Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

This is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the virgin Mary, it is part of the Holy See and is patrolled and protected by Vatican police.   If I were a better tourist, or could actually remember what the tour guide said, I'd tell you more  - but I cannot.  The truth is, the moment I step inside I became deaf to voices because my sense of site was overloaded by the volume of sites set before me.  Every inch of the walls, floor and ceiling are covered in art.  Here again, the photos cannot fully show the beauty of it all, but here are a few to give you an idea of what I mean.