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The Basilica of San Clemente, with its underground archaeological complex, is one of the world’s great treasures, a place loved by students of art and visitors from all over the world. Here, as in no other place, one can visit and experience different eras of Rome’s past. Descending below the present church, one enters a 4th century sanctuary containing some of the world’s finest medieval frescos, dating from the 8th to the 11th century. Going down lower again, one finds the 1st century crypt with its Mithraic temple, and across a narrow alleyway, a large public building, around whose foundations flow the lost waters of ancient Rome. Above the excavation stands the present 12th century Basilica, with its magnificent early renaissance frescos, a 6th century marble chancel from the earlier church, and one of the stunning mosaic Cosmati floors, unique to Rome in the Middle Ages.

What can mosaics tell us about early Christian communities, the concerns of the faithful in the Middle Ages, and the politics of the Church of Rome? A lot! So, we'll explore these questions in a morning visit dedicated to Santa Pudenziana (with its mosaics from the end of the fourth/ beginning of the fifth century A.D.), the imposing Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (with mosaics from the fifth and thirteenth centuries), and the nearby church of Santa Prassede (which sports ninth-century mosaics).

Meet Agostino Chigi, Renaissance banking tycoon extraordinaire! Then revel in the beauty of his summer home, built on the fringes of Trastevere in the early 1500s. Chigi hired Architect Baldassare Peruzzi to build the villa. And Peruzzi, who loved ancient Roman architecture, applied its grandeur to his patron's villa. Then some of the most talented artists of the time (namely Raphael, his students, Peruzzi, and Sodoma) frescoed the villa's rooms. Nowhere else in Rome will give you such a marvelous glimpse into the rip-roaring early Renaissance and its appreciation of classical antiquity!

Michelangelo's imposing Moses towers over Pope Julius II's Tomb in the Church of San Pietro ai Vincoli. Michelangelo might be surprised that his Moses has reached stardom. After all, he dubbed the project as "a tragedy of a tomb." But the modern take on this unequaled colossus in marble is that it is one of Michelangelo’s most glorious works. After our visit to Moses we will carry on to another of Michelangelo’s gifts to the city of Rome: the Capitoline Hill and his late Renaissance reconstruction of these medieval buildings.

The art collector Cardinal Scipio Borghese considered himself the luckiest art collector alive. And he was! Thanks to his uncle, the Pope, he possessed unlimited funds in an era in which talent abounded. And furthermore he had the legal protection necessary to extort and coerce artworks from artists and other collectors. It's no surprise that his collection is magnificent. Expect to see and discuss artists who were contemporary to the cardinal, including Caravaggio and Bernini.