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The Esquiline and Lateran : San Giovanni in Laterano and Scala Santa

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San Giovanni in Laterano and Scala Santa

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  • Besides its grandiose Baroque bulk, visible from all over Rome, this former papal complex boasts the world’s very first baptistry, its octagonal shape the model for all those to come. A building on the piazza houses the Scala Santa, claimed to be the staircase from Pontius Pilate’s house that Jesus ascended to face his trial - devout believers climb the 28 steps on their knees. Tradition says that the stairs were brought from Jerusalem by St Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine (see San Giovanni in Laterano).

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Piazza di S Giovanni in Laterano Open 7am-7pm daily (cloisters: 7am-6pm; baptistry 7:30am- 12:30pm, 4-7pm) Adm to cloisters
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