Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri

This basilica occupies the soaring central hall of the ancient Baths of Diocletian, adapted by Michelangelo late in his life into a Christian church. The vast vaulted space, supported by original red granite columns, retains the scale of the Roman interior it inherited. A brass meridian line laid into the floor in the eighteenth century once tracked the sun to mark noon. Facing Piazza della Repubblica, the plain brick exterior gives little hint of the airy grandeur inside, where the transition from bath to sanctuary remains visible.