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The port of ancient Rome was located in Trastevere. It was, within a complex and rich urban context, home to members of the military, foreigners and to very many Jews. The first Christian preaching, that of the Apostles Peter and Paul, successfully begins in Trastevere. It is here that a rather large Christian community finds its roots. For two thousands years a Christian generation after the other cumulated relevant historical and artistic testimonies
The pilgrimage proposed in these pages leads us among the basilicas of Santa Maria in Trastevere, San Bartolomeo aIl�Isola, Santa Cecilia and the churches of San Benedetto in Piscinula, San Francesco a Ripa, Sant�Egidio and Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini. We not only discover the peculiar Christian origins of Trastevere but also the spiritual events and artistic expressions of two millenniums
We hear the names of great saints linked to the places of this pilgrimage: the apostles Paul and Bartholomew, the martyrs Calixtus and Caecilia, St. Benedict and pope Gregory the Great, Sant�Egidio and St. Adalbert together with Francis of Assisi, Francesca Romana, Philip Neri. The pilgrimage links �seven Churches� but today it also connects �seven Havens� for the poor realized by the Community of Sant�Egidio that with its daily prayer and with its commitment to the poor is the true red thread that runs through this journey in the heart of Rome.
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