Colonne di San Lorenzo & Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore

Colonne di San Lorenzo e Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore

Sixteen Roman columns that locals use as a night-time sofa

Hours

Columns open all hours. Church roughly 08:00-18:30 (Sun 09:00-19:00), changes with services

Tickets

Columns and church free; small fee for the Sant'Aquilino chapel

Address

Corso di Porta Ticinese 35; the column row stands across the street from the church front

Sixteen Corinthian columns from Roman times stand by the roadside, nearly two thousand years old. After dark their base is packed with people holding beer bottles. Across the street is San Lorenzo Maggiore, among the oldest churches in the city, and in the side chapel of Sant'Aquilino the walls still hold gold mosaics from the 4th or 5th century. By day it is a quiet ruin; by night it is the Ticinese neighbourhood's front yard.