SAN SABA

San Saba - click to enlarge

According to tradition, St. Gregory the Great and his mother Saint Silvia would live in the convent of San Saba in the sixth century.

Certainly in the seventh century a group of monks, fleeing from Palestine invaded by the Arabs, installed in this place for the rest uninhabited. From the twelfth century the church was rebuilt above the previous, now closed to the public, at different times took place other interventions so that the façade as we see it today has an eighteenth century porch, while the loggia dates back to the fifteenth century.

The complex of San Saba, ruled today by the Jesuits, is accessed through a porch of the XIII century. The interior of the church has three naves, each ending, according to the oriental pattern, with an apse.
The columns separating the aisles were taken from the buildings of ancient Rome, while the floor, named “Cosmatesco” is of the thirteenth century.

Above the episcopal chair it is an excellent Crucifixion of the fourteen century.

San Saba, Crucifixion - click to enlarge

At the side of the left aisle, in an environment known as the fourth aisle there are the wonderful frescoes by the so-called Maestro (=master) di San Saba, which date back to the thirteenth century.
Furnishings were assembled redeploying vintage materials.

San Saba, frescoes in the IV aisle - click to enlarge

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