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Landmark2nd – 5th c. ADFree

St John Lateran

Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, San Giovanni in Laterano, Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano

church · Lazio, Italy

What it is
St John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome, founded by Constantine and dedicated in 324, and what survives of its Roman beginnings is less the church itself, rebuilt in the 16th to 18th centuries, than what stands around it: a 5th-century baptistery with its mosaics, the bronze doors of the Roman Senate house, an Egyptian obelisk that an emperor brought to Rome, and, under the nave, the fort of the emperor's horse guards.
What you’ll see
The basilica. The building you walk into is not Constantine's.
Worth the trip?
Yes, if you are in Rome: it is free, open from early morning, and about 1.1 km in a straight line from the Colosseum. Go knowing what you will see.
Getting there & cost
The square is Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano. Public transport stops named after it lie on the square, and a paid car park is about 140 m from the obelisk (OpenStreetMap).Free · The basilica is free · checked 20 October 2026Hours, tickets and parking
A wide cobbled square on an overcast day, a tall granite obelisk topped by a cross standing at its far side, with rows of apartment blocks behind and the orange flank of a palace at the right edge.
Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano and its obelisk, brought to Rome by Constantius II in 357. · Photo: Lalupa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The inside of an octagonal building, a ring of tall dark-red polished stone columns carrying a white marble entablature, with a second, slimmer row of columns above it, a gilded coffered ceiling and painted scenes on the outer walls.
The octagonal baptistery. Its plan is Sixtus III's 5th-century rebuilding; the porphyry columns were set up in the early 10th century and the upper storey in the 17th. · Photo: Hugo DK · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A tall double door of green-patinated bronze divided into rectangular panels studded with small bosses, set in a pale marble frame above a patterned marble floor.
The basilica's central door, the ancient bronze doors of the Senate house in the Forum. · Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

What is there today

The basilica. The building you walk into is not Constantine’s. An earthquake almost destroyed the first church late in the 9th century, two fires followed in the 14th, and the present church dates from Sixtus V’s rebuilding in the late 16th century, Borromini’s interior of the 17th and a façade finished in 1735 (en.wikipedia). The Roman pieces are at the door. The central doorway holds the bronze doors of the Curia Iulia, the Senate house in the Forum, made in the 4th century after the fire of 283 and refitted here by Borromini, and a niche at the left end of the portico holds a statue of Constantine from the Roman period (it.wikipedia).

The baptistery. The octagonal baptistery next to the basilica is the Roman-era building you can actually walk into. A first baptistery, probably Constantine’s, was built over a bath suite in the 4th century; Pope Sixtus III rebuilt it from about 432 to 440, and the building today is substantially that rebuilding (it.wikipedia). For generations it was Rome’s only baptistery, and its octagon became the model for baptisteries across Italy (en.wikipedia). Two 5th-century mosaics survive: in the porch, an apse of gold scrolls on a green ground under the Lamb of God, from the time of Pope Hilarius (461–468), and in the chapel of St John the Evangelist, a gold-ground vault with the Lamb at its centre (it.wikipedia). The chapel of San Venanzio was added in the 7th century, with gold-ground mosaics of the same date. Much is later: the eight porphyry columns round the font were set up in the early 10th century, and the upper columns, dome and wall paintings date from the 17th (it.wikipedia).

The fort beneath the nave. In 193 Septimius Severus built the Castra Nova, the “new fort” of the emperor’s mounted bodyguard, here, enlarging the guard from 1,500 to 2,000 men. Constantine disbanded the guard after it fought for Maxentius in 312, demolished the fort and built the basilica over it. Excavations in 1934–1938 found it in good condition just below the floor: the headquarters building with its two strongrooms, a two-storey storehouse and two barracks, preserved under the basilica together with remains of Constantine’s church and a domus of Nero’s time (en.wikipedia). They are shown only on booked group visits (see below).

The obelisk. The obelisk on the square is the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk, made at Karnak around 1400 BC under Thutmose III and Thutmose IV. Constantius II shipped it to Rome in 357 and set it up in the Circus Maximus; it later fell and broke, and Sixtus V had it re-erected here, about 4 m shorter, in 1588 (en.wikipedia).

Is it worth the trip?

Yes, if you are in Rome: it is free, open from early morning, and about 1.1 km in a straight line from the Colosseum. Go knowing what you will see. The great church is a building of the 16th to 18th centuries, and the Roman story is told by pieces of it: the Senate house doors, the baptistery and its mosaics, the obelisk on the square and, a few minutes away, the towers of Porta Asinaria. The remains that make this a Roman site in the full sense, the guard fort under the nave, need a booked group visit arranged at least three days ahead. Without one, the basilica, baptistery and square combine easily with the Caelian or the Colosseum.

Getting there

The square is Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano. Public transport stops named after it lie on the square, and a paid car park is about 140 m from the obelisk (OpenStreetMap).

The basilica is open every day from 07.00 to 18.30 and entry is free; the baptistery opens daily from 09.00 to 19.00, needs no booking and offers an audio guide by QR code at its entrance. The excavations under the basilica are seen on one-hour guided visits from Monday to Saturday, following the Vatican calendar, for groups of up to 20 in Italian, English, French, German or Spanish, booked by e-mail to [email protected] at least 72 hours ahead (the operator, basilicasangiovanni.va, read 20 October 2026). The basilica’s page does not give the price of an excavation visit. The basilica warns that times can change and posts closures in its news section.

Visiting details

Opening hours
Basilica daily 07.00–18.30; baptistery daily 09.00–19.00. The excavations under the basilica are shown only on booked one-hour group visits, Monday to Saturday (following the Vatican calendar).
Tickets
The basilica is free. The baptistery needs no booking, and the operator's page gives no charge for it. Excavation visits are for groups of up to 20 (Italian, English, French, German or Spanish), booked by e-mail to [email protected] at least 72 hours ahead; the basilica's page does not publish their price.
Parking
A paid surface car park about 140 m from the square (OSM relation/2578872).

Before you go

  • The basilica's page warns that times may change and lists closures in its news section.

Hours and prices checked 20 October 2026 on the operator's own site. Confirm before travelling.

Around the square

These places are part of this visit and appear on its map.

Porta Asinaria. About 300 m from the obelisk, this gate in the Aurelian Walls dates from the building of the walls in the 270s. Its two round towers, about 20 m high, are still perfectly preserved, with a travertine facing on the outer side. Totila’s Goths came in through it to sack the city in 546. It was closed in 1574, when Porta San Giovanni was opened beside it, and reopened in 1956 for pedestrians only (it.wikipedia). East Roman troops under Belisarius had entered Rome through it in 536 (en.wikipedia).

Domus Valeriorum. The house of the Valerii lay where the San Giovanni Addolorata hospital stands; frescoes, mosaic floors and a corridor overlooking a garden have been excavated there, but it cannot be visited (it.wikipedia; en.wikipedia).

Vicus Drusianus. An ancient street of Rome’s first region, known from an inscription; part of its course may follow the present Via della Ferratella in Laterano (Pleiades).

Domus of Lucius Licinius Sura. OpenStreetMap marks the site of this house about 230 m from the obelisk; no source describes what can be seen.

Columbarium of Tiberius Claudius Vitalis. A 1st-century AD columbarium tomb in the grounds of the Villa Wolkonsky (Pleiades; Wikidata). The sources do not record whether it can be visited.

History

The Laterani, one of Rome’s leading families, had their estate here; Plautius Lateranus was put to death for his part in the Pisonian conspiracy of AD 65 and his property confiscated (de.wikipedia). Excavations under the basilica found a large building of Julio-Claudian date, rebuilt in the 2nd century, beneath the fort (de.wikipedia).

The palace came to Constantine through his marriage to Fausta, and as the Domus Faustae it hosted a synod of bishops in 313 or 314, as published dates differ (de.wikipedia; en.wikipedia). Constantine gave the site to the bishop of Rome, and Pope Sylvester I dedicated the basilica to Christ the Saviour in 324 (en.wikipedia). The early church had five aisles and was known as the Basilica Aurea, the “golden basilica”, for the gifts lavished on it. Alaric’s Goths sacked Rome in 410 and the Vandals stripped the church in 455; Pope Leo I restored it around 460 (it.wikipedia). The popes lived in the Lateran palace until the move to Avignon in 1309 (en.wikipedia).

Works on the square for the 2025 Jubilee turned up more of the ancient site, including Severan foundations linked to the fort, a wall of the 1st century BC or AD and late antique walling (de.wikipedia).

More photographs

A long cobbled avenue running straight towards a white stone church front with columns, arched openings and a row of statues along its roofline, with the orange palace to its right.
The basilica's 18th-century façade at the end of the square. · Photo: Nicholas Frisardi · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A mosaic of gold and red scrolling tendrils on a deep blue-green ground, rising from a central stem towards a half-circle above with small white birds and a fan-shaped motif.
The surviving 5th-century apse mosaic in the baptistery's porch. · Photo: JaneStillman · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A marble statue of a man in Roman armour with his right arm raised, standing in a tall niche behind a wrought-iron railing, with an information panel at the right.
The Roman-period statue of Constantine in the basilica's portico. · Photo: Vitold Muratov · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A stretch of battlemented brick city wall with two tall round towers at the left and large arched openings through the wall at the right, with a road and railings in front.
Porta Asinaria in the Aurelian Walls, a few minutes' walk from the basilica. · Photo: MrPanyGoff · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

  • A sunken rectangular bed of gravel with a metal grating at its centre, edged by low stone kerbs and a grey paved floor, under a modern shelter roof on slender posts, with rope barriers keeping visitors back.

    Photo: MumblerJamie · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons

    13 km · villa · Lazio

    Villa of Livia

    The operator describes the private wing with the bedrooms of Livia and the emperor, an atrium and a small inner garden, and the large reception rooms that open onto a peristyle; the rooms once had painted walls and floors of mosaic and cut marble (Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma).

  • A tall free-standing wall of squared, lichen-spotted stone blocks, ragged along its top edge, rising from a low stepped base in a mown field, with trees and distant hills behind.

    Photo: Carlomorino · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    18 km · city · Lazio

    Gabii

    The park the state holds covers about 70 hectares on the southern rim of a volcanic crater whose lake was drained in the 19th century (the operator; en.wikipedia).

  • A tall, square building of brick and rubble with small windows and a tiled roof; the outline of a great round-headed arch, filled in with masonry, shows in the middle of the wall, and blocks of pale stone lie on the grass in front.

    Photo: MM · Public domain · Commons

    18 km · arch · Lazio

    Arch of Malborghetto

    At first sight you see an austere farmhouse rather than an arch (it.wikipedia).

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Pleiades 825912337CC BY
Wikidata Q125121589CC0
Wikipedia (en) — Archbasilica of Saint John LateranCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (it) — Basilica di San Giovanni in LateranoCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (de) — Piazza di San Giovanni in LateranoCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (it) — Battistero lateranenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (en) — Lateran BaptisteryCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (en) — Castra Nova equitum singulariumCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (en) — Lateran ObeliskCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (it) — Obelisco LateranenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (en) — Porta AsinariaCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (it) — Porta AsinariaCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (it) — Domus ValeriorumCC BY-SA 4.0
Pleiades — Lateran Obelisklicence not recorded
Pleiades — Columbarium of Tiberius Claudius Vitalislicence not recorded
Pleiades — Vicus Drusianuslicence not recorded
Archbasilica of St John Lateran — information and timetables (the operator)licence not recorded
Lateran Baptistery parish site — opening hours (the operator)licence not recorded