A new light for the early Christian basilica Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill

Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill in Rome has new lighting. The recent lighting intervention has restored the early Christian basilica to its beauty, enhancing its architecture and decorative details. The operation enhanced the structure with more effective and discreet lighting, eliminating the old bulky and obsolete spotlights. The project was financed by the Fondo Edifici di Culto (FEC), owner of the church, and is part of the protection initiatives overseen by the Special Superintendence of Rome, headed by Daniela Porro.

FEC Director Prefect Alessandro Tortorella, together with Deputy Prefect Antonio Tedeschi, “thanked the Superintendent and all those who, in various capacities, made it possible to complete an important intervention, confirming the sharing of a common institutional strategy and agreement with the ecclesiastical authority, to ensure the preservation and above all the enhancement of assets of profound cultic, artistic and cultural value, owned by the Italian State, which takes on an additional symbolic value on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the ’establishment of the FEC in the aftermath of the stipulation of the new Concordat of 1984.”

“The lighting of Santa Sabina is not only a due act to one of the oldest churches in Rome,” says Daniela Porro, Special Superintendent of Rome, “but renews our happy collaboration with the Fondo Edifici di Culto (FEC) to enhance the churches of the Capital both as sacred and recollecting places and as places of culture.”

The intervention was entrusted to the company EKOTECH Engineering and executed by the company ZP Elettronica under the supervision of architect Ilaria Delsere, responsible for the protection of the monument. The new lighting system was designed to integrate perfectly with the structure of the basilica, respecting its aesthetics and history. To ensure homogeneous and natural lighting, the designers placed small side projectors along the thresholds of the windows. This solution, combined with strip-led lights placed centrally on the boardings, allows the nave to be illuminated with a diffuse light that enhances the upper transepts. Special attention is also paid to the side aisles, illuminated by small spotlights with wide optics. This choice makes it possible to uniformly highlight the wooden structures and the bichromatic pianellato of the naves, which represent one of the architectural peculiarities of the basilica. The side chapels, dedicated to St. Catherine and St. Hyacinth, also benefit from new lighting, designed to enhance the most valuable decorative elements with a soft, enveloping light. In addition to ensuring uniform and well-distributed lighting, the project included light accents on some points of particular historical and artistic importance. The choir, apse, and counter-facade mosaic now emerge with greater clarity, as does the bell tower of the left aisle. Special attention was given to the 5th-century wooden door located in the narthex, which preserves one of the oldest representations of the crucifixion.

Technological innovation was one of the key points of the project. The intervention focused on a high-efficiency LED lighting system, thus reducing energy consumption and improving the sustainability of the entire facility. The new light fixtures, which are small in size and have warm light tones, were designed to minimize their visual impact, blending harmoniously with the architecture of the basilica. The system is also equipped with advanced home automation technology, which allows lighting to be modulated according to different needs. Thanks to this solution, it is possible to create differentiated lighting scenarios for religious services or tourist visits, thus ensuring a visual experience that is always appropriate to the context. The intervention was not limited to lighting. As part of the project, all electrical components were also replaced, ensuring that the system was up to standard. Emergency lighting was also built into the luminaires themselves, improving the safety of the spaces. Completing the technological makeover is the redoing of the audio and video surveillance system, essential elements for the management and protection of the site.

The history of Santa Sabina all’Aventino

The basilica of Santa Sabina all’Aventino is one of the oldest churches in Rome and, among early Christian buildings, one of the best preserved, despite the numerous interventions it has undergone over the centuries, including restorations, alterations and renovations. It was founded in 425, during the pontificate of Celestine I, as attested by the dedicatory inscription visible in the mosaic of the counter-façade, one of the rare testimonies of the original decoration still extant. According to tradition, the basilica is said to have risen above the Titulus Sabinæ, which is believed to have been located in the residence of the matron Sabina. Ancient sources also mention the existence of a baptistery.

Major restoration works were carried out between the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 9th, under the pontificates of Leo III and Eugenius II. In the 10th century, the church was incorporated into the Crescenzi fortress, while in the 13th it became part of the Savelli family’s fortress. In 1219, a member of this lineage, who became pope under the name of Honorius III, entrusted the basilica to Dominic of Guzmán and the Order of the Friars Preachers, who still today take care of its officiating and house their General Curia in the adjacent convent. The construction of the bell tower also dates back to the 13th century.

In 1587, during the pontificate of Sixtus V, Domenico Fontana radically transformed the interior of the church, an intervention followed by further modifications in 1643 by Francesco Borromini. The current appearance of the building, however, is due to the restorations conducted by Antonio Muñoz, who in two phases (1914-1919 and 1936-1937) tried to restore the basilica to its original form, eliminating most of the Baroque interventions, except for two side chapels dedicated to St. Hyacinth and St. Catherine. Thanks to these works, the interior regained the austerity and solemnity of the three-aisled structure, punctuated by 24 ancient columns of perusal, probably from a nearby late imperial monument.

The main door, dating from the fifth century, the period of the church’s construction, represents the oldest known example of early Christian wooden sculpture. Of the 28 panels that originally composed it, 18 remain today, with scenes from the Old and New Testaments, juxtaposed in a way that highlights the link between Mosaic and Christian law. Originally, the interior of the basilica was probably richly decorated with mosaics, of which only those on the counter façade and an opus sectile motif between the arches remain today. The floor is scattered with numerous tomb slabs.

Near the chancel is the Schola Cantorum, rebuilt in 1936 on the basis of the original 9th-century structure, employing fragments of the original enclosure, discovered in the late 19th century by Ferdinando Mazzanti and reused earlier as steps in the Sistine chancel. The apsidal basin preserves an impressive 16th-century fresco by Taddeo Zuccari, under which traces of the primitive mosaic decoration have been found. The triumphal arch, on the other hand, was painted in 1919 by Eugenio Cisterna, based on a 17th-century depiction by Giovanni Giustino Ciampini that reproduced the original mosaic destroyed in the 18th century. Notable paintings include the “Glory of Saint Hyacinth” by Federico Zuccari, brother of Taddeo, and the “Vision of Saint Hyacinth” by Lavinia Fontana, one of the first Italian artists to paint sacred subjects, alongside figures such as Artemisia Gentileschi and Fede Galizia.

A new light for the early Christian basilica Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill

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