We think this is our all time favorite church in Rome. What to say... One of the four basilicas of Rome. It is the gateway to the Esquilino district, located on the side of the Monti district. The ceiling, the altar, the bell tower, the mosaics ... it's all so UNIQUE. One of the obligatory stops when we are in Rome for a prayer. Always. From orbiscatholicus. blogspot : "The most important church in the city of Rome dedicated to Our Lady is the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, erected around the year 352, during the reign of Pope Liberius. (352-366) According to legend, a member of an aristocratic family, John and his wife were childless and prayed that the Blessed Mother might designate an heir to bequeath their wealth. They were favored with a dream in which Our Lady appeared to them on the night of August 4-5. She requested that they build a church in her honor on the Esquiline hill and the sign to accompany this dream is that the exact location would be marked out in snow. During that hot summer evening, a miraculous snowfall traced the form of the basilica on the hill. Our Lady also appeared to Pope Liberius in a dream that same night so that he too could arrive at the location to see the miraculous snowfall. Many people gathered to see the unusual event of snow glistening in the August sun. Upon awakening, John and his wife rushed to the site and Pope Liberius arrived in solemn procession. Realizing that the snow marked the exact location of the church, the people staked off the area before the snow melted. The basilica was completed within two years and consecrated by Pope Liberius; that is why it is sometimes referred to as the Basilica Liberiana, after the Pope who consecrated it. The liturgical feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major is celebrated each year on the fifth of August. On that day, a beautiful custom is kept each year in which a shower of white rose petals are dropped from the ceiling to commemorate the miraculous snowfall". Not to be missed.

We were staying just along the road from this Basilica and decided to visit it one afternoon after going to some of the busy tourist areas of the city. I can highly recommend it - there were no queues and we went straight in (you have to put your bag through a security scanner as you enter), lovely peaceful atmosphere and a great deal of beautiful artwork inside, to rival some of the more touristy attractions. It is also free to enter.

The legend is saying, The Maria Maggiore Basilica was built in the 4th century A.D., on the place marked by Virgin Mary, who appared in dreams of the believer (who was praying and asking her about place he wish to build a church in her name), and at the same time she appeared in the Pope's dreams with instructions the church has to be built on the place marked with snow. In the same night, the unusual snow in the middle of August, marked a place on Esquilino Rome hill, and both, believer and Pope, knows imidiately where the church has to be built. At the same night, on the hill marked with snow, the lines for church were made, and by those given instructions, the Maria Maggiore Basilica was constructed in next years. Through years the Basilica was many times reconstructed (otherwise finally completed in year 1743) till nowdays shape, and is otherwise the first Basilica consecrated to Virgin Mary (in year 434 A. D. on 5th August by Pope Sixtus III.), right The Basilica has a status as a Papal Major Basilica (one of the only four that exists), and is one of the Seven Great Pilgrim Churches of Rome (a Seven Church Walk tradition), which means the Basilica is very important and therefore must visit touristic att