Among them was apostle Peter, whose tomb lies beneath the monumental St Peter's Basilica (Basilica di San Pietro).

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The next stop on this magical mystery tour is the Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, the final resting place of Santa Cecilia.

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Staff from the town's botanical garden transform the piazza in front of the Basilica di San Frediano into a garden, with a different theme each year.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that the crypt of the Basilica di San Carlo al Corso in Rome has been turned into a night club to lure young people back to the Catholic church.

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The majestic Basilica di San Marco and its grand Campanile bell tower that rises above Piazza San Marco, call to mind the golden age of the Republic of Venice, which ended in the early 18th Century.

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For more than six centuries, the brilliantly frescoed walls of Florence's Basilica of Santa Croce functioned as what its current rector, Father Antonio Di Marcantonio, calls "medieval PowerPoint": scenes from the Bible and saints' lives illustrating the sermons that Franciscan friars preached to largely illiterate congregations.

WSJ: A Heavenly View From On High | Basilica of Santa Croce | Agnolo Gaddi | By Francis X. Rocca