by an emperor but a pope who had also decorate beautifully.

The mosaics time Sixtus III are kept in triumph and in the central nave. These images tell through the sacred history of Jesus: from Ancestors of Christ in the panels above the columns, the life of Jesus illustrated over triumphant.

The events are narrated clearly legible from the bottom because it made respecting the principle of functional color of early Christian mosaics, ie according to the practice of intensificationtone of the subjects represented.

Looking carefully panels can see the infinite nuances of color and contrasts of heaven, vegetation, buildings, faces, clothes, weapons and all other details that make up each scene.

At the time of Nicholas IV dates instead of the apse mosaic that was created by Jacopo Torriti between 1291 and 1296. The artist signature on the mosaic cap on the lower left: IACOB (US) TORRITI PICTOR H (OC) OP (US) FEC (IT). At the center of the dome, upper Jesus and Mary are sitting on the same throne and Christ, crowning his mother, faithful to show the book with the words that explain the entire mosaic <<Come my beloved and you put on my throne>>. The models that had Jacopo Torriti refer to achieve the Coronation of the Virgin derive from France as witnessed similar scenes depicted on the portals of the cathedrals of Notre-Dame in Paris, Strasbourg and Sens.

More Roman are the scenes depicted at the foot of the core group, with putti-morini sailing the waters of the River Jordan!

It can be concluded visit to the Santa Maria Maggiore going on Loggia or admiring mosaics from the external facade of the church. Designed by Filippo Rusuti between the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century, the episodes illustrate in the lower story of the miraculous snowfall summer linked to the construction of the church.

The legend of snowfall summer said that on the night of August 4, 358 the same time Virgin appeared in a dream to Pope Liberius and the rich and devout Giovanni ask them for the dedication of a basilica at the Rome where that night would have fallen snow. The following morning Giovanni went to the pontiff to tell of appearance of the Virgin and, together, went on the hill Cispio where the pope drew on the snow, the perimeter of the new church. In the basilica, still August 5 remembers the miracle of the snowfall: on the high altar during the celebration of Mass, are falling petals of white roses and jasmine.

Once the visit to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore you can go to the Basilica di Santa Prassede, whose access is secondary in the street of the same name.

Among the many valuable works of art that encompasses the church, detach the chapel of St. Zeno and mosaics of the apse and the arch triumphant achieved by the will of Pope Paschal I in the ninth century.

They are an expression of the rebirth of a school Roman mosaic that ended with the play a key role in the resumption of a religious Christian West.

But in the second chapel of the aisle right that preserves the most significant testimony of Byzantine art still visible in Rome.

The chapel, dedicated to St. Zeno, was built as a mausoleum Theodora, the mother of Pasquale I, and is called "Garden of Paradise" for the richness of decoration. Mosaics for complexity, creative imagination, wealth of symbols, color and density profusion of gold have no equal in Roman medieval.

From Santa Maria Maggiore through Via Carlo Alberto can be reached Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II by Romany familiarly called Piazza Vittorio.

It is the largest square in Rome than those made after the unit of Italy at the end nineteenth century (measure m.316 x 174). Built on the model of British Squares, it is home-from 1902 - a traditional market where that is really worth a trip.

They are for sale foods characteristic of many countries of the world, especially Chinese, Africans, Arabs and Indians.

Moreover, in some shops in the area, run by immigrants, can be found items, furniture and clothing import heads.

From Esquilino you can continue going visit in the district of Trastevere where the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere. If you are in this area of the city, we recommend that you eat in Trastevere where many taverns still retain the atmosphere of rionali inns. Among these Checco er Carrettiere in Via Benedetta, La Cisterna in the street with the same name or the pizzeria Ciceruacchio in Piazza dei Mercanti, feature set tavern in the old prisons of Trastevere, where folk music is played.

In Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, the heart of the district, is the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of Rome's medieval gems. Founded in the fourth century by Pope Julius I (337-352), was the first church in the city dedicated to the cult of the Virgin. The mosaics dell'abside represent the Coronation of the Virgin, built in 1143 and the Stories of the Virgin made by Pietro Cavallini around 1290, at the commissioning of Cardinal Stefaneschi Bertoldo. The cycle mosaic documents the gradual shift from an elegant but immobile language Byzantine three-dimensional compositions, in which figures and architecture are much greater thickness. Just architectures play a decisive role, it seemed protagonists scene: one can not even talk about perspective, but it is clear a new concept of space. The figure, found body volume, are impregnated in the gestures and expressions of humanity that refers to the figures of Giotto, the other big star of the painting between thirteenth and fourteenth century.

At the end of this walk is a curiosity.

To achieve one meter square mosaic tiles needed around ten thousand, all cutlery hand with the thumb.

It is conceivable that in order to achieve a large mosaic there was need for a workshop of craftsmen specialized in the trade and, in a city like Rome, the shops had to be many view the growing demand for work.